September 27, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Carolann is away from the office for conference, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

125 million-year-old dinosaur feathers were remarkably similar to modern bird feathers, analysis reveals.

Stunningly perfect ‘Einstein ring’ snapped by James Webb telescope is most distant gravitationally lensed object ever seen. Photos snapped by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed the farthest-ever example of an “Einstein ring.” The record-breaking halo of warped light, which is a whopping 21 billion light-years away, is unusually perfect and surrounds a mysteriously dense galaxy. Read more.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Woodstock, UK
A flock of Canada Geese fly against the sunset over Blenheim Palace and Estate in Oxfordshire
Photograph: Pete Seaward

Rajasthan, India
Owls resting on a tree branch on the outskirts of Ajmer
Photograph: Abaca/Shutterstock

​​​​​​​Crowd – people gather at Summit One Vanderbilt in New York City
Photograph: Michael Kemter
Market Closes for September 27^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1985, Philip Morris agreed to buy General Foods for $120 per share, or $5.75 billion, in the largest takeover outside the oil industry at that time.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.6%, or 120.17 to 19,435.98 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since June 23.
Today, financials stocks led the market lower, as 9 of 11 sectors lost; 146 of 227 shares fell, while 80 rose.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.3%.
Africa Oil Corp. had the largest drop, falling 9.5%.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 0.3%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index fell 3.6%, heading for the biggest decline since the second quarter of 2022
* This month, the index fell 4.2%
* The index advanced 6.2% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.8% below its 52-week high on Feb. 2, 2023 and 8.7% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 3.9% in the past 5 days and fell 2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.7 on a trailing basis and 13.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.4% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.11t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.08% compared with 12.98% in the previous session and the average of 12.22% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -71.6841| -1.2| 2/25
Materials | -39.5747| -1.7| 13/38
Utilities | -25.7514| -3.1| 0/16
Industrials | -19.7952| -0.8| 12/14
Communication Services | -10.0667| -1.4| 0/5
Real Estate | -6.0333| -1.3| 3/18
Consumer Staples | -2.0817| -0.3| 3/8
Consumer Discretionary | -1.5313| -0.2| 8/6
Health Care | -0.0613| -0.1| 1/3
Information Technology | 5.6630| 0.4| 6/5
Energy | 50.7615| 1.4| 32/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | -15.2100| -1.3|n/a | -7.9
Canadian National | -11.2900| -1.8|n/a | -8.8
Barrick Gold | -9.4420| -3.8|n/a | -14.8
Cenovus Energy | 7.7130| 3.0|n/a | 7.8
Suncor Energy | 11.5300| 2.7|n/a | 10.5
Canadian Natural | | | |
Resources | 15.1900| 2.3|n/a | 18.5
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — Treasuries sold off while equities churned as investors contemplated the prospect of higher interest rates and rising oil prices as crude hit a one-year high.
The dollar extended its climb for a sixth day.
The yield on the 10-year traded above 4.6%, the highest since 2007, amid concerns about dwindling crude stockpiles and pressures on consumers.
The ICE BofA MOVE Index — which tracks expected bond volatility — hit the highest in a month this week.
Stock indexes erased a midday dip after President Joe Biden touted the promise artificial intelligence in a meeting with advisers.
A pledge of executive action on AI in the fall helped the Nasdaq 100 end the day up 0.2% with AI-favorite Nvidia Corp. pulling the tech-heavy gauge higher.
The largest US memory-chip maker, Micron Technology Inc., slipped in post-market trading after forecasting a worse-than-expected quarterly loss.
The S&P 500 ended the day little changed while the MSCI All Country World Index notched its ninth-straight decline, the global benchmark’s longest losing streak in a dozen years.
A potential shutdown that risks up to $1.9 billion a day in lost or delayed revenue and an autoworkers’ strike are worrying traders who are searching for signs that Federal Reserve officials may soften their hawkish message.
“If these downside scenarios hit the US economy, we might then have to do less with our monetary policy to bring inflation back down to 2% because the government shutdown or the auto strike may slow the economy for us,” Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said in an interview on CNN.
Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha said some tempering of the central bank’s messaging may be possible but an about-face is unlikely.
“Investors are looking ahead to upcoming speaking events as potentially providing an opportunity for the Fed leadership to dial it back with a view to curtailing the tightening in financial conditions,” said the firm’s vice chairman. “We do not think there is any realistic prospect of any early U-turn absent a further dramatic surge in yields.”
Traders will be honing in on speeches from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and a slew of other central bank officials later this week.
Friday data on the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, will also be closely watched.
Marko Kolanovic, the chief market strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., issued a warning Wednesday that there could be more volatility ahead, calling this summer’s lower levels in the VIX — Wall Street’s fear gauge — a “technical aberration.”
Meanwhile, consumer confidence has taken a knock from higher costs at the pump and the spreading impact of aggressive rate hikes.
West Texas Intermediate briefly topped $94 a barrel while gold plunged for the third day.
Appetite for the dollar continued to climb as a gauge of greenback strength rose for a sixth-day, its longest winning streak in a year.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s measure of how much bond investors are compensated for holding long-term debt turned positive for the first time since June 2021, suggesting traders are betting on elevated policy rates.
“We are at an inflexion point in the economy and the bond market,” Bob Michele, CIO for fixed income at JPMorgan Asset Management, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The last 15 years were not normal, we got to a structural low and now we are going to revert to something that is more normal.”
Later this week, a large options position held by a JPMorgan Chase & Co. equity fund has the potential to add fuel to the US stock selloff when tens of thousands of protective put contracts expire Friday at a strike price not far below the current level of the S&P 500.
Key events this week:
* Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Thursday
* US initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell town hall meeting with educators while Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee make speeches, Thursday
* Eurozone CPI, Friday
* Japan unemployment, industrial production, retail sales, Tokyo CPI, Friday
* US consumer spending, wholesale inventories, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks, Friday
* New York Fed President John Williams speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0506
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2139
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 149.59 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $26,248
* Ether rose 0.6% to $1,596.6
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 4.61%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.84%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.36%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.6% to $93.64 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 1.4% to $1,893.70 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of BloombergAutomation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Alice Atkins, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Sujata Rao.
 

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
 
Shabnam
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” —Walt Whitman

Shabnam Mohammadpourmarzbali
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
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