January 5, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!

On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, introduced a minimum wage scale of $5 per day.
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Also on this day, in 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tomorrow, January 6th , is the Epiphany
Epiphany has two definitions:
        1.The manifestation of a divine being.
        2.A sudden intuitive leap of understanding.
The gifts of Epiphany are found in your heart, bringing goodwill to your thoughts, words, and deeds in the coming year.  No matter what your beliefs, you can use this time of year to contemplate your relationship to nature, to spirit, and to other human beings.  Long before modern calendars, ancient folk traditions around the world provided rituals to deepen peoples’ experience of the year.  The cycle of the year is a magical procession for the human soul.   Age-old mystery traditions throughout the northern hemisphere spoke of the time following the winter solstice as a period when the spiritual world is more perceptible than at any other time of year.  The same is true for the period following the summer solstice for people in the southern hemisphere.  The time between sunset on Christmas Day, December 25th, and sunrise on the Epiphany, January 6th, was called by early Christians  the Twelve Holy Nights, a time when you can awaken the hidden spiritual wisdom of your own self.
May who you are in the deepest part of your being uniquely bless the world.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The Fiddlers Green sculpture, a 10 ft 6ins memorial created by sculptor Ray Lonsdale to honour fisherman who were killed doing their job, at the North Shields Fish Quay.


People look at the ice covering Cape Cod Bay in Orleans, Massachusetts.

People look at the sunset on the “Promenade des Anglais” in Nice, France.
Market Closes for January 5th, 2018

Market

Index

Close Change
Dow

Jones

25295.87 +220.74

 

+0.88%

 
S&P 500 2743.15 +19.16

 

+0.70%

 
NASDAQ 7136.559 +58.644

 

+0.83%

 
TSX 16349.44 -63.50

 

-0.39%

International Markets

Market

Index

Close Change
NIKKEI 23714.53 +208.20
+0.89%
HANG

SENG

30814.64 +78.16
+0.25%
SENSEX 34153.85 +184.21
+0.54%
FTSE 100* 7724.22 +28.34
+0.37%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.

10 Year Bond

2.153 2.083
CND.

30 Year

Bond

2.359 2.320
U.S.   

10 Year Bond

2.4745 2.4507
U.S.

30 Year Bond

2.8066 2.7847

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.80563 0.80097
US

$

1.24126 1.24848
     
Euro Rate

1 Euro=

  Inverse
Canadian $ 1.49330 0.66966
US

$

1.20305 0.83116

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold

Fix

1317.15 1314.50
     
Oil    
WTI Crude Future 61.44 62.01

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
3,616

The number of public companies listed on U.S. exchanges last year, less than half what it was in 1996. Investors and analysts are debating what role the decline has played in the stock market’s record run.
Canada
By Kristine Owram

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks declined for the first time in 2018 even as the country’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest in more than 40 years, sending the loonie and bond yields soaring.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 63 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,349.44, the largest drop in more than three weeks. Energy stocks were the biggest decliners, losing 1.6 percent as the price of crude fell 0.9 percent. Despite the drop, oil posted its strongest opening week of the year since 2013.
     The materials index fell 0.9 percent as the recent rally in base metals ground to a halt and gold miners retreated. Kinross Gold Corp. lost 2.1 percent and Barrick Gold Corp. fell 1.3 percent.
     In other moves:
                           Stocks
* Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. fell 7 percent. Analysts at GMP say the company is increasingly likely to cut its dividend this month
* BlackBerry Ltd. rose 2.9 percent. The company plans to launch a new product related to connected and self-driving cars at the Detroit auto show
* Canopy Growth Corp. rose 5.1 percent, rebounding from Thursday’s 9.9 percent drop. The company said it’s committed to only conducting business in jurisdictions where it’s legal
                           Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $25 discount to WTI
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.45 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,322.30 an ounce
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.6 percent to $1.2413 per U.S. dollar, the strongest in more than three months
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose seven basis points to 2.15 percent, the highest since September
US
By Kailey Leinz and Sarah Ponczek

     (Bloomberg) — Equities worldwide extended their stellar start to 2018, with U.S. indexes rising to record highs for a third consecutive day, as the synchronized growth story continues to win over investors.
     Treasuries slumped and the dollar was flat after a report showed U.S. payroll gains slowed by more than forecast in December, wages picked up slightly and the jobless rate held at the lowest level since 2000. The S&P 500 Index powered to a fresh record and registered its best week since December 2016 as investors looked past the jobs miss, speculating that Republican tax cuts will lead to higher corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index also hit all-time highs.
     “I wouldn’t overreact to this report,” Alan Krueger, a professor of economics at Princeton University, said on Bloomberg Television. “I don’t think this really changes the economic outlook all that much for 2018.”
     The Stoxx Europe 600 climbed with automakers and healthcare stocks outperforming. In Asia, benchmark indexes in Japan, South Korea and China were among the gainers after U.S. shares surged to fresh records Thursday. Emerging-market equities reached the highest since 2011.
     Commodities fell as oil pulled back from the highest close in more than three years.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                      Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.7 percent to 2,743.15 as of 4:06 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9 percent to 25,295.87. The NASDAQ Composite Index rose 0.8 percent to 7,136.558, also its best week since December 2016.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.9 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index rose 1.2 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.7 percent to the highest on record.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index increased 0.8 percent.
                      Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after dropping 0.1 percent. It declined for a fourth straight week.
* The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.204.
* The Japanese yen weakened for a third day, dropping 0.3 percent to 113.13 per dollar.
                       Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.47 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.44 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 1.24 percent.
                       Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate oil for February delivery fell 57 cents to settle at $61.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
* Gold dropped 0.2 percent to $1,320.19 an ounce.
* Copper dipped 1 percent to $3.23 a pound.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

You must give some time to your fellow men.  Even if it’s a little thing,
do something for others – something for which you get no pay
but the privilege of doing it.
                                              -Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

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