Month: July 2011

Dear Friends,

“Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will…”

-Jawaharal Nehru

  

  Photo of the Day:

Japan’s players celebrate with the trophy after the victory against the US in the Womans World Cup of Soccer Finale in Frankfurt. (REUTERS- Kai Pfaffenbach)

  

MARKET COMMENTARY

Canada

(Baystreet.ca)

The Toronto stock market hung onto a small gain late morning Friday amid rising oil prices.

 The S&P/TSX Composite Index approached noon ahead 34.83 points to 13,287.75 The Canadian dollar surged 0.64 cents to 104.78 cents U.S.

The energy sector rose as Suncor Energy climbed 34 cents to $37.94 and Canadian Natural Resources was ahead 32 cents to $39.62.

Copper futures were four cents higher $4.42 U.S. a pound and the base metals sector gained. Teck Resources rose 93 cents to $49.63 while Sherritt International declined 18 cents to $6.69.

 The gold sector was up as nervous investors pushed bullion prices further into record high territory for a ninth session. Kinross Gold added 12 cents to $16.49.

The financial sector was down as Royal Bank shed 51 cents to $52.84. CIBC said it will acquire a 41% equity interest in American Century Investments for $848 million U.S. Kansas City-based American Century is a major U.S. asset management company with $112 billion U.S. under management. CIBC shares gained 37 cents to $74.99.

 On the economic slate, Statistics Canada revealed that manufacturing sales fell by 0.8% in May from April, much worse than expected, with the auto industry not bouncing back yet from an April tumble, lent momentum by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

 The TSX Venture Exchange extended its gains by 11.34 points to 2,002.29, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 4.85 points to 556.41.

In Toronto, losing subgroups outnumbered gainers eight to five. Health-care sagged 1%, while consumer discretionaries slipped 0.5% and telecoms fell 0.4%. Energy led the gainers, up 1.3%, metals and mining surged 1.2% and materials gained 0.5%. Utilities were flat at noon hour. Oil for August delivery added $1.51 to $97.20 U.S. a barrel.

Gold futures for August delivery dropped $3.40 to $1,585.90 U.S. an ounce.

   

US

 (Reuters) – Anxiety over the results of European bank stress tests drove down the euro against the dollar on Friday and kept a lid on equities on both sides of the Atlantic, despite strong earnings from Google and Citigroup.

 Gold slipped after hitting record highs this week, with some of the recent risk aversion easing. Worries about the persistent euro zone debt woes have weighed on markets, along with the prospect of a U.S. debt default.

 The stress tests on European banks are expected to show that as many as 15 lenders need more capital to withstand a prolonged recession, with criticism growing that the tests do not encompass the impact of a Greek default. The results are to be published at about 1600 GMT. 

Investors remain deeply concerned by Europe’s inability to find a broader solution to a debt crisis that could eventually lead to a series of sovereign defaults and have wide-ranging implications for public finances and banks worldwide.

“There’s a general sense of nervousness prevailing because of the stress tests,” said Boris Schlossberg, director of FX research at GFT in New York.

 The euro edged lower to $1.41251, down 0.1 percent, while on the week, the euro was down 0.6 percent versus the dollar.

 The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was down 0.1 percent, while the MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.1 percent.

 Wall Street stocks opened higher after both Citigroup and Google reported stronger-than-expected earnings, adding to optimism about corporate results for the second quarter. But the market pared gained on concern over the European bank stress tests and signs of weakness in the U.S. economy.

 U.S. consumer sentiment in early July fell to its lowest since March 2009 and manufacturing in New York state contracted unexpectedly, according to data released on Friday. Indexes are down for the week.

 The Dow Jones industrial average was up 23.72 points, or 0.19 percent, at 12,460.84. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 4.41 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,313.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.94 points, or 0.65 percent, at 2,780.61. 

Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei average closed 0.4 percent higher.

 The dollar was supported by some safe-haven buying due to the contraction in the New York state’s manufacturing index in July and the drop in a U.S. consumer sentiment index spurred some safe-haven buying of the greenback. The euro and some risk-sensitive currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars fell against the dollar.

 But the focus remained squarely on the critical euro zone bank stress tests. They are expected to show that around 10-15 lenders have insufficient capital to withstand a prolonged recession.

 Traders, however, cited talk that banks in the euro zone failing the tests could actually be more than 20. “The key number is 15. If the number is higher than 15 banks, then that would create a disturbance in euro/dollar,” said Schlossberg of GFT.

 The euro has borne up relatively well against the dollar due to parallel concerns over the United States’ own debt troubles and hints further monetary easing could yet be on the cards there, potentially flooding global markets with dollars.  

Worries the euro zone debt crisis was spreading to Italy have driven Italian bond yields up half a percent since last Friday and slashed valuations of financial sector firms across the region.

U.S. Treasury prices rose as worries over the fallout from the prolonged debt crisis in Europe and stalled U.S. budget and deficit talks bolstered the safe-haven appeal of U.S. government debt.

 Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR were trading 8/32 higher in price to yield 2.93 percent, down from 2.96 percent late Thursday.

 Spot gold was bid at $1,583.49 a troy ounce from $1,586.75 an ounce late in New York on Thursday when the precious metal hit a record high of $1,594.16.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau, Atul Prakash, William

James, Jessica Mortimer and Simon Jessop in London, and Edward

Krudy in New York; Graphics by Scott Barber and Vincent

Flasseur; Editing by Leslie Adler)

 

As Ever,

Kyle, for Carolann.

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

France celebrates Bastille Day today and it is a national holiday.  Bastille was a medieval fortress and prison in east Paris, the symbol of Bourbon despotism.  When it was stormed by a Parisian mob on this day in 1789, there were only 7  prisoners, but lots of gunpowder to fuel the French Revolution.  Its destruction came to have a unique place in French revolutionary ideology as marking the end of the ancient régime. 

On July 14^th, 1906, A.C. Benson wrote in his diary:  The scent and sound of the great lime tree, full of flowers and bees, came softly to us in the still afternoon.  How strange it is that the lime tree smells so perilously sweet, and yet that single blossom has hardly any fragrance – only a vegetable catkin sort of smell.

Here’s a great idea – saw it in today’s Globe & Mail:

Book lovers’ paradises

“Twice annually, Bill Gates schedules a week-long ‘reading retreat’ during which he does nothing but pore over the books and papers he’s set aside during the year,” Salon says.  “He’s not alone: The idea seems particularly popular in the U.K., where you can sign up at London’s School of Life to receive a customized book list (they have ‘bibliotherapists’ on staff to compile one based on a telephone consultation) and lodging in one of several modern country houses.”

 Photos of the day 

July 14, 2011

Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein of Denmark, riding Digby, competes in the FEI Grand Prix CDIO competition at the World Equestrian Festival CHIO in Aachen, Germany. Ina Fassbender/Reuters

A girl stands next to a section of a sand sculpture titled Andy Warhol by sculptors Inese Valtere-Ulande and Pedro Mira at the Festival of Sand Sculptures 2011 under the topic Masterpieces of World Culture at a beach near the Peter and Pawel Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters

Market Commentary:

 

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 14 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks dropped for the first time in three days as energy and raw-materials producers fell on speculation the U.S. is unlikely to restart stimulus policies immediately.

Copper producer First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 3.1 percent after receiving a “reduce” rating from an analyst at Arbuthnot Banking Group Plc. Gabriel Resources Ltd., which is developing a gold and silver mine in Romania, surged 9.3 percent after getting government approval of its archaeological review.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. retreated 3.3 percent after an analyst at Needham & Co. cut his profit estimates for the company.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index slipped 72.02 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,252.92. The index had advanced 0.6 percent before U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank won’t soon begin a third round of bond purchases, a strategy known as quantitative easing.

“Some people were paying attention to Bernanke’s comments yesterday that he was ready to ease monetary policy if the economy did slow,” Jeff Bradacs, senior investment analyst on a Manulife Asset Management team that oversees about C$1.7 billion ($1.8 billion), said in a telephone interview. “People were expecting QE3 from those comments, and now not.”

The S&P/TSX gained 0.7 percent yesterday as Bernanke told a Congressional committee the bank might renew stimulus policies if the economy stalls.                           

Speculation that the Fed might return to stimulus policies helped propel gold futures to a record high yesterday. The S&P/TSX Materials Index rallied 6 percent this month through yesterday as gold advanced 5.5 percent. Precious-metals companies make up 13 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Bernanke told a U.S. Senate committee today that higher inflation will discourage the central bank from restarting quantitative easing quickly. “We’re not prepared at this point to take further action,” he said.

Precious-metals producers fell as gold fluctuated after seven days of gains. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, decreased 1.3 percent to C$46.01. Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., Canada’s fourth-biggest company in the industry by market value, slipped 1.4 percent to C$62.07. Extorre Gold Mines Ltd., which explores in Argentina, slumped a record 14 percent to C$12.57 after Michael Gray, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd., cut his rating on it to “neutral” from “outperform.”                   

 Gabriel Resources Ltd., which is developing a gold and silver mine in Romania, soared 9.3 percent, the most since November, to C$8 after saying the country’s government has signed off on the company’s archaeological review of historic mining activity on the site.

Base-metals companies fell as copper and zinc futures dropped. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest producer of industrial metals and coal, declined 2.1 percent to C$48.70. HudBay Minerals, Inc., which mines copper and zinc in Canada, lost 2.3 percent to C$14.59.

First Quantum decreased 3.1 percent to C$131.21 after Gavin Wood, an analyst at Arbuthnot in London, set a 12-month price estimate for its U.K.-traded shares 14 percent below their closing price yesterday.

In a note to clients, Wood cited the shares’ performance since 2009 — they gained four times as much as the FTSE 300 Mining Index through yesterday — and the chance they may slump if copper retreats or new mines are delayed.                      

 Energy stocks declined as crude oil futures retreated the most in three weeks in New York. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 1.2 percent to C$37.60. Talisman Energy Inc., which operates in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, decreased 2.1 percent to C$18.05.

The S&P/TSX Insurance Index slumped to the lowest level since June 17. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth- biggest insurer, lost 1.1 percent to C$16.03. Sun Life Financial Inc., Canada’s No. 3 insurer, fell for a seventh day, slipping 2 percent to an eight-month low of C$27.54 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading.

RIM declined 3.3 percent to C$26.18 after Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co., cut his 2012 and 2013 profit estimates on the company. Unless the company improves its sales in the consumer market, “RIM is likely to become a shadow of its former self,” Wolf wrote in a note to clients.

Gildan Activewear Inc., Canada’s largest apparel maker, sank 4.6 percent, the most in seven months, to C$32.91. In a note to clients, Kenneth M. Stumphauzer, an analyst at Sterne Agee Group Inc., said his firm’s surveys indicate Gildan’s wholesale sales volumes dropped more than 10 percent in June.

US

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft and Victoria Stilwell

July 14 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the lowest level of the month, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he’s not prepared to take immediate action to stimulate the economy.

Raw-material producers, technology and industrial companies lost the most among the 10 main industries in the S&P 500 Index, which erased a gain of as much as 0.7 percent. Marriott International Inc. dropped 6.6 percent on a lower-than-estimated earnings forecast. JPMorgan Chase & Co. rallied 1.8 percent after investment banking profit surged and more customers paid their credit-card bills on time.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.7 percent to 1,308.87 at 4 p.m. in New York, its lowest level since June 29, as a stalemate continued in Washington on negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 54.49 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,437.12 after surging 90 points following JPMorgan’s report.

“The market is going to be volatile until we get the situation in Washington resolved,” said Don Wordell, a fund manager for Atlanta-based RidgeWorth Capital Management, which oversees about $48 billion. “Earnings have been coming in pretty good and corporate balance sheets are in great shape,” he said in a telephone interview. “The economic data reports were positive.”

Bernanke testified for a second day before lawmakers after saying yesterday he’s prepared to provide more stimulus if needed. Bernanke said today that inflation now is “higher” and “closer” to the central bank’s informal target than was the case in August and that’s one reason why the Fed won’t immediately embark on a third round of bond-buying. “We’re not prepared at this point to take further action,” he told the Senate Banking Committee.

The S&P 500 has rallied 93 percent since March 2009 as the Fed used large-scale asset purchases to buoy the economy and companies posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. The index has still fallen 4 percent since April 29 this year on concern the economic recovery is at risk and as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis grows.

Stocks were also pressured today after Moody’s Investors Service said late yesterday the U.S. government may lose the Aaa credit rating it’s held since 1917 on concern the country’s debt limit will not be raised in time to prevent a missed payment of interest or principal. President Barack Obama is considering summoning congressional leaders to Camp David this weekend to work on a plan to raise the debt ceiling after yesterday’s negotiations on a deficit-cutting plan of at least $2 trillion stalled, two people familiar with the matter said.

“Rating agencies don’t tell us anything we don’t know, but Moody’s warning underlines the seriousness of the situation and the game of chicken at Capitol Hill,” said Philip Marey, senior U.S. economist at Rabobank in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Equities gained early in the day as government data showed retail sales unexpectedly increased and jobless claims fell more than economists estimated. The 0.1 percent increase in retail sales reported by the Commerce Department compared with the median forecast of a 0.1 percent drop in the Bloomberg News survey of 80 economists. Excluding auto sales, purchases were little changed, the weakest performance since July 2010.

Separate data showed initial jobless claims fell by 22,000 to 405,000 last week. Industrial and technology companies retreated 1 percent each, while materials producers lost 0.9 percent.

Earnings are gaining attention as more companies post second-quarter results. S&P 500 profits are forecast to have grown 13 percent in the quarter, the smallest increase in two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Google Inc. jumped 11 percent to $585.97 at 4:58 p.m. in after-market trading in New York. The owner of the world’s largest Internet search engine reported sales and profit that topped analysts’ estimates, a sign the company is benefiting from an effort to expand into mobile and display advertising.

“The market is being driven by macro events such as the U.S. and European debt crises,” Giri Cherukuri, who helps manage $2.6 billion as money manager and head trader at Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois, said in a telephone interview.

“But we’re heading into the heart of earnings season, and people are getting ready for a change towards a market that’ll be focused on the earnings reports of major companies.”

Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank, and Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy maker, are among companies reporting earnings tomorrow.

JPMorgan, the second-largest U.S. bank, advanced 1.8 percent to $40.35 after the New York-based bank reported its highest half-year profit ever, at almost $11 billion. Second- quarter net income climbed 13 percent from a year earlier, to $5.43 billion, or $1.27 a share, six cents higher than the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

MBIA Inc. jumped 9.2 percent to $10.02. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank, has made a preliminary offer to the bond insurer aimed at settling a legal dispute tied to defective mortgages, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

ConocoPhillips jumped 1.6 percent to $75.61. The Houston, Texas-based oil company said it will separate its refining and marketing and exploration and production businesses.

Yum! Brands Inc. climbed 1.4 percent to $56.37 as the owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains boosted its earnings forecast for the year on increasing customer traffic at restaurants in China.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. declined 2.8 percent to $24.88. The seller of life insurance and property-casualty coverage said second-quarter net income plunged on catastrophe claims and the cost of asbestos liabilities.

Marriott International Inc. declined 6.6 percent to $34.69 after forecasting earnings that fell short of estimates. The largest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain said third-quarter earnings won’t be higher than 29 cents a share, missing the 30- cent average analyst projection.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

“We ask ourselves

is it possible to break through this heavy conditioning of centuries immediately

and not enter into another conditioning – to be free,

so that the mid can be altogether new, sensitive,

alive, aware, intense, capable?”

 

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

 “Never let a problem to be solved become

more important than the person to be

loved.”

         -Barbara Johnson, 1947-2009

 

 Tangents:

 Summer Reading:

TOLSTOY AND THE PURPLE CHAIR: My Year of Magical Reading

by Nina Sankovitch

HarperCollins

When her older sister died, Nina Sankovitch was determined to both honor her life and ease her own grief by reading a book a day.  Sankovitch’s memoir stands as a tribute to the power of books to enrich our daily lives.  

Fiction:

STATE OF WONDER

by Ann Patchett     

Even better than “Bel Canto”?  That’s what at least one early reviewer says of Ann Patchett’s latest.  I loved Bel Canto, so this will be at the top of my list this week.  This new novel is set in the Amazon, where a young pharmaceutical worker has been sent by her boss (who also happens to be her lover) to investigate the death of a colleague.

All hard work leads to profit; but mere talk leads only to poverty.

                                                                  – Warren Buffett

Did You Know?  

The precise origin of the phrases “bull market” and “bear market” are obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary cites an 1891 use of the term “bull market”. In French “bulle spéculative” refers to a speculative market bubble. The Online Etymology Dictionary relates the word “bull” to “inflate, swell”, and dates its stock market connotation to 1714. 

One hypothetical etymology points to London bearskin “jobbers” (market makers), who would sell bearskins before the bears had actually been caught in contradiction of the proverb ne vendez pas la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué (“don’t sell the bearskin before you’ve killed the bear”)-an admonition against over-optimism.

By the time of the South Sea Bubble of 1721, the bear was also associated with short selling; jobbers would sell bearskins they did not own in anticipation of falling prices, which would enable them to buy them later for an additional profit.                                                                      

Photos of the day 

July 13, 2011

A group of Sri Lankan young Buddhist monks parade, seeking alms in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In Buddhism, giving of alms is the beginning of one’s journey to Nirvana, the state of perfect bliss. Eranga Jayawardena/AP

Europcar rider Thomas Voeckler (2nd l.) of France, wearing the yellow jersey, rides with the pack during the 11th stage of the Tour de France 2011 cycling race from Blaye Les Mines to Lavaur, France. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 13 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second day as financial and energy companies advanced on speculation the U.S. may return to stimulus policies and demand for a haven from debt crises propelled precious-metals producers.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer of the metal, increased 2.6 percent as gold futures climbed to a record. Cenovus Energy Inc., Canada’s fifth-largest energy company, increased 2.1 percent as U.S. oil inventories dropped.

Teck Resources Ltd., the country’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, climbed 1.1 percent after China reported faster economic growth than most economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast.

“It’s a lack of confidence in terms of what’s happening to the euro,” said Todd Johnson, a money manager at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which oversees C$300 million ($313 million). “The U.S. debt-ceiling debacle and the dysfunctional politics make people realize they need more tangible hard currency, adding to demand for precious metals.”

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 90.87 points, or 0.7 percent, to 13,324.94.

The S&P/TSX rallied 3.5 percent from a seven-month low on June 17 through yesterday as gold stocks jumped 9.9 percent.

Three of the world’s five largest gold companies by market value, and eight of the top 20, are Canadian, according to Bloomberg data.

Gold has surged 6.7 percent since July 1 as investors speculated the European debt crisis will spread beyond Greece and the Aug. 2 deadline for raising the U.S. debt ceiling to prevent default neared without an agreement among lawmakers.                      

Gold gained 1.5 percent while silver surged 7.1 percent, the most in 27 months, a day after Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland’s credit rating to below investment grade. The U.S. dollar dropped the most in three weeks today against a basket of world currencies.

Barrick climbed 2.6 percent to C$46.62. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-biggest gold producer by market value, increased 2.5 percent to C$52.12, extending its July advance to 12 percent. Tahoe Resources Inc., which is developing a silver project in Guatemala, soared 14 percent to C$19.92.

North American Palladium Inc., a precious-metals producer in Ontario, jumped 18 percent, the most in 17 months, to C$4.51 after Leon Esterhuizen, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, raised his rating on the shares to “outperform” from “sector perform.”

Energy companies rose as natural gas futures advanced for a fourth day on forecasts for above-normal temperatures in the U.S. Stocks extended their gains after the U.S. reported a weekly drop in crude inventories more than twice as large as the median analyst forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

Cenovus climbed 2.1 percent to C$36.25. Trican Well Service Ltd., Canada’s largest oilfield-services company, rallied 5.4 percent to C$25.69. ARC Resources Ltd., which produces oil and gas in western Canada, increased 1.8 percent to C$24.50.

Trilogy Energy Corp., a western Canadian oil and gas producer, rallied 8.8 percent to a five-year high of C$27.45 after jumping 5.5 percent yesterday. Mark Polak, an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, called the stock a “top pick” July 11.

Producers of base metals gained after China, the world’s biggest user of the commodities, said its gross domestic product increased 9.5 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier. Economists had forecast economic growth of 9.3 percent, according to the median of 18 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.                    

Teck climbed 1.1 percent to C$49.73. Quadra FNX Mining Ltd., which produces copper in Canada, the U.S. and Chile, rose 3.1 percent to C$14.37. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., which is developing a copper and gold mine in Mongolia with Rio Tinto Group, gained 2.3 percent to C$24.94.

Directory publisher Yellow Media Inc. sank 5.1 percent to C$2.25, extending its 2011 plunge to 64 percent, after Tim Casey, an analyst at Bank of Montreal, cut his rating on the stock to “underperform” from “market perform.” The shift to online listings from printed publications will reduce profit margins, Casey said in a note to clients.

Telus Corp., Canada’s third-largest wireless carrier, advanced 1.9 percent to C$54.27. Adam Shine, an analyst at National Bank of Canada, began coverage of the company with an “outperform” rating in a note dated yesterday. He cited the growth of the smartphone and wireless-data markets.

US

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft and Victoria Stilwell

July 13 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks pared gains, almost erasing a 164-point gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after the Associated Press reported that House Speaker John Boehner said it’s a “crapshoot” whether the federal debt limit will be boosted if an agreement isn’t reached by Aug. 2.

AP later updated its story, quoting Boehner as saying “it’s a crapshoot” to determine what would happen if the limit isn’t increased. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.3 percent to 1,317.72 at 4 p.m. in New York. Earlier, it climbed 1.4 percent after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he’s prepared to provide more stimulus if needed and China’s economic growth beat estimates. The Dow rose 44.73 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12.491.61.

“The market took the reported information for what it is worth and traded off sharply on it,” said Philip Orlando, the New York-based chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors Inc., which oversees $354.9 billion. “The market has the potential to recover tomorrow based upon a restatement of what the speaker felt he said.”

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Be magnificent!

I see things with an intense joy,

and while I observe, there is no observer, only a beauty almost like love.

For an instant, I am absent, myself and my problems, my anxieties, my troubles: nothing but this wonder exists.

 

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved

the absolute rejection of authority.

  -Thomas H. Huxley, 1825-1895 

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Lady Gaga complained that the U.S. is allowing Iran and North Korea to get nukes and we have to stop

them. Before the White House makes any decision, they’re waiting to hear from Britney Spears.

                                                                                                                       – Jay Leno

 

MORE TITLES FOR THE SUMMER’S BEST READS:

Non-Fiction:

THE HOUSE IN FRANCE by Gully Wells

Knopf Doubleday

A memoir by the daughter of a privileged London couple who owned a beloved summer home in France is an engaging glimpse into the lives of interesting Europeans in the 1960s.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WALK IN  THE WORLD: A Pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter

HarperCollins

Film critic and biographer John Baxter takes readers on various strolls through the streets of Paris, tracking both the city’s history and the many celebrated figures who have savored the art of walking in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

Photos of the day

July 12, 2011

Flutes are played around a bonfire as the Orange Order celebrates a divisive annual holiday called The Twelfth in Glenarm, Northern Ireland. Paul Faith/AP

Former Nepalese Crown Princess Himani Shah offers prayers by lighting a butter lamp at the temple of Lord Ganesh in Kathmandu, Nepal. Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

Market Commentary:

                                                           

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 12 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the first time in three days as gold advanced for a sixth-straight session and mining companies gained as investors sought havens from the European debt crisis.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest producer of the metal by market value, increased 2.9 percent. Westport Innovations Inc., which develops natural-gas engine technologies, jumped 8 percent after energy producer Chesapeake Energy Corp. said it will form a fund to invest in its industry. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the owner of Mac’s convenience stores, climbed 3 percent after beating analysts’ profit forecasts.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index increased 83.94 points, or 0.6 percent, to 13,263.69 at 2:26 p.m. in Toronto after sinking as much as 0.6 percent earlier today.

“There’s risk aversion with respect to what’s happening in Europe,” said Andrew Pyle, who helps manage C$200 million ($207 million) as an associate money manager at Bank of Nova Scotia’s ScotiaMcLeod unit in Peterborough, Ontario. “We’re seeing two streams of safe-haven flows right now, one to the U.S. dollar, and you’ve got gold going up.”

 The S&P/TSX dropped the most in five weeks yesterday as investors speculated the European crisis will spread to Italy and oil and base metals fell. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 49 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

The euro touched a four-month low against the U.S. dollar today as European finance officials considered remedies that would put Greece into temporary default, a move opposed by the European Central Bank.

In the U.S., President Barack Obama rejected Republican Party efforts    to focus on a scaled-down deficit-reduction deal, saying the country needs to both cut spending and raise taxes.

Stocks extended their advance after the U.S. Federal Open Market committee minutes showed some members at its June 21-22 meeting said more stimulus may be necessary.

Gold stocks contributed the most to the S&P/TSX’s rise among industries in the index as the metal rallied 0.8 percent.

Goldcorp gained 2.9 percent to C$50.23. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer, advanced 2.4 percent to C$45.55. Rubicon Minerals Corp., which explores for gold in Ontario, rebounded 9 percent from a 22-month low to C$3.39.

Silver Wheaton Corp., the country’s fourth-biggest precious-metals company by market value, increased 5.1 percent to C$35.69 as silver rose in electronic trading.

 Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow- based ARMZ Uranium Holding, climbed 5.4 percent to C$2.95 after David A. Talbot, an analyst at Dundee Securities Corp., said uranium companies are “showing positive momentum” four months after Japan’s earthquake and nuclear disaster.

“We are starting to see more positive news coming from the sector — indications that despite Fukushima, not all that much has changed regarding the supply-demand fundamentals of the sector,” Talbot wrote in a note to clients, referring to the stricken Japanese nuclear power plant.

Westport Innovations surged 8 percent to C$25.41 after Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake said it will invest $1 billion in companies that develop infrastructure or technology to increase the use of gas as a motor fuel. Westport shares have soared 20 percent since June 27, the day before it said it will work with General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, on engine technologies.                       

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the owner of Mac’s and Circle K convenience stores, rallied 3 percent to a record C$28.94 after reporting profit that beat the estimates of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 25 percent.

An index of S&P/TSX telecommunications companies rose the most in three weeks as Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission held hearings on BCE Inc.’s proposal to impose usage-based billing on independent Internet service providers. Tom Pentefountas, the CRTC’s vice chairman for broadcasting, asserted the union-backed organization fighting the changes is as self-interested as the large companies, the CBC said on its website.

 BCE gained 1.4 percent to C$38.29. Rogers Communications Inc., the cable television provider and wireless carrier, advanced 1.8 percent to C$38.57.

US

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft and Victoria Stilwell

 July 12 (Bloomberg) — A late rally in U.S. stocks faded, dragging the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a third straight loss, after Ireland’s downgrade to junk added to concern Europe is losing control of the credit crisis and overshadowed evidence the Federal Reserve hasn’t ruled out more stimulus.

Semiconductor-related shares slumped, with Intel Corp.falling 1.8 percent after Novellus Systems Inc. forecast lower- than-estimated third-quarter earnings. Alcoa Inc. slipped 1.3 percent after second-quarter profit missed analyst estimates. Cisco Systems Inc. jumped 1.1 percent after two people familiar with the matter said it would announce job cuts.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 1,313.64 at 4 p.m. in New York, after the index fluctuated between gains and losses throughout the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 58.88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,446.88.

“There’s not a whole lot of conviction in the market,” said Jason Brady, a managing director at Thornburg Investment Management in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which oversees about $80 billion in assets. “Most investors are following Europe, and they are waiting to see if the earnings season will be good enough for them to get excited about equity prices. If that doesn’t happen, then you can add corporate performance to the ugly mix.”

The benchmark index for U.S. equities gave up 2.5 percent during the previous two sessions, the most for the S&P 500 since March, as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis will spread and American lawmakers failed to agree on cutting the deficit. The gauge had climbed 5.9 percent over the previous two weeks, its biggest gain since October 2009. The rebound in July came after the S&P 500 tumbled 3.2 percent in May and June amid disappointing economic data.

The S&P 500 rallied as much as 0.6 percent today following the 2 p.m. release of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting. The Fed report said policymakers continued to debate whether additional stimulus will be needed if the outlook for economic growth remains weak. Some members noted that the committee might need to consider further stimulus, while others voiced concern about an increased inflation risk that might warrant tighter monetary policy.

“The market rallied on the news that the Fed is certainly not ruling out further stimulus to further inflate the economy,” said Burt White, who helps oversee $330 billion as chief investment officer at LPL Financial Corp. in Boston. “We think it’s probably more hope than reality,” he said. “The backdrop is still difficult with the mess in Europe and a bumpy start to the earnings season with Alcoa.”                     

The rally fizzled late in the day as Ireland’s credit rating was cut to non-investment grade by Moody’s, joining Portugal and Greece to become the third euro-area country to be lowered to junk. Equities had recovered from losses of as much as 1.8 percent before the market opened on signs of progress in Europe.

Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said selective default on Greek debt is not an option envisioned by euro-region finance ministers, while European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said officials reached agreement that investors should play a role in a second bailout of Greece. EU President Herman Van Rompuy said he didn’t rule out calling an emergency summit on Greece, although no decision has been taken.

“We’re in a very volatile period for markets and investors are almost paralyzed because they don’t know where the safe haven is,” said George Feiger, chief executive offer of Contango Capital Advisors Inc., a San Francisco-based wealth management firm with about $3.5 billion in assets. “It’s caused by a conjunction of factors, including the risk that Europe and the U.S. can’t deal with their debt issues effectively.”                        

The S&P 500 is trading near the level of 1,316 that represents the convergence of the index’s mean price over the last 50 and 100 days, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Moving averages are cited by analysts who use price charts as points where buying may pick up or selling snowball as investors reconsider past decisions. The gauge’s 200-day level is 1,274, based on intraday swings.

Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, swung between gains and losses after second-quarter profit excluding certain items of 32 cents a share missed the 33-cent average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The stock lost 1.3 percent to $15.71 after rising as much as 1.2 percent.     Alcoa unofficially started the earnings season in the U.S. after exchanges closed yesterday. Others reporting this week include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Google Inc. S&P 500 profits are forecast to have grown 13 percent in the quarter, the smallest increase in two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Utility companies and health-care stocks gained the most among 10 S&P 500 groups today, climbing 0.5 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, while industrials performed the worst, dropping 1 percent.                     

Novellus tumbled 11 percent to $31.75. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Hill said yesterday that profit before certain costs in the current period will be 60 cents to 75 cents a share for the maker of machinery used in semiconductor production. That compares with the average analyst estimate of 84 cents, based on a Bloomberg survey. Sales will be $300 million to $340 million, Hill said on a conference call, while analysts had predicted $360.7 million.

Chipmakers are showing a more cautious tone in orders from San Jose, California-based Novellus, and may hold off purchases until 2012, Hill said.

Semiconductor companies fell the most among 24 groups in the S&P 500, losing 2.8 percent. Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, decreased 1.8 percent to $22.45. Microchip Technology Inc. tumbled 12 percent to $32.93 for the biggest retreat in the S&P 500. The maker of analog chips said sales and earnings for the quarter ended in June missed its forecasts.

Cisco, the largest networking-equipment company, rallied 1.1 percent to $15.60 for the biggest gain in the Dow. The company may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, to revive profit growth, according to two people familiar with the plans. Motorola Solutions Inc. dropped 1.5 percent to $43.50.

Morgan Stanley cut the maker of bar-code scanners, walkie- talkies and other emergency-communication equipment to “equalweight” from “overweight.” Radiant Systems Inc. surged 30 percent to $27.99. The maker of software for retailers was acquired by NCR Corp. for $28 a share.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

When one lives with concepts one never learns.  The concepts become static.

You may change them but the very transformation of one concept to another is still static, is still fixed.

But to have the sensitivity to feel, seeing that life is not a movement of two separate activities,

the external and the inward, to see that it is one, to realize that the inter-relationship is this movement,

is this ebb and flow of sorrow and pleasure and joy and depression, loneliness and escape,

to perceive nonverbally this life as a whole, not fragmented, nor broken up, is to learn.

 

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

 

As ever,

 Carolann

In the end, we will remember not the words

of our enemies, but the silence of

our friends.

             -Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Summer Reading –The List – Authors’ all-time favorite books:

Book critic and editor J. Peder Zane asked 125 writers – among them Stephen King, Jonathan Franzen, and Margaret Drabble – to pick their favorite books.  Here are the five most mentioned:

1. ANNA KARENINA, by Leo Tolstoy.  Many readers consider Tolstoy’s 1876 story of a Russian society woman who leaves her loveless marriage for a dashing paramour the single greatest novel ever written.

 

1. MADAME BOVARY, by Gustave Flaubert.  A bored, beautiful housewife is at the center of this 1857 tale of provincial adultery.  Some 150 years later, readers of both sexes still find themselves and their neighbors in its pages.

 

1. WAR AND PEACE, by Leo Tolstoy.  The book’s length (1,000-plus pages) may intimidate some, but many fans of this 1869 story of aristocratic Russian families and the Napoleonic invasion say they wish it would never end.

 

1. LOLITA, by Vladimir Nabokov.  This 1955 novel about a middle-aged literary scholar obsessed with a 12-year old girl is at least as infamous and it is famous.

 

1. ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, by Mark Twain.  His 1884 story of a boy traveling down the Mississippi with a runaway slave is widely considered the masterpiece of American literature.  And its language still makes it the book most challenged in US libraries.

 

                                                                                                                                                             -Marjorie Kehe

Photos of the day

July 8, 2011

The space shuttle Atlantis STS-135 lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL. The 12-day mission to the International Space Station is the last mission in the Space Shuttle program. Pierre Ducharme/Reuters

The pack passes under a bridge near Onzain during the seventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 135.5 miles starting in Le Mans and finishing in Chateauroux, central France. Christophe Ena/AP

Market Commentary:

 

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 8 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, trimming a weekly gain, as oil and base-metals prices slipped after the U.S. reported an increase in its unemployment rate.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, dropped 1.6 percent after the U.S. Labor Department said non-farm employment increased last month by the least since September. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Canada’s second- biggest energy company by market value, declined 3.1 percent as crude oil lost the most in two weeks. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, rose 2.6 percent as corn and wheat gained.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 34.3 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,371.70, reducing its weekly advance to 0.5 percent.

The jobs data “put a real damper on the market,” said David Cockfield, senior vice president and managing director at Northland Wealth Management in Toronto, which oversees C$200 million ($208 million). “People were expecting better. There were various excuses for previous bad numbers — Japan, bad weather — and those excuses are starting to run off.”

The S&P/TSX rose seven of the previous eight days as European leaders took action to prevent a Greek default and a gauge of U.S. manufacturing surpassed economists’ forecasts. The index slumped 5 percent from the end of March as U.S. unemployment increased in April and May. Seventy-five percent of Canadian exports went to the U.S. last year, according to Statistics Canada.                      

U.S. payrolls rose by 18,000 in June, less than all 85 economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The unemployment rate climbed to 9.2 percent, the highest since December, from 9.1 percent.

Unemployment in Canada was unchanged at 7.4 percent, the lowest since January 2009.

Crude oil futures retreated 2.5 percent after the release of the U.S. jobs report. Canadian Oil Stands Ltd., the largest owner of the Syncrude project, decreased 1 percent to C$28.01. Bonavista Energy Corp., a western Canadian energy producer, fell3.2 percent to C$28.15.

 Canadian Natural slumped 3.1 percent to C$40.36 after Thomas R. Driscoll, an analyst at Barclays Plc, cut his rating on the shares to “equal weight” from “overweight.” About 70 percent of the company’s capital spending “may be devoted to assets with unexciting rates of return,” Driscoll said in a note to clients.

All major base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange dropped, with copper declining from a 10-week high. Teck lost 1.6 percent to C$50.15. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, decreased 2.2 percent to C$136.20.                         

Corn rose 3.5 percent, extending the first weekly gain since May, as forecasts for hot, dry weather in the U.S. Midwest led to concern crops may suffer. Wheat advanced 2.6 percent.

Potash Corp. increased 2.6 percent to C$56.89. Agrium Inc., Canada’s second-largest fertilizer producer, climbed 1.5 percent to C$86.30. Viterra Inc., Canada’s biggest grain handler, rose 1.9 percent to C$10.92.

European Goldfields Ltd., which is developing mines in Europe, surged 11 percent to C$13.65 after receiving environmental approval for its projects in Greece. Shares of the Whitehorse, Yukon-based company soared 35 percent this week, the most since 2003.

Directory publisher Yellow Media Inc. tumbled 11 percent to C$2.40 after Scott Cuthbertson, an analyst at Toronto-Dominion Bank, cut his rating on the shares to “reduce” from “hold.”

US

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft

July 8 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks sank, pulling down the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index from a two-month high, as the weakest American job growth in nine months hurt companies most tied to the economy.

Financial and industrial companies led losses among 10 S&P 500 groups, dropping more than 1.2 percent. General Electric Co. and Bank of America Corp. fell at least 1.6 percent, the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after the Labor Department reported job growth that was about one-sixth the median economist forecast. Google Inc. lost 2.7 percent as Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent to 1,343.80 at 4 p.m. in New York, after falling as much as 1.4 percent. The index rose 0.3 percent this week, extending its two-week rally to 5.9 percent, the most since October 2009. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 62.29 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,657.20 today.

“The report is exceedingly disappointing,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages $54 billion. “It fell short of just about everyone’s expectations and it certainly has to disappoint equity investors. It wasn’t just a miss, it was a complete whiff.”

The S&P 500 Index retreated from within 0.8 percent of a three-year high after U.S. payrolls increased by 18,000 in June, less than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, which called for growth of 105,000 on average. The jobless rate rose to a 2011 high of 9.2 percent.                        

Losses in companies reliant on economic growth today represented a reversal from the past three weeks. The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index tracking manufacturers, commodity producers and transportation stocks rose 10 percent between June 16 and yesterday, beating the Morgan Stanley Consumer Index of drugmakers and grocers by 6.6 percentage points. Amid concern the debt crisis in European nations including Greece would slow global growth, the consumer index outperformed the cyclical index by 9.7 points between Feb. 17 and June 16.

The S&P 500 had climbed 6.7 percent since the start of last week as Greek lawmakers passed a five-year austerity package, qualifying the country for further aid, and yesterday’s report from ADP Employer Services showed U.S. companies added twice as many jobs as forecast in June.

The Morgan Stanley index of 30 cyclical stocks slumped 1.1 percent today, reversing two days of gains. Financial and industrial stocks lost 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively, the most among 10 industries in the S&P 500.

Shares of commodity companies slipped 0.7 percent.                         

Bank of America declined 2 percent to $10.70 and General Electric Co. fell 1.6 percent to $18.99 for the biggest losses in the Dow. Cisco, the world’s largest maker of networking equipment, slumped 1 percent to $15.74. Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of construction equipment, dropped 1.1 percent to $110.41.

Staffing companies declined after the U.S. job report showed that hiring by companies was the weakest since May 2010. Monster Worldwide Inc. sank 3.2 percent to $14.65. Manpower Inc. dropped 4.3 percent to $56.13.

“It means that we’re still a ways off from getting to where we should be,” Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in an interview from Sun Valley, Idaho, with Bloomberg Television’s Betty Liu on the “In the Loop” program. “How fast the recovery will come, I don’t know. I see nothing that indicates any kind of a double dip.”                    

 The job report damped optimism about prospects for profit growth before the second-quarter reporting period starts next week. The earnings season unofficially kicks off on July 11 with Alcoa Inc., the first Dow company to release results. Corporate profits are forecast to have grown by 13 percent in the period, the smallest increase in two years, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“We’ve had a very benign earnings pre-season without a lot of negative earnings warnings,” said Tim Hoyle, director of research at Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Haverford Trust, which manages $6.5 billion. “We remain positive on second-quarter earnings,” he said. “But if the jobs situation continues to be weak as it has been in the last two months, then there’s definitely going to be a downward revision.”

President Barack Obama said the job report shows that “we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to give people the security and opportunity they deserve.”

“We still have a big hole to fill” in replacing jobs lost during the recession, Obama said in a statement from the White House Rose Garden.                    

Google dropped 2.7 percent to $531.99 after the world’s biggest search engine had its analyst rating cut to “equal weight” from “overweight” at Morgan Stanley, which cited the risk of declining profit margins in 2011 and 2012 because of higher employee compensation costs and the uncertainty over the return on investments in social media.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. rose 1.9 percent to $31.04. Buffett may look at the world’s largest grain processor as Berkshire Hathaway seeks more acquisitions. ADM, based in Decatur, Illinois, is the “kind of company we look at,” Buffett said. General Dynamics Corp. and Exelon Corp. are also the types of companies he finds attractive, Buffett said in the Bloomberg Television interview.

Yahoo! Inc. slipped 1.3 percent to $15.61. Greenlight Capital Inc., the hedge fund run by David Einhorn, sold its stake in the Internet company for a “modest loss” over doubts surrounding the value of the company’s investment in China-based Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Yahoo, Alibaba’s biggest investor, has lost 15 percent since May 10, the last day of trading before the Alibaba transaction was disclosed.

 Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

“Thought is crooked

because it can invent anything

and see things that are not there.

It can perform the most extraordinary tricks,

therefore it cannot be depended upon.”

 

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

“History is a collection of

agreed upon lies.”

  -Voltaire, 1694-1778

 

Dear Friends,

 Tangents:

I attended the service at Christ Church Cathedral this afternoon for one of Victoria’s greats, Jane Heffelfinger, who was remembered in a most serene setting with resonating tributes. The Hon. Dr. Lloyd Axworthy spoke at length about her engaging personality and vivacity, her love of all people, her determination to fight for justice and see wrongs righted, her generous contributions of time and energy to so many causes.   

Jane was a co-founder of Pacific Opera Victoria and was passionate about music.  Captivated by her passion and charm, I, along with so many others, became the willing sponsor of many an opera production when she was Chair.  And for many years we had season tickets to the same Saturday evening performances of Seattle Opera.

As Chair of the Greater Victoria Hospital Foundation’s first Capital Campaign, which was launched in 1995, she recruited me to become a member of her 25 person Campaign Cabinet, where we managed to raise $13 million for our hospital system.

I also know first-hand of her caring and considerate nature when she supported my nomination for the Women of Distinction Awards.  I am honored to have known this remarkable woman in my lifetime.

When we walked out of the Cathedral, strong winds blew up…

Morgen

     -by Richard Strauss

 And tomorrow the sun will shine again.

        And on that path I shall take

Will we, the happy ones, meet once again

In the midst of this sun-breathing earth…

 And to the shore, to the broad, blue waves

    We will go silently and slowly down.

   Mute, we will look in each other’s eyes

And the mute silence of happiness will descend

                               on us…

Photo of the day 

July 7, 2011

A pedestrian walks past a man busking in central Melbourne, Australia. Mick Tsikas/Reuters

  

Market Commentary:

 

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 7 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the seventh time in eight days, led by energy companies, as crude oil futures advanced to a three-week high after U.S. employment reports bolstered confidence in the economy.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, gained 1.5 percent as crude futures rose 2.1 percent after ADP Employer Services said U.S. payrolls increased last month by more than twice the amount forecast by economists. Metals explorer European Goldfields Ltd. surged 11 percent after Greece said it will decide on the company’s mine-permit application within a month. Telecommunication shares retreated from their highest valuations relative to earnings since 2008.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 2.9 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,406. The index had gained as much as 0.5 percent before erasing most of its gains in the last hour of trading.

“Oil prices reflect a perceived better environment” economically, said Greg Eckel, a money manager at Morgan Meighen & Associates Ltd. in Toronto, which oversees about C$1 billion ($1.04 billion). “Today, you had a decent ADP jobs report, and you’ve got a lot of estimates of a better second half.”

The stock benchmark fell for the first time in seven days yesterday, trimming its gain since June 24 to 3.8 percent. The S&P/TSX has rallied as European leaders took action to prevent a Greek default and a gauge of U.S. manufacturing surpassed economists’ forecasts.                        

U.S. payrolls increased by 157,000 jobs last month, according to ADP, a unit of Roseland, New Jersey-based Automatic Data Processing Inc. Jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 418,000 in the week ended July 2, U.S. Labor Department figures showed. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for a drop to 420,000.

Crude oil extended its weekly climb to 3.8 percent in New York. Suncor rose 1.5 percent to C$39.22. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, gained 1.3 percent to C$41.67. Cenovus Energy Inc., Canada’s No. 5 company in the industry, advanced 3 percent to C$36.60.

Oil-sands developer BlackPearl Resources Inc. increased 5 percent to C$6.93 after Steve Toth, an analyst at Canaccord Financial Inc., raised his rating on the stock to “buy” from “hold.” In a note to clients, Toth cited the shares’ 23 percent plunge from Feb. 15 to yesterday.

European Goldfields jumped 11 percent to C$12.31, extending its three-day gain to 22 percent. Greece will make an announcement within a month on the permitting on the company’s projects in the country, George Papaconstantinou, the minister of environment, energy and climate change, said at a presentation in Athens today.                         

Telecommunication companies declined after reaching their highest price relative to earnings since August 2008 yesterday.

The industry has ranked second in gains this year among 10 groups in the S&P/TSX as low interest rates and bond yields have encouraged investors to buy stocks that pay higher-than-average dividends.

“People do realize rates at some point have to go up,” Eckel said. “Valuations may be stressed at this point.”

Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s largest wireless carrier, lost 2.1 percent to C$37.90. BCE Inc., the country’s biggest phone company, decreased 1.4 percent to C$37.84.

TransCanada Corp., a pipeline company that pays a dividend yield of 4 percent, retreated 2 percent to C$40.75. The company’s Keystone XL project may face delays as long as two years because of landowners’ opposition, Bloomberg News reported today.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. rallied 4 percent to C$27.87 after saying it has added 1 million new subscribers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in less than three weeks.

The company made the statement on Twitter.

US

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft and Victoria Stilwell

July 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks jumped, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index close to a three-year high, as retail and job market data bolstered confidence in the economy.

Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, and Kohl’s Corp. rose at least 6.6 percent as June retail sales surpassed analysts’ projections. Urban Outfitters Inc. rallied 6 percent after Morgan Stanley recommended investors buy the shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. climbed 1.9 percent as banking shares soared.

The S&P 500 Index climbed 1.1 percent to 1,353.22 at 4 p.m. in New York, its highest closing level since May 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 93.47 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,719.49, as a report by ADP Employer Services showed U.S. companies added more jobs than forecast in June. Volume on U.S. exchanges totaled about 6.8 billion at 4:30 p.m., 4 percent less than the three-month average through yesterday.

 “We’re starting to cycle through the list of issues that have been on investors’ minds,” said Christopher Blum, New York-based chief investment officer for the U.S. behavioral finance group at JPMorgan Asset Management, which oversees $1.9 trillion in assets. “Economic data is coming in better than expected, and certainly the beat on the jobs number today came earlier than most investors had expected.”

The S&P 500 has climbed 6.7 percent over the past eight days, with last week’s gain the biggest since July 2009. The index is about 10 points shy of a three-year high reached April 29. Through June 24, U.S. equities had fallen for seven of the previous eight weeks on concern that the European debt crisis would spread and the U.S. economy slow. The index still has gained 7.6 percent for the year amid better-than-expected earnings and government stimulus measures.                         

Equities rose today as figures from ADP showed companies in the U.S. added 157,000 workers to their payrolls in June. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an advance of 70,000. The data comes before the government’s June payrolls report tomorrow.

Separate data from the Labor Department showed jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 418,000 last week, compared with the median forecast of economists for a drop to 420,000. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those getting extended payments also declined.

“These kind of employment numbers are supportive for the market,” said Lawrence Creatura, a Rochester, New York-based fund manager at Federated Investors Inc., which oversees about $355 billion. “Unemployment is the single most dominant statistic in our national debate right now, it shadows all the other economic and political debates and it shapes the sentiment which surrounds the stock market.”                       

Measures of fuel and materials companies climbed 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, while the Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index added 1.3 percent on speculation that the U.S. labor market may be stronger, indicating that job growth could accelerate in the second half of the year and demand for commodities will improve.

Investors next week also will be turning their attention to second-quarter earnings. The season starts July 11 with Alcoa Inc., the first Dow company to release results. Corporate earnings are forecast to have grown by 13 percent, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Retailers in the S&P 500 rallied 2.4 percent today to a record. Sales reports indicated that shoppers took advantage of discounts that retailers implemented in June to clear out inventory and make room for back-to-school merchandise. Lower gas prices and warmer temperatures also enticed consumers. Gas prices in the U.S. have declined 10 percent since a high of $3.99 a gallon on May 4, according to AAA.

Target jumped 6.7 percent to $51.67 while Kohl’s, the department-store chain that’s been in business since 1962, soared 7.1 percent to $55.78.

Limited Brands Inc., operator of the Victoria’s Secret chain, rose 2.7 percent to $40.36 after posting a gain of 12 percent in same-store sales for June, surpassing the 4.4 percent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Retail Metrics Inc.

Urban Outfitters, a clothing retailer, climbed 6 percent to $32.58 after Morgan Stanley raised the stock to “overweight” from “equal weight.”

Financial companies rose 1.6 percent, the biggest gain among 10 groups in the S&P 500. JPMorgan climbed 1.9 percent to $41.32, for the third-largest increase in the Dow. Wells Fargo & Co. added 1.9 percent to $28.66, Citigroup Inc. advanced 1.5 percent to $42.63 and Bank of America Corp. jumped 1.7 percent to $10.92.

Bank of America, JPMorgan and three other U.S. mortgage servicers are in advanced talks to resolve state and federal claims over faulty foreclosures, according to two people briefed on the matter. Negotiators tentatively set a July 13 target for a settlement, which may exceed $20 billion, the people said.

The New York Post sent bank stocks lower yesterday after reporting that the settlement’s total value might reach $60 billion, citing unidentified people close to the discussions. The Post corrected its report today, saying the amount might reach $25 billion.

Seagate Technology Plc rose 2 percent to $16.64. The world’s largest maker of computer disk drives was raised to “overweight” from “underweight” at JPMorgan.

Affymetrix Inc. tumbled 18 percent to $6.59. The producer of genomic-analysis technology forecast second-quarter sales of as little as $64 million, compared with the average analyst estimate of $74.7 million.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

No one can understand the sound of a drum,

without understanding both the drum and the drummer.

No one can understand the sound of a conch shell,

without understanding the shell and the one who blows it.

No one can understand the sound of a lute,

without understanding both the lute and the one who plays it.

As there can be no water without the sea, no touch without the skin,

no smell without the nose, no taste without the tongue, no sound without the ear,

no thought without the mind, no work without hands, and no walking without feet,

so there can be nothing without the soul.

 

-Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

As ever,

Carolann

All human wisdom is summed up

in two words – wait and hope.

  -Alexandre Dumas, 1802-1870

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The Festival of San Fermin is better known as the Pamplona Bull Running Festival where its original essence as a religious celebration of the feast of San Fermin has been lost through the ages. In its stead are the week long festivities of music, drinking, dancing, street theatre and bullfighting. Wear a red scarf or shawl and you’ll blend well in the throng of people this side of historic Spain.

Just what is the significance of the color red in the San Fermin Festival other than it being particularly attractive to the eyes of the bull? The truth is, there is clearly no explanation as to why majority of the revelers in the San Fermin festivities wear red clothing or have red fashion accessories worn around their bodies.

Perhaps it has something to do with what the color red conveys. Red is well known as the most emotionally intense color as it is often associated with faster heart beats as well as breathing. It is a very powerful magnet for the eyes to behold, often making the wearer look a lot heavier. These characteristics of the color red make it a perfect choice in sheer festive atmospheres.

Bull fighting has nothing to do with the color red, however. Contrary to popular belief, bulls – and all animals for that matter – are color-blind. So it does not actually matter whether you are wearing a red colored shawl or a gray or black one. Chances are, the bull will only see shades of gray cloth. What matters more are the agitated movements you’ll make as you run from them.

The Pamplona Bull Running Festival was not at all an original July festival but rather an October event. More specifically it coincided with the Feast of San Fermin on the 10th of October, a celebration which began as early as the thirteenth century. However, because of the growing number of varied festivities aside from the usual religious undertones, the festival was essentially moved to the more weather-friendly month of July.

-Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4062468

…“There comes a time in the affairs of man when he must take the bull by the tail, and face the situation”..

W.C. Fields – American Comic and Actor

Photo of the day:

July 6, 2011

A girl stands next to a statue of a bull sporting a San Fermin (Traditional Red Scarf) before the start of the running of the Bulls in Pamplona Spain. Reuters/Eloy Alonso.

Market Commentary

 Canada

(Bloomberg)

Canadian stocks fell for the first time in seven days, led by energy companies, after China raised its benchmark interest rates and an index of U.S. service industries declined.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd., an oil and gas producer with operations in Albania, plunged 15 percent after its second- quarter production trailed its forecasts. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. lost 3.8 percent after market-research firm ComScore Inc. said its market share shrank. Silver Wheaton Corp., Canada’s fourth-largest precious-metals company by market value, advanced 5.4 percent as investors sought a haven from the European debt crisis.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index slipped 22.2 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,403.10.

“The services number came out this morning quite weak, confirming a global slowdown,” said Stephen Gauthier, a money manager at Fin-XO Securities in Montreal, which oversees C$600 million ($620 million). “With China raising interest rates again, the markets will probably correct some more in the next few days.”

The S&P/TSX had advanced six-straight days, led by commodity producers, as Greece approved an austerity package and a gauge of U.S. manufacturing climbed. The Canadian equity index increased 4 percent during the streak, narrowing its yearly decline to 0.1 percent.

China’s Rates

Energy stocks retreated after the People’s Bank of China raised its benchmark interest rates for the third time this year. China is the world’s largest user of industrial metals and second-biggest oil consumer behind the U.S.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of U.S. non-manufacturing businesses slipped to 53.3 in June from 54.6 in May, trailing most economist forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.

Cenovus Energy Inc., the country’s fifth-biggest energy company, declined 2.6 percent to C$35.55 as natural gas futures slumped as much as 3.3 percent. Talisman Energy Inc., which produces oil and gas in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, lost 1.4 percent to C$19.91. TransCanada Corp., the owner of Canada’s largest pipeline system, slipped 1.2 percent to C$41.59.

Bankers Petroleum sank 15 percent, the most since December 2008, to C$6.07 after production missed its forecasts by about 8.5 percent. Gavin Wylie, an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, cut his rating on the shares to “sector perform” from “sector outperform.”

Cut to Junk

Government-bond yields in the most-heavily indebted Western European countries jumped today, a day after Moody’s Investors Service cut its rating on Portuguese credit to junk. Talks on investor involvement in the new Greek bailout package bogged down after Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings both indicated they would cut Greece to default if the European Union went ahead with a plan to ask creditors to roll over expiring Greek bonds into new debt.

Gold futures gained 1.1 percent and silver rallied 1.4 percent in New York as investors sought hard assets.

Silver Wheaton climbed 5.4 percent to C$34.99. Eldorado Gold Corp., which mines in China and Turkey, rallied 4.1 percent to C$15.47. Yamana Gold Inc., Canada’s fifth-largest gold producer, rose 3.2 percent to C$12.07.

Eastern Platinum Ltd. surged 20 percent, the most since October 2009, to C$1.02. Don MacLean, an analyst at Paradigm Capital Inc., said in a note to clients that a slide in the stock, after the mining company reported earnings that missed estimates and encountered labor unrest, was overdone. The shares closed at a 19-month low July 4.

RIM slipped 3.8 percent to C$26.79 after ComScore said it has fallen to third place, behind Apple Inc., in U.S. smartphone market share. Devices using Google Inc.’s Android operating system have the most users.

Sino-Forest Corp., the forestry company fighting a short seller’s assertions of financial manipulation, retreated for the first time in six days, slumping 10 percent to C$4.75. The company postponed a trip for analysts it had proposed for mid- July.

 

 US

(Bloomberg)

U.S. stocks rose, erasing an early drop, as gains in transportation, technology and consumer- staple companies overshadowed a slowdown in service-industry growth and China’s interest-rate boost. The euro slid and Treasuries rose after Portugal’s credit rating was cut to junk.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.1 percent to 1,339.22 at 4 p.m. in New York, its sixth gain in seven days. The euro sank 0.8 percent to $1.4314 while the 10-year Treasury yield touched a one-week low. The yield on Portugal’s 10-year bond surged 204 basis points to a record above 13 percent, erasing the drop last week that followed Greece’s approval of austerity measures aimed at winning financial aid. The two-year Irish yield soared 243 basis points to 15.31 percent. Wheat, cotton and natural gas led losses in commodities.

United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) paced gains in transportation shares, while Costco Wholesale Corp. helped lead companies that sell consumer necessities higher and International Business Machines Corp. contributed the most to an advance in S&P 500 technology stocks. Investors awaited the start of the second- quarter earnings season next week and data in two days that is forecast to show U.S. payrolls grew by 100,000 jobs last month.

“We’re beginning to put the short-term economic issues behind us,” said Robert Schaeffer, a money manager at Becker Capital Management Inc. in Portland, Oregon, which oversees about $2.5 billion. “We’re likely to get better economic data over the next months and that will rally the stock market on an intermediate basis even if the long-term problems such as too much debt remain unsolved.”

Rally Resumed

DuPont Co., Intel Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. climbed at least 1.4 percent for the biggest gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. U.S. stocks fell for the first time in six days yesterday following a 5.6 percent rally last week, the biggest since July 2009, as the Moody’s Investors Service downgrade of Portugal reignited concern Europe’s debt crisis will hurt economic growth.

The S&P 500 has slipped almost 2 percent since its 2011 peak at the end of April. The gauge lost 1.8 percent in June as investors speculated that Greece would default on its debt.

The ISM index of non-manufacturing businesses decreased to 53.3 in June from 54.6 a month earlier. A reading above 50 signals expansion. The measure was projected to drop to 53.7, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Other data showed employers in the U.S. announced 5.3 percent more job cuts in June than a year earlier, according to figures from Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The report comes two days before the Labor Department’s monthly payrolls report.  

 

“Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham

 

  

“Be Magnificent”

 

 

 As ever,

 

 Kyle  for Carolann

 

 

Dear Friends,

 Tangents: Amazing day today….I was dazzled by the story this morning of the discovery in the vaults at a temple in Kerala.

Devotees throng Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala. Five vaults were opened and revealed a ton of gold coins, precious stones, statues, some coins date back to Napoleon Bonaparte.

The discoveries have catapulted the Hindu shrine, renowned for its intricate sculptures, into the league of India’s richest temples.
It was built hundreds of years ago by the king of Travancore, and donations by devotees have been kept in the temple’s seven vaults ever since.

 Kumar Shankar Roy writes from New Delhi:

If Travancore king owned temple treasure…

The jaw-dropping discovery of untold wealth ($22 billion so far, and still counting) in underground vaults of the Kerala temple of Sree Padmanabha Swamy, the presiding deity of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom, raises one question: where would current Maharaja Marth­anda Varma be in the in the league of the richest royals of the world, had his distant forebear not placed unto the Lord all his kingdom’s wealth and render himself just its custodian?
For an answer, you have to make one presumption – that Forbes, which compiled a list of the richest living kings and queens last year, knew of the Travancore wealth at the time.
So, if the Maharaja were to be included in the list, the newfound $22 billion worth of wealth would have placed him as the second richest living royal in the world, after King Bhumibol of Thailand, who tops the league with $30 billion.
But, alas, that is not to be, for in 1750 the current Maharaj’s namesake ancestor rendered everything he and his kingdom had to Sree Padmanabha Swamy. The king of yore merely ruled the state as the servant of the Lord thereafter. And to think that all that money could have been the current Maharaja’s, if only….
So, he does not technically own the wealth. Still, under the same presumption, the Maharaja would be just a whisker ahead of the Sultan of Brunei, whose recorded wealth is worth $20 billion.
But the ranking may yet change. Mind you, assessment of the Travancore wealth is still work in progress. Once that is over, the Maharaja may find himself breathing down the neck of the Thailand King.
It comes a bit of a downer that the most famous, most reported and most talked about monarch in the world, Queen Elizabeth II of England, is worth only $450 million, way behind Prince Albert II of tiny Monaco, who is worth $1 billion.

That Travancore would unearth such a gigantic horde comes as a bit of a surprise, for the kingdom, though one of the most famed and ancient, was certainly not among the top league of Indian royals of yore. The British Raj had its own way of ranking them — in the most aural way. It devised gun salutes for living royals of the time, as a yardstick of where a princely state stood in its eyes…

CULTURE: First Bikini Swimsuit, July 5^th, 1946…skimpy two-piece swimsuits get their name from Bikini Atoll in the south Pacific.  French fashion designer Louis Réard chose the name to upstage rival designer Jacques Heim who had started selling a two-piece called the Atome.  On July 5, 1946, four days after the United States tested an atomic bomb over Bikini, Réard launched his explosively small creation under the suddenly well-known name.

–from the playwright Tony Kushner’s convocation address to graduates at Muhlenberg College a few weeks ago:

 Everywhere, the world is in need of repair.  Fix it.   Solve these things.  You need only the tools that you have learned here, even if you didn’t pay as much attention as you should, even if you’re a mess and broke and facing a future of economic terror: Who isn’t? Who doesn’t?

Help.  Help.  Help.  The world is calling.  Heal the world, and in the process, heal yourself.  Find the human in yourself by finding the citizen, the activist, the hero.  Down with the brutal-minded misadventurers.  Go after them.  You know where they are….

Duty calls.  The world calls.  Get active.  No summer vacation, no rest for you.  We have been waiting too long for you.  We need your contribution too desperately, and if they tell you your contribution is meaningless, if they tell you the fix is in and there’s no contribution to be made, if they tell you to contribute by shopping your credit card into exhaustion, if they tell you to surrender the brilliant, dazzling confusion your education should have engendered in you, exchange that quick-silver prolificity for dull monotone certainty, productive only of aggression born of boredom and violence, born of fear, born of stupidity, they’re lying.  Don’t trust them; get rid of them.  You know who they are.  Shout down the devil.

Photos of the day 

July 5, 2011

Students react after looking at the results of the baccalaureate exam at the French Clemenceau Lycee in Nantes. The baccalaureate is the final secondary school examination to qualify for university.

Models wear creations for the Giorgio Armani Fall-Winter 2011-2012 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Paris. Jacques Brinon/AP

Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, displays a mud sample extracted from the depths of about 4,000 metres (13,123 ft) below the Pacific ocean surface where rare earth elements were found, at his laboratory in Tokyo. Vast deposits of rare earth minerals, crucial in making high-tech electronics products, have been found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and can be readily extracted, Japanese scientists said on Monday.

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 5 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a sixth day, the longest streak since April, as oil and gold’s gains drove rallies in their producers.

Suncor Energy Inc., the country’s largest energy company, rose 0.9 percent after Barclays Plc boosted its 2012 price forecast for Brent crude. Kinross Gold Corp. gained 3.4 percent as the metal advanced after Moody’s Investors Service said China’s national auditor is understating banks’ loans to local governments, spurring demand for havens. Imax Corp. fell 8.8 percent after a Janney Capital Markets analyst said 3-D movies may be losing popularity.

The S&P/TSX Composite climbed 38.81 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,425.30.

“The last week or so, we’ve gotten a much better indication the data is not slowing as much as once feared,” said Barry Schwartz, a money manager at Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, which oversees C$420 million ($437 million). “Even if China is cooling, the demand for commodities is not going to abate.”

The S&P/TSX increased 3.7 percent from June 24 to yesterday as Greece approved an austerity package and a gauge of U.S. manufacturing rose. The index has slipped 0.1 percent this year. Crude oil climbed to a three-week high today in New York. “Forecasts show a continuation of robust emerging market demand,” Barclays analysts led by Paul Horsnell in London wrote in a report today. Suncor rose 0.9 percent to C$38.83. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, advanced 1.5 percent to C$41.51. Niko Resources Ltd., which produces oil and gas in South Asia, rebounded 6.4 percent to C$63.67 after closing at a 26-month low yesterday.

Gold and silver rallied on speculation that a deteriorating credit outlook in China will boost demand among investors for a hedge. Moody’s said non-performing loans in China may rise to as high as 12 percent of total credit.

Royal Bank of Canada said in a report it sees potential for a second-half rally in gold producers’ shares.

Kinross climbed 3.4 percent to C$15.91. Eldorado Gold Corp., which mines in China and Turkey, rose 5 percent to C$14.86. European Goldfields Ltd., which explores in Europe, jumped 8 percent to C$10.88. Novagold Resources Inc., which is developing gold and base-metal properties in Alaska and British Columbia, soared 9.7 percent to C$9.76.                      

 Sino-Forest Corp., the forestry company fighting a short seller’s assertions of financial manipulation, increased 27 percent to C$5.29, a day after Wellington Management Co. disclosed a stake in the company. The shares have more than doubled in price over the past five days. Wellington, a Boston- based money manager, bought an 11.5 percent stake in the company, according to a filing to Canadian regulators yesterday.

Shares of Sino-Forest remain down 71 percent since June 1, the day before Muddy Waters LLC said its stated land holdings don’t match Chinese city records.

All eight S&P/TSX banks retreated after Moody’s cut Portugal’s credit rating to a junk level. Royal Bank, Canada’s largest lender by assets, lost 1.3 percent to C$54.85. Toronto- Dominion Bank, its biggest competitor, slipped 1.1 percent to C$81.01

Imax, the maker of giant-screen movie-projection systems, tumbled 8.8 percent, the most in almost a year, to C$29.12. Tony Wible, an analyst at Janney Capital, cut his ratings on U.S. movie-theater owners Regal Entertainment Group and Cinemark Holdings Inc.

In a note to clients, he said 3-D screens’ market share is dropping due to children’s difficulty with the glasses and a “lack of unique high-quality 3-D content.” The $14 million in domestic opening-weekend revenue from Imax 3-D showings of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” probably disappointed many investors, Benjamin Mogil, an analyst at Stifel Financial Corp., said in a note to clients.

Pharmacy-benefits manager SXC Health Solutions Corp. rose for an eighth day, surging 4.5 percent to a record C$61.25.

Arthur I. Henderson, an analyst at Jefferies Group Inc., called the company a “top idea” in health care in a note to clients.

US

By Nikolaj Gammeltoft

July 5 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, ending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s five-day winning streak, as a Moody’s Investors Service downgrade of Portuguese debt rekindled concern the economy will slow and offset gains by energy producers.

Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, and General Electric Co. lost 0.8 percent as shares of financial and industrial companies led losses in the S&P 500. A gauge of banks dropped the most in the S&P 500 within 24 groups, falling 1.2 percent, as Citigroup Inc. said 2012 industry earnings estimates may be too high. Energy companies in the S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent, the most among 10 groups.

The S&P 500 slumped 0.1 percent to 1,337.88 at 4 p.m. in New York. The intraday move in the S&P 500 between its high and low was 0.5 percent, the smallest move since April 29, when the index peaked for the year. The benchmark equity index rose 5.6 percent last week, the biggest rally since July 2009. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.90 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,569.87 today.

“The market is correcting a little bit after a strong run last week, using the headline about Portugal’s debt rating as a catalyst,” said Tom Mangan, who helps oversee $2.7 billion at James Investment Research Inc. in Xenia, Ohio. “Portugal’s economy has virtually no impact on U.S. markets, but the question is whether this is the continuation of a problem that began in Greece. It raises fear of a contagion effect in the market.”                           

The S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent in June, spurring the first quarterly loss in a year, on concern that Greece will fail to repay all of its debt and that the U.S. economy will weaken further. Even so, the index has gained 6.4 percent in 2011 as government stimulus measures and higher-than-estimated corporate earnings lifted investors’ confidence.

Stocks reversed gains after Portugal’s long-term government bond ratings were cut to Ba2, or junk, from Baa1 by Moody’s, making it the second euro-region country with a non-investment- grade ranking.

Equities declined earlier as the Commerce Department said orders placed with U.S. factories increased 0.8 percent in May, while economists projected a 1 percent increase, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

An unexpected pickup in American manufacturing growth helped ease concern last week that the world’s largest economy is faltering, sending benchmark indexes to their highest levels since May and their biggest weekly gains in two years. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, will become the first Dow company to report second-quarter earnings on July 11.

The “earnings season is right around the very close corner,” said Richard Sichel, who oversees $1.6 billion as chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co. “The past number of quarters it’s definitely helped the market with surprises on the upside, and we could see more of that.”

Bank of America lost 0.8 percent to $11 as financial stocks in the S&P 500 slumped 0.8 percent, the most among 10 industries. The KBW Bank Index retreated 1.2 percent as 22 of its 24 stocks retreated. Wells Fargo & Co., the largest U.S. home lender, dropped 0.9 percent to $28.42. Regions Financial Corp. slid 2.1 percent to $6.17.

“We believe that a prolonged low rate environment is consistent with weak earning asset growth,” Keith Horowitz, an analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note to clients today. “While we believe the large regional banks in our universe should report 2Q results largely in line with consensus, we do see significant downside to 2012/2013.”                       

GE, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, power- generation equipment, medical imaging machines and locomotives, slipped 0.8 percent to $19.04. A gauge of industrial companies lost 0.6 percent, the second-most within 10 groups in the S&P 500.

Energy shares climbed as crude oil jumped 2.1 percent to a three-week high of $96.89 a barrel after European finance ministers approved an 8.7 billion-euro ($12.6 billion) aid payment to Greece on July 2. Marathon Oil gained 3.4 percent to $34.07 and Peabody Energy advanced 2.2 percent to $60.69.

Chevron Corp., the second-biggest U.S. energy company, rose the most in the Dow, adding 1 percent to $105.12.

The S&P 500 Insurance Index of 22 stocks slumped 1.1 percent, the second-biggest decline in the S&P 500 among 24 groups. MetLife Inc. lost 1.5 percent to $43.72, while Genworth Financial Inc. decreased 2.7 percent to $10.28.                        

MetLife and Genworth Financial units are among nine companies subpoenaed last month as part of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s probe of the life insurance industry’s handling of so-called abandoned property, a person familiar with the matter said.

The probe is seeking to determine whether the companies do enough to determine whether someone has died and benefits are due, the person said. About 35 other states are looking into whether the insurance industry is adequately handling abandoned property such as unclaimed life-insurance proceeds.

Google Inc., the world’s largest Internet-search company, rose 2.2 percent to $532.44. The shares were raised to “overweight” from “equal weight” at Evercore Partners, which said they may reach $670 as the company grows in social media and other product initiatives.

SanDisk Corp. climbed 1.5 percent to $43.45. Deutsche Bank AG analysts Bob Gujavarty and Ross Seymore raised their recommendation to “buy” from “hold,” saying profit margins will become “far more sustainable.”

General Motors Co. gained 0.9 percent to $30.86. The biggest overseas automaker in China said its June sales rose in the country, reversing a two-month decline, as customers bought more Buick and Chevrolet passenger cars.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

The like and dislike is the result of my culture, my training, my associations,

my inclinations, my acquired and inherited characteristics.

It is from that center that I observe and make my judgments,

and the observer is separate from the thing he observes.

 

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

 

As ever,

Carolann

To succeed in the  world, it is not enough

to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

                          -Voltaire, 1694-1778 

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents: It was a great long weekend n’est pas?  I decided to read some Russian literature this summer and I began to do so on the weekend, beginning with Ivan Turgenev’s novella, First Love.   It is quite an enjoyable read.  I also got around to some late spring cleaning at the office.  It is wonderful to get organized and stuff that shredder box to the top.

I thought this might be interesting to pass along:

Where to Surf for Ancestors by Debra Bruno:  The amount of genealogical material available grows daily.   Ancestry.com is becoming the grand-daddy of all research sites, with links to rootsweb, a free online community and message board  (www.rootsweb.ancestry.com), family tree maker, and DNA research.  A 12-month subscription is $159, although some services are free.

The service provided by the Church of Latter-day Saints makes all its records available free of charge.  It’s described as the largest family-search organization in the world (familysearch.org).

Geneasearch offers some free databases and fun details like “lost female ancestors.”  Be careful, though: To sign up for a seven-day “free trial,” you have to type in a credit-card number and will be billed if you don’t cancel after seven days (geneasearch.com).

Happy 4^th of July to all our American friends!

Market Commentary:

 

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

July 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a fifth day, led by commodity producers, after an index of U.S. manufacturing beat economists’ forecasts and Europe’s finance ministers approved an aid payout to Greece to prevent default.

Teck Resources Ltd. gained 4.8 percent in the first session since the Canada Day holiday on July 1. Suncor Energy Inc. advanced 1.8 percent after the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index surpassed all 77 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.

Sino-Forest Corp., the forestry company fighting a short seller’s assertions of financial manipulation, climbed 30 percent after hedge-fund manager Wellington Management Co. said in a filing it bought a stake in the company.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index increased 85.62 points, or 0.6 percent, to 13,386.49, closing above its 200-day moving average for the first time since June 9. The index’s fifth-straight gain is the longest streak of advances in six weeks.

“There’s a bit of readjusting to prices of interlisted stocks that were traded on Friday that didn’t trade in Canada, but also a continuation of positive data over the short term, including the recent ISM data out of the U.S.,” said Timothy Lazaris, chief executive officer of Red Sky Capital Management Ltd. in Toronto, which oversees C$54 million ($56 million).

The stock benchmark rallied 3 percent last week, the most in 11 months, after Greece’s parliament passed austerity measures meant to reduce its debt. The index has risen 4.7 percent since declining to a seven-month low on June 17.                         

European finance ministers authorized on July 2 an 8.7 billion euro ($12.6 billion) loan payout to Greece to be paid by mid-July and said they would aim to complete talks with banks on maintaining their Greek debt holdings within weeks.

Energy companies climbed for a fifth day. Suncor, Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, rose 1.8 percent to C$38.49.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, gained 1.2 percent to C$40.91. Bankers Petroleum Ltd., which produces oil and gas in Albania, advanced 6 percent to C$7.29.

Transglobe Energy Corp., which operates in Egypt and Yemen, jumped 13 percent, the most since January 2009, to C$12.47. Last week, the company said it has agreed to buy a 50 percent interest in an Egyptian oil concession for $3 million. The land has “extensive exploration potential,” J. Frederick Kozak, an analyst at Canaccord Financial Inc., said in a note to clients dated June 30.

Copper futures increased 0.5 percent on July 1, completing a 4.5 percent weekly climb, and advanced 0.2 percent in London today.

Teck, Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, rose 4.8 percent to C$51.36. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, gained 1.2 percent to a record C$142.35. Mercator Minerals Ltd., which mines copper and molybdenum, surged 10 percent to C$3.16.                         

 Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow- based ARMZ Uranium Holding, soared 15 percent to C$3.05 after the Russian company said profit doubled last year.

Romarco Minerals Inc., which is developing a gold mine in South Carolina, plunged 7.3 percent to a 16-month low of C$1.52 after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked it to complete an environmental impact statement, adding 12 months to the project’s schedule.

All eight S&P/TSX banks advanced. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, increased 1.4 percent to C$55.58. Bank of Montreal, the country’s No. 4 lender, climbed 1.1 percent to C$62.03.

Technology-patent owner Wi-LAN Inc. rallied 8.4 percent to a 10-year high of C$8.43 after saying it reached a settlement in its lawsuit against Texas Instruments Inc. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Sino-Forest advanced 30 percent to C$4.15 after Wellington Management said it bought or acquired control of an 11.5 percent stake in the company. The shares tumbled 83 percent last month as Muddy Waters LLC said its stated land holdings don’t match Chinese city records.

US – Markets closed today; the following is a commentary regarding Friday’s (July 1, 2011) session:

By Cecile Vannucci

July 2 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks posted the biggest weekly rally in two years, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 648 points, after Greece took action to avoid a default, Nike Inc.’s earnings topped analyst estimates and U.S. manufacturing growth rebounded.

Caterpillar Inc., United Technologies Corp. and 3M Co. jumped at least 6.3 percent, pacing gains among companies most- dependent on economic growth. Nike, the world’s largest sporting-goods company, climbed 13 percent. Visa Inc. surged 20 percent, the most in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as the Federal Reserve moved to set a less-severe limit on debit-card swipe fees than previously proposed.

 The S&P 500 surged 5.6 percent to 1,339.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 5.4 percent to 12,582.77 this week. Both indexes rose all five days for the biggest weekly gains since July 2009.

“It’s a week of major reversal,” said Stephen Lieber, chief investment officer of Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC, which manages about $7 billion, in Purchase, New York. “As soon as you got the first manufacturing indexes that began to turn positive and then culminated by the Chicago manufacturing index above estimates, it shifted confidence very positively.”

The gain helped the S&P 500 erase about 75 percent of the decline suffered since reaching its high for the year on April 29. Through June 24, U.S. equities had fallen for seven of the previous eight weeks on concern the European debt crisis would spread and the U.S. economy slow. The index is up 6.5 percent for the year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.                 

 The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, also known as the VIX, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, tumbled 25 percent this week, the biggest weekly drop since March.

The advance in equities marked a partial reversal of returns that had favored companies and industries that are less sensitive to economic growth. Since the S&P 500 slipped to its low for the year on March 16, drugmakers, phone companies, utilities and household-products producers have gained the most, rising at least 9.7 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The biggest gains in last week’s rally were among so-called cyclical stocks. Energy companies climbed 7.2 percent, computer and software makers increased 6.8 percent, a group of retailers, hoteliers and automakers added 6.6 percent and industrials rose 6.4 percent, the data show.

Stocks rose this week after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on June 29 clinched enough votes to pass the first part of an austerity plan aimed at meeting European Union aid requirements and staving off default for his debt-laden nation. Lawmakers backed a bill on June 30 to authorize the measure.

Greece may receive as much as 85 billion euros ($124 billion) in new financing, including a contribution from private investors, in a second bailout aimed at preventing default and ending the euro-region’s debt crisis, an Austrian Finance Ministry official said.

“The major issue that was weighing down the market in the prior five or six weeks was the issue in Greece,” said John Canally, investment strategist at Boston-based LPL Financial Corp., which manages $330 billion in advisory and brokerage assets. “Now that’s cleared up, the market’s got a little more clarity. The move of this week in markets is pricing in a sizable bounce in economic activity.”

Stocks extended gains after a report yesterday showed that U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly expanded at a faster pace in June, a sign the industry is rebounding after shortages of parts and components from Japan slowed production. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 55.3 last month from 53.5 in May. Economists estimated the index would drop to 52, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion.

The ISM report was a positive surprise, according to investors, at a time when manufacturing growth is slowing from China to Europe, creating a dilemma for central bankers considering higher interest rates to combat inflation. China’s factory index fell to the lowest level since February 2009, while in the 17-nation euro area, a gauge slipped to an 18-month low. German manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in 17 months, while Italy, Ireland, Spain and Greece contracted.                     

 Another report on June 30 showed businesses in the U.S. unexpectedly expanded at a faster pace in June. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said its business barometer climbed to 61.1 this month from 56.6 in May. Economists called for the index to drop to 54, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. Consumer confidence rose to the highest level in 10 weeks, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index showed June 30.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index added 6.6 percent as all of its 30 stocks gained. The Dow Jones Transportation Average of 20 stocks, a proxy for economic growth, rose 6.4 percent.

Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction equipment, surged 8.6 percent, the most in the Dow, to $108.62.

Jet engine maker United Technologies added 6.9 percent to $90.13. 3M, the maker of Post-It Notes and films to brighten TV screens, climbed 6.4 percent to $96.67.

Nike rallied 13 percent to $91.82, the highest price since December, after posting better-than-expected profit projections on June 28. Nike Chief Executive Officer Mark Parker has boosted sales and reduced marketing costs from a year earlier, when Nike promoted around the World Cup, to fight rising costs for cotton, labor and transportation that have reduced profitability in the apparel industry this year.

Visa jumped 20 percent to $87.97, its highest price in more than a year, after the Fed moved to cap debit-card transaction fees at 21 cents. MasterCard Inc. gained 15 percent reaching its highest price since June 2008, $314.47.

An index of energy shares in the S&P 500 rose 7.2 percent, the most among 10 groups as crude for August delivery settled at $94.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Marathon Petroleum Corp., which replaced RadioShack Corp. in the S&P 500, increased 1.6 percent to $42.06 in its first day of trading after the second-largest independent U.S. oil refiner was spun off by Marathon Oil Corp. Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oilfield services provider, advanced 12 percent to $51.29 for the week.

Investors “are buying in front of the quarterly earnings estimates that are going to be coming out,” said Michael Vogelzang, chief investment officer at Boston Advisors LLC, which manages $1.9 billion. “It probably says something about expectations for quarterly earnings.”

Alcoa Inc., the first Dow-average company to report second- quarter earnings, will give its results on July 11. Earnings at S&P 500 companies rose 13 percent in the second quarter, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Net income will rise 19 percent in 2011, the data show.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Life is very real-

life is not an abstraction – our problems begin when we encounter it only through images.

 

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

Adventure is just bad planning.

   -Roald Amundsen, 1872-1928

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor