September 2, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1666- Great Fire of London.
1864- Sherman enters Atlanta
1965- Singapore separates from the Federation of Malaysia and gains its independence.
On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II. Go to article »

Have five minutes? That’s enough to fall in love with the violin.-The NY Times.

This 84-year-old grandma has become a celebrity in the video game world for her charming YouTube videos.-NYT.

Dictionary.com has added a bunch of words related to culture, identity and race — plus some modern slang.  It’s time to get familiar with words like deadname, janky and Pinxy.-CNN 
 
Do you know your serifs?  It’s time to become a typography nerd by learning the basic anatomy of letters. Trust us — it’s fascinating. (Click here to view.) -CNN.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man runs on a small road in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, before sunrise.
CREDIT: MICHAEL PROBST/AP

Birds are scattered as a jetskier powers across the sea on a beautiful end to the day just before sunset at Heacham in Norfolk
CREDIT: PAUL MARRIOTT

The full harvest moon shines behind St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay.
CREDIT: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA

Above Glasgow’s tower block.
CREDIT: GERARD FERRY/ ALAMY LIVE NEWS
Market Closes for September 2nd, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1776, a committee led by Thomas Jefferson recommended to the Continental Congress that the U.S. create a basic unit of currency called the dollar. The dollar derives its name from a Spanish and Austrian coin called the thaler, named after a silver-mining town in Bohemia.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities gained Wednesday after corporate earnings from a pair of retailers, and helped by M&A activity.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.3%. Consumer staples led nine of eleven sectors higher, with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc beating earnings expectations.
Cogeco Inc.’s controlling family spurned a plan by Altice USA to acquire the business for $7.8 billion — a deal that would let it obtain the Canadian cable  company’s U.S. assets and sell the rest to Rogers Communications Inc.
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Imperial Oil shut down its oil-sands mine after a spill from a pipeline that supplies diluent to the operation, adding to the woes of Canada’s beleaguered energy industry.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9.40 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 1.4% to $1,942.08 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1% to $1.3052 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 2.4 basis points to 0.550%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.3 percent, or 52.98 to 16,697.97 in Toronto.
Today, consumer staples stocks led the market higher, as 9of 11 sectors gained; 124 of 221 shares rose, while 94 fell.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 7.5 percent. Cogeco Communications Inc. had the largest increase, rising 15.0 percent.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.6 percent
* This year, the index fell 2.1 percent, heading for the worst year since 2018
* The index advanced 1.6 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 22 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.1 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 49.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.7 on a trailing basis and 24.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.53t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.38 percent compared with
10.36 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.84 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Consumer Staples | 28.5766| 4.3| 9/2
Communication Services | 23.9593| 2.8| 8/0
Financials | 20.5908| 0.4| 17/8
Utilities | 16.8251| 2.1| 16/0
Consumer Discretionary | 10.2411| 1.8| 7/6
Materials | 8.4688| 0.3| 15/33
Industrials | 5.1035| 0.3| 19/9
Real Estate | 3.8005| 0.8| 18/9
Health Care | 0.3201| 0.2| 4/4
Energy | -5.8619| -0.3| 6/18
Information Technology | -59.0502| -3.3| 5/5
US
By Claire Ballentine and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities rose alongside European stocks as the nearly relentless rally in risk assets continued, but with a twist as tech shares underperformed. The dollar rose the most in two weeks.
The S&P 500 was set for an all-time high, with some of this year’s least-loved shares helping fuel the rally. The Russell 1000 Value Index rose 1.1%, almost double its growth counterpart’s gain. Utilities and financial stocks — two of the three worst performing sectors in 2020 — each rose more than
1%. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added the most in three weeks. The euro slid further below $1.20, a level it breached for the first time in more than two years Tuesday. Oil slumped with precious metals and Treasury yields dipped.
The rally in global stocks has pushed major indexes to record highs as traders bet that a flood of liquidity unleashed by central banks will make its way to equity markets. The rotation away from the tech titans that have led gains this year — with Apple, Tesla and Zoom Video all slumping Wednesday — could signal confidence in a broader economic recovery from the pandemic.
“We’ve seen all the major central banks stay very accommodative,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank. “Negative real yields across the globe are almost forcing people into finding investments that have a potential for gain.” Amid the risk-on rally, key U.S. markets now appear to be pricing in chances of a delayed or inconclusive result from the November presidential election, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts said.
Elsewhere, 10-year bunds rose along with most of their sovereign peers across Europe, benefiting Germany, which took in 33 billion euros ($39 billion) of orders for its first green bonds.
Here are some key events to watch this week:
* U.S. jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 29 are due Thursday.
* Eurozone retail sales data for the month of July to be released on Thursday.
* U.S. jobs report Friday is forecast to show payrolls continued to rebound in August from virus lows.

Here are the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index gained 1.5% as of 3:24 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 1.7%.
* The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index increased 0.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.3%.
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.1836.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 106.25 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 0.65%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield sank six basis points to -0.48%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased six basis points to 0.23%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.3% to $41.35 a barrel.
* Gold declined 1.3% to $1,944.19 an ounce.
* Silver decreased 2.3% to $27.47 per ounce.

–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Olivia Konotey-Ahulu, Todd White and Kamaron Leach.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Leadership is the ability to hide your panic from others.
                                   -Lao Tzu,  c. 6^th century BC
Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com