Month: March 2012

Hello All,

 

You may have noticed in Carolann’s last newsletter, Carolann and Gary have gone to Japan for a week. As we all wish them bon voyage and sayonara Nadia and I will be filling in for the daily newsletter.

 

Tangents:

Coffee is the second most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water. However researchers have often called into question its nutritional value, putting it on the balanced breakfast no-no list. But according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, coffee may not only be not bad for you, but it might actually have positive heath effects.

In fact, evidence is mounting that coffee drinkers may be less likely to suffer from numerous chronic diseases. The National Post reports:

 

Much of its controversy stems from the fact that, not only does coffee contain caffeine — in and of itself a challenge to study — but numerous compounds such as caffeic acid and magnesium, some of which act as antioxidants, while others improve blood pressure control or insulin sensitivity over time. Some of coffee’s benefits could also arise after habitual consumption: There is evidence our bodies adapt to coffee, and our metabolic response changes over time. Add to that the myriad ways to prepare coffee (drip, boiled, espresso, etc.), each of which affects coffee’s properties, and there are enough potential complicating factors to leave researchers with a headache that could rival a coffee-lover’s in withdrawal. –Jennifer Sygo

 

 

As an avid coffee drinking myself (I practically main-lined the bean beverage while writing papers in school) I can’t help but smile as I sip my double-shot venti latte.

 

You can read more at: http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/cutting-through-the-coffee-confusion-a-few-cups-of-joe-may-do-some-good/

 

photos of the day

March 29, 2012

In Rome, a woman pushes her Fiat 500 car as her dog sits inside. – Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Macedonian paraplegic athlete Mile Stojkoski pushes himself on a highway in Belgrade, Serbia, during a marathon from his native town of Krusevo, Macedonia, to the London Olympics. Stojkoski will travel a total of 2,175 miles to raise awareness about people with disabilities.- Marko Djurica/Reuters

Market Closes for March 29, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13145.82	+19.61
		+0.15%
S&P 500	1403.28	-2.26
		-0.16%
NASDAQ	3095.36	-9.6
		-0.31%
TSX	12339.36	-74.50
		-0.60%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10114.79	-67.78
		-0.67%
HANG SENG	20609.39	-276.03
		-1.32%
SENSEX	17058.61	-63.01
		-0.37%
FTSE 100	5742.03	-66.96
		-1.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.082	2.120
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.637	2.667
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1587	2.1997
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2731	3.3102

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00341	1.00476
US $	0.99660	0.99526
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32563	0.75436
US $	1.33015	0.75179

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1660.10	1657.90
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	103.33	105.41

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli – Mar 29, 2012 12:19 PM PT- Canadian stocks fell the most in more than three weeks, led by raw material and energy shares, as gold declined on slowing demand in India and oil dropped as governments discussed releasing strategic reserves.

Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the world’s largest gold-mining company, fell 1.3 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU), Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 0.7 percent. Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (BIR), a western Canadian oil and gas producer, plunged 25 percent after saying it’s no longer seeking a buyer after turning down two bids.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (SPTSX) retreated 121.51 points, or 1 percent, to 12,292.35 at 2:59 p.m. in Toronto, after falling 1.8 percent, the most intraday since March 6.

“Commodities are once again leading us down, even though commodity prices themselves, on an absolute basis, continue to be at very, very profitable levels for companies,” Barry Schwartz, a money manager at Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$400 million ($400 million). “The market seems to be telling us that we’re in for a rough time going forward in terms of Europe, China and demand for these commodities.”

The benchmark equity gauge has fallen 1.8 percent in March through yesterday, heading for its first monthly decline of the year, as materials and energy shares have slipped on signs of slower growth in China and rising crude stockpiles.

Materials companies fell for the third straight day on concern that demand for raw materials may fall after U.S. jobless claims exceeded forecasts.

Commodities also fell after Moritz Kraemer, the head of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s, said Greece probably will have to restructure its debt again, adding to global growth concerns. A jeweler strike in India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, extended to 13 days, reducing demand for the precious metal.

China Gold International Resources Corp. decreased 1.5 percent to C$4.69 after Credit Suisse lowered the shares to neutral from outperform, meaning the firm expects the stock to be in line with a relevant benchmark over the next 12 months. Barrick, the world’s largest gold-mining company, fell 1.3 percent to C$42.58.

Mercator Minerals Ltd. (ML), a copper and molybdenum producer, dropped 3.6 percent to C$1.36. Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK/B), Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, declined 1.5 percent to C$34.05.

Energy companies in the S&P/TSX declined, led by oil shares, as U.S. equities retreated and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the prospects are good for an accord between the U.S. and Europe to tap strategic reserves to curb price gains.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 0.7 percent to C$32.27. Trican Well Service Ltd. (TCW), Canada’s largest oil and gas services company, fell 5.1 percent to C$14.33. The shares were cut to buy from action list buy at Toronto-Dominion Bank. (TD)

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. plummeted 25 percent to C$6.67 after rejecting verbal and written offers in response to its Oct. 3 sale announcement. The Calgary-based company is no longer for sale, it said in a statement today.

Financial shares also declined on S&P’s Greece restructuring outlook and higher-than-forecast U.S. jobless claims. Royal Bank of Canada (RY), the country’s largest lender by assets, declined 1.6 percent to C$57.82. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender, dropped 1.2 percent to C$84.03.

US

By Stephen Kirkland and Rita Nazareth – Mar 29, 2012- The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) trimmed losses in the final two hours of trading ahead of data forecast to show growth in consumer confidence and spending tomorrow, the final day of the best first-quarter rally since 1998. Treasuries and the dollar rose, while oil tumbled.

The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.2 percent to close at 1,403.28 at 4 p.m. in New York after tumbling as much as 1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 19.61 points to 13,145.82. The yen appreciated against all 16 most-traded peers and the dollar climbed versus 11. Ten-year Treasury yields fell five basis points to 2.16 percent, while Italian and Spanish bonds slid. Oil lost 2.5 percent, the biggest drop of the year, as France said governments are moving closer to releasing stockpiles from emergency reserves.

U.S. benchmark equity indexes recovered from their lows of the session, with the Dow reversing a 94-point loss, amid speculation a three-day slump was overdone given improving economic data and as investors prepared for the final session of the quarter. More than $5.6 trillion has been added to equity values worldwide this year on signs of a U.S. economic recovery and efforts to contain Europe’s debt crisis.

“The market’s momentum is decidedly upward,” David Sowerby, a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles & Co., which oversees about $160 billion, said in a phone interview. “The decline that we’ve had is normal after the run-up in stocks. The better economic news is winning a tug- of-war with any concerns about the economy.” U.S. stocks followed global equities lower earlier after S&P said Greece may have to restructure its debt again and lower-than-forecast profits fueled concern China’s growth is slowing.

Alcoa Inc., Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Coca-Cola Co. climbed more than 1.5 percent for the biggest gains in the Dow. Red Hat Inc. surged 20 percent to a 12-year high of $61.43 after profit and sales topped projections. Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. (CI) added at least 4 percent as investors speculated the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn aspects of the Affordable Care Act, benefitting the health-insurance industry.

Best Buy Co. (BBY), the largest consumer-electronics retailer, slumped 7 percent as sales missed estimates. American Express Co. (AXP), the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, dropped 2 percent as Wells Fargo & Co. cut its recommendation on the shares.

The S&P 500 has retreated for three straight days after reaching an almost four-year high on March 26. The index will likely remain stuck in the 500-point range where it’s been four- fifths of the time since 2000 until the Federal Reserve allows interest rates to rise, according to Piper Jaffray Cos.

The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks has traded between 1,000 and 1,500 for about 80 percent of the time since 2000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Equity gains stalled in the past 12 years as the economy suffered from the bursting of bubbles in technology and real estate, forcing the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate to near zero from 6.5 percent to spur growth. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has pledged to keep borrowing costs low through at least late 2014.

“The S&P 500 is approaching the upper end of the secular trading range,” Craig W. Johnson, a Minneapolis-based technical market strategist with Piper Jaffray, wrote in a note yesterday. “This resistance will likely remain intact until 2014-2015, and will correspond with a secular change in bond yields.”

Thirty-year U.S. bonds also rallied today, sending their yield down four basis points to 3.27 percent. Rates on two-year notes slipped one basis point to 0.34 percent. Treasuries remained higher after the U.S. auctioned $29 billion in U.S. seven-year securities, the last of three note offerings this week totaling $99 billion. The notes drew a yield of 1.590 percent, compared with a forecast of 1.572 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of nine of the Federal Reserve’s primary dealers.

S&P 500 futures extended losses before the open of exchanges in New York today as government data showed initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 359,000 last week, the lowest since April 2008 while above the 350,000 median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The government data also contained revisions dating back to 2007.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer confidence is forecast to rise to 74.5 in March, near the highest level in a year, after a preliminary reading of 74.3, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Personal income is projected to have grown 0.4 percent and consumer spending rose 0.6 percent, economists predicted before government data tomorrow.

The economy in the U.S. grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2011, the same as previously estimated, while corporate profits climbed at the slowest pace in three years, raising the risk that business investment and hiring will cool.

The increase in gross domestic product was the biggest in more than a year and followed a 1.8 percent gain in the prior period, revised figures from the Commerce Department showed today. Company earnings were up 0.9 percent from the third quarter, the smallest advance since the last three months of 2008.

About ten shares fell for every one that advanced in the Stoxx 600 (SXXP). Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, slid 4.9 percent as increased textile costs and markdowns led to the weakest profitability in eight years. Banks led declines among 19 industries, falling 2.9 percent as a group. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Italy’s third- biggest bank, tumbled 11 percent after posting a record loss. FirstGroup Plc, Britain’s biggest train operator, sank 14 percent amid “challenging trading conditions” at its bus unit.

In European bond markets, rates on 10-year Italian, Spanish and Portuguese debt climbed at least 10 basis points. The Italian 10-year bond yield rose 11 basis points to 5.21 percent even as borrowing costs fell at the sale of 3.25 billion euros ($4.3 billion) of bonds due in September 2022. The yield on similar-maturity German bunds, Europe’s benchmark government security, fell three basis points to 1.81 percent.

Greece will probably have to restructure its debt again and this may involve bailout partners such as European governments, said Moritz Kraemer, head of sovereign ratings at S&P.

European governments are preparing for a one-year increase in the ceiling on rescue aid to 940 billion euros to keep the debt crisis at bay, according to a draft statement written for finance ministers before a meeting in Copenhagen tomorrow. The European Union had its AAA long-term issuer default rating affirmed by Fitch Ratings, which cited the support from the EU’s 27 member states, nine of which are rated AAA by Fitch. The outlook is stable.

Oil fell to a six-week low of $102.78 a barrel in New York, extending yesterday’s 1.8 percent decline. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the prospects of an accord on tapping strategic reserves are good and the International Energy Agency said it’s ready to act if supplies are disrupted.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slumped 1.6 percent after China’s PICC Property & Casualty Co., Sany Heavy Industry Co. and Zijin Mining Group Co. reported net income that trailed estimates.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) lost 1.1 percent. Russia’s Micex tumbled 1.7 percent as oil retreated. Benchmark gauges in Taiwan, Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic sank at least 1.4 percent.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone!

 

 

Ellora Howie

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

I turned on the radio this morning to Classical King FM and was greeted by the most beautiful music.  It was appropriately enough the orchestral composition, Spring, by Alexander Glazunov followed by Antonio Vivaldi’s magic.    But nothing compares to the  sound of the birds in the early mornings this time of year – creating the most beautiful sounds of all.  The birth and renewal that characterizes this special season…. next week will see many people in the world contemplating this rebirth through celebrations and commemorations, Easter, Passover…

We are off to Japan tomorrow for a week, so I wish you and yours a very happy time gathering with family and friends in the days ahead.

photos of the day

March 28, 2012

Men throw water onto a woman as part of traditional Easter celebrations during a media presentation in the World Heritage village of Holloko, Hungary. The traditional ‘watering of the girls’ is a Hungarian tribal fertility ritual rooted in the area’s pre-Christian past.

Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

A bumble bee in search of nectar lands on the blossom of an azalea near Springville, Ala.

Joe Songer/The Birmingham News/AP

Market Closes for March 28, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13126.21	-71.52
		-0.54%
S&P 500	1405.54	-6.98
		-0.49%
NASDAQ	3104.96	-15.39
		-0.49%
TSX	12413.86	-98.18
		-0.78%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10182.57	-72.58
		-0.71%
HANG SENG	20885.42	-161.49
		-0.77%
SENSEX	17121.62	-135.74
		-0.79%
FTSE 100	5808.99	-60.56
		-1.03%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.120	2.124
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.667	2.671
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1997	2.1836
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3102	3.2975

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00172	1.00476
US $	0.99828	0.99526
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32966	0.75207
US $	1.33195	0.75078

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1657.90	1679.80
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	105.41	106.79

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks declined the most in two weeks, led by materials and energy shares, after orders for U.S. durable goods rose less than projected in February.

Goldcorp Inc. decreased 0.9 percent as a strike by jewelers in India curbed demand. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, fell 3 percent on indications that demand for the metal is weakening in China.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, declined 1.6 percent after U.S. oil inventories climbed the most in 20 months last week.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 98.18 points, or 0.8 percent, to 12,413.86 in Toronto for the biggest decline since March 14.

“In Canada, energy and materials are two of the most economically sensitive sectors,” Pat McHugh, senior managing director and Canadian equity strategist at Manulife Financial Corp.’s asset-management unit, said in a telephone interview.

The unit oversees about $217 billion. “Anything that indicates a weakness in the economy, whether consumer or capital goods related, would impact them negatively. I’m not surprised they’re taking it on the chin today.”

The benchmark equity gauge increased 0.4 percent this week through yesterday after rising to a three-week high on Monday, led by commodity producers. The index fell 1 percent in March through yesterday, heading for its first monthly decline of the year, as materials and energy shares have declined due to growing concern that demand may slow in China and rising crude stockpiles.

Canadian gold companies declined as futures fell for a second straight day after a trade group said jewelers in India, the world’s biggest buyer, will extend a nationwide strike until the government withdraws a levy on non-branded products.

Goldcorp, the world’s second-biggest gold producer by market value, decreased 0.9 percent to C$44.45. Jaguar Mining Inc., which produces gold in Brazil, dropped 6.1 percent to C$4.78.

Copper shares dropped as the metal fell the most in three weeks after Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s top producer, recorded an 18 percent decline in second-half 2011 profit and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its three-month outlook for raw materials.

First Quantum Minerals fell 3 percent to C$18.27. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia, decreased 3.6 percent to C$15.52.

Energy companies in the S&P/TSX fell for a second day after U.S. oil inventories increased 7.1 million barrels to 353.4 million, the most since July 2010 and more than twice the gain predicted in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Oil also fell after French Industry Minister Eric Besson said the U.S. proposed releasing oil from strategic reserves.

Canadian Natural Resources declined 1.6 percent to C$32.83.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, decreased 1.3 percent to C$32.47.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 28 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down for a second day, as a slump in crude oil drove energy producers lower and government data showed that orders for durable goods rose less than forecast.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. paced losses in 42 out of 43 energy companies in the S&P 500 as oil slumped following an increase in supplies. The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy lost 1.6 percent as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the recovery isn’t assured. Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc. slid more than 2.2 percent. Financial shares had the only gain among 10 S&P 500 groups as Bank of America Corp. rallied 1.6 percent.

The S&P 500 slid 0.5 percent to 1,405.54 at 4 p.m. New York time. While the benchmark gauge has lost 0.8 percent in two days, it rebounded from its intraday low of 1,397.20 in the final two hours of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 71.52 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,126.21 today.

“Investor jitters have been heightened by another economic report coming in a bit light and by the Fed chairman suggesting the economy may be vulnerable to another period of turbulence,” said James Paulsen, who helps oversee about $333 billion as chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management. “The selloff is also being fueled by a collapse in energy stocks. After such a significant advance in the market, investors are already worried about a correction.”

Today’s loss pared this month’s rally in the S&P 500 to 2.9 percent. The index is still poised for the best first quarter since 1998, up 12 percent. Financial and technology shares have risen the most among 10 groups, surging more than 21 percent so far in 2012.

Stocks fell today after a Commerce Department report showed that bookings for goods meant to last at least three years advanced 2.2 percent, less than projected after a revised 3.6 percent decline the prior month. Bernanke said unemployment remains too high, the economic recovery isn’t guaranteed and policy makers don’t rule out any further options to boost growth.

“It’s far too early to declare victory,” Bernanke said, according to a transcript of last night’s interview with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer provided by the network. “The recent news has been good. But I think we need to be cautious and make sure this is sustainable. And we haven’t quite yet got to the point where we can be completely confident that we’re on a track to full recovery.”

Energy and raw-material producers had the biggest losses in the S&P 500 among 10 groups, falling at least 1.2 percent. Crude oil for May delivery tumbled 1.8 percent to $105.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Exxon slipped 0.9 percent to $85.86. Occidental Petroleum dropped 3.6 percent to $94.85.

Coal producers slipped. U.S. electricity generators are on track to burn 22 percent less coal this year than in 2011, said Lucas Pipes, an analyst at Brean Murray Carret & Co. in New York, citing data published in Coal & Energy Price Report, an industry newsletter. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. fell 4.2 percent to $14.87. Peabody Energy Corp. declined 3.4 percent to $28.83.

Concern about the economy weighed on companies whose earnings are most-dependent on growth. Alcoa retreated 2.3 percent to $9.83. Caterpillar lost 3.5 percent to $104.26.

Walt Disney Co. dropped 1.5 percent to $43.51. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is taking steps to start a national U.S. sports network on cable television aimed at challenging Disney’s ESPN, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

A123 Systems Inc. plunged 13 percent to $1.22, the lowest price since it went public in 2009. The battery maker may be unable to raise capital and could lose contracts as a result of its recall of defective packs sent to customers, a Deutsche Bank AG analyst said.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell 10 percent to $2.92 in its biggest drop since August. The biotechnology company was cut to neutral from overweight at Piper Jaffray Cos., which cited the share price. The stock had gained 85 percent from March 16 through yesterday.

The KBW Bank Index rallied 1.1 percent as 22 of its 24 stocks gained. Bank of America increased 1.6 percent to $9.75 after the lender slumped 3.3 percent yesterday.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. added 3.2 percent to $71.20 after saying it expects its $29.1 billion takeover by Express Scripts Inc. to close as soon as next week. Express Scripts will probably get a Federal Trade Commission ruling on the deal as early as March 30, said two people familiar with the case who declined to be identified because the review is private. Express Scripts increased 1.3 percent to $53.89.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. surged 54 percent, the most in the Russell 1000 Index, to $23.77. The maker of the diabetes drug Bydureon rejected a $3.5 billion unsolicited takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. earlier this year, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Pentair Inc. rallied 15 percent to $46.32. The maker of Everpure water filters agreed to combine with the Tyco International Ltd. division that makes valves and other flow- control instruments in a deal that values Tyco Flow at $4.53 billion. Tyco increased 4.3 percent to $55.81.

U.S. companies are better positioned for “cashing out” shareholders than at any other time in more than half a century, according to Myles Zyblock, chief institutional strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

Corporate cash increased by more than $200 billion in each of the past three years, including a $340.9 billion surge last year. Companies are poised to sustain the growth rate in their “cash mountain,” Zyblock wrote two days ago in a report.

Many companies are raising more money through bond sales because interest rates are low, the Toronto-based strategist wrote. The yield on a Moody’s Investors Service index of Baa rated corporate debt has averaged 5.2 percent this quarter, about 0.9 percentage point less than a year earlier.

Increased cash and relatively cheap debt financing will lead to growth in dividends as well as stock repurchases, the report said.

Health-care and technology companies have the most room to lift payouts and buy back more shares, Zyblock wrote. The groups have the highest percentage of cash to assets for non-financial companies, based on figures for the S&P 500 that he cited.

Energy producers are another possibility, he added, because they have relatively little debt.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

If you are in the moment, you are in the infinite.

-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.  The friends

who listen to us are the ones we move toward.  When we are listened to,

it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.

-Shel Silverstein, 1930-1999

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I was reading an interesting story in The New York Times this past Sunday morning… It was about a couple of beekeepers from upstate New York who were hired to begin producing honey on the roof of the Whitney Museum which is located on the Upper East Side.  The idea was inspired by the museum’s director after learning that the Tate museums around the world are doing the same thing as is the Louvre in Paris.  They are selling the honey in their shops in addition to the art books and other paraphernalia that helps the income stream.  What I found fascinating was the comment by one of the beekeepers that the honey is actually better than from the rural area in which they live and keep 9 hives.  The reason being that there are less pesticides used in urban areas than in rural agricultural areas.  Just amazing to me….also thinking about the future possibilities for roof tops in urban areas.  It would be fabulous if all that vacant roof-top real estate was rendered useful by replacing some of the natural world left diminished by development.

Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World.
You run out of time (and quit).
You run out of money (and quit).
You get scared (and quit).
You’re not serious about it (and quit).
You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).
-Seth Godin

photos of the day

March 27, 2012

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the six-floor Titanic Belfast building tells the story of the Titanic from the ship’s construction in Belfast to her sinking in the Atlantic on her maiden voyage one hundred years ago. The building opens to the public in April.

David Moir/Reuters

A red carpet leads the way to the UK film premiere of ‘Titanic 3D’ at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, west London. The re-launch of the 3D version comes 15 years after the film was a huge box office hit.

Joel Ryan/AP

Market Closures for March 27, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13197.3	-43.90
		-0.33%
S&P 500	1412.52	-3.99
		-0.28%
NASDAQ	3120.35	-2.22
		-0.07%
TSX	12512.04	-62.75
		-0.50%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10255.15	+236.91
		+2.36%
HANG SENG	21046.91	+378.05
		+1.83%
SENSEX	17257.36	+204.58
		+1.20%
FTSE 100	5869.55	-33.15
		-0.56%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.124	2.189
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.671	2.721
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1836	2.2479
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2975	3.3391

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00476	1.00878
US $	0.99526	0.99129
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32557	0.75439
US $	1.33188	0.75082

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1679.80	1689.60
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.79	107.12

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 27 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell from a three- week high as oil producers retreated after a U.S. Energy Department official said the U.S. may release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Nexen Inc., an energy producer with operations on five continents, fell 2.6 percent. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s fourth-biggest gold producer by market value, declined 2.6 percent. First Quantum Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest publicly traded copper producer, fell 1.9 percent.

Centerra Gold Inc. plunged 15 percent after cutting its output forecast.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 62.75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,512.04 in Toronto.

“The financials have shown some improvement, but we counter that against weakness we continue to see in oil and gas,” Andrew Pyle, an associate money manager on a Bank of Nova Scotia team that oversees about C$200 million ($200 million), said in a phone interview. “For the last couple of weeks we’ve been seeing decent movements in the price of oil without really a commensurate improvement in the oil and gas sector.”

The index slipped 0.3 percent last week as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and gold fell to a 10-week low before rebounding on March 23. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX fell, driven by oil shares, after Charles McConnell, the acting assistant secretary for fossil energy, said a release from the reserve is “being considered.”

Nexen Inc. fell 2.6 percent to C$18.08. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., which explores for oil in Colombia, decreased 2.4 percent to C$28.44.

Canadian materials companies fell after two days of increases on concern that an index of property values that showed the drop in U.S. house prices is slowing may undermine the case for more Federal Reserve economic stimulus.

Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-biggest gold producer by market value, declined 2.6 percent to C$9.84. Centerra Gold plummeted 15 percent to C$13.70 after cutting production forecasts at its flagship Kyrgyz mine by a third because of access delays caused by ice movement.

First Quantum fell 1.9 percent to C$18.84. Inmet Mining Corp., which produces copper, gold and zinc, dropped 2.7 percent to C$55.88.

The S&P/TSX has declined 1 percent in March after gaining

4.2 percent in January and rising 1.5 percent in February.

“This has not been an impressive month for the TSX,” said Pyle. “We’re not seeing the same improvement we saw in January and February.”

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 27 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks retreated as a report showing American consumer confidence near the strongest level in a year failed to encourage investors after the Standard & Poor’s

500 Index advanced to an almost four-year high.

Losses accelerated in the final 15 minutes of trading as financial companies slumped. Bank of America Corp. lost 3.3 percent as Robert W. Baird & Co. cut its rating. Apollo Group Inc. fell 8.5 percent on new enrollment concern. Homebuilder Lennar Corp. surged 4.7 percent amid better-than-estimated earnings. Pfizer Inc. added 1.5 percent as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised the possibility of a full breakup of the company.

The S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,412.52 at 4 p.m. New York time, after rising 1.7 percent in two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 43.90 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,197.73. About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S.

exchanged today, or 8.8 percent below the three-month average.

“There’s maybe some short-term vulnerability, but it doesn’t really dent my longer-term optimism,” said Liz Ann Sonders, the New York-based chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab Corp. Her firm has $1.81 trillion in client assets. “We had a huge day yesterday. So, it’s not a big surprise not to see an immediate follow-through.”

The S&P 500 yesterday erased last week’s loss. The index rose 3.4 percent in March, poised for a fourth straight monthly gain, the longest winning streak since 2009. It trades for 14.6 times reported earnings, the highest valuation level since July while below the average since 1954 of 16.4.

The Conference Board’s confidence index dropped to 70.2 from a revised 71.6 reading in February that was higher than initially reported. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a decrease to 70. The S&P/Case- Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, after decreasing 4.1 percent in December.

“The trend of economic data has been improving and that’s helped provide a better backdrop for investors to feel comfortable putting money into stocks,” Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group in Westport, Connecticut, which oversees $650 million, said in a telephone interview. “Yet we really haven’t seen much in terms of profit taking. It could be choppy.”

Seven out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 fell. Financial shares had the biggest decline among 10 industries, dropping 1 percent. Bank of America dropped 3.3 percent to $9.60 after being downgraded to neutral at Robert W. Baird. The 12-month share-price estimate is $10.

Apollo Group slumped 8.5 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $39.54. Co-Chief Executive Officer Gregory Cappelli told investors on a conference call that new enrollments will continue to be “volatile.” Credit Suisse Group AG cut its recommendation for the shares to neutral.

A measure of homebuilders in S&P indexes gained 2.9 percent. Lennar rallied 4.7 percent to $27.63. Net income for the three months ended Feb. 29 fell to $15 million, or 8 cents a share, from $27.4 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier. Lennar was expected to earn about 5 cents a share, the average estimate of 20 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Pfizer climbed 1.5 percent, the most in the Dow, to $22.50.

The shares have increased 8.3 percent since July 6, the day before Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said the New York-based company was exploring strategic alternatives for its animal health and nutrition businesses.

Read, at a recent meeting with Goldman analysts, indicated he may be willing to further split up the company after selling or spinning off those two units, Jami Rubin, a Goldman Sachs analyst, wrote in a note to investors.

American International Group Inc. advanced 2.1 percent to

$29.67 after Deutsche Bank AG said the insurer may repurchase

$20 billion of stock in the next 12 months.

Walgreen Co. added 1.3 percent to $34.80. The largest U.S.

drugstore chain reported second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after new grocery and household items boosted sales.

Opnext Inc. surged 53 percent, the most in the Russell 2000 Index, to $1.73. The maker of optical components for communications networks will be purchased by Oclaro Inc. in an all-stock deal. Holders of Fremont, California-based Opnext will get 0.42 shares of Oclaro stock, or about $1.96, for every Opnext share they own.

JDS Uniphase Corp. gained 3.3 percent to $14.79 and Finisar Corp. advanced 3.8 percent to $20.14 after Jefferies & Co. said they may gain market share while Opnext and Oclaro integrate their businesses.

The S&P 500 has climbed 12 percent since the end of last year, poised for the best first quarter since 1998, amid better- than-forecast earnings and economic data. Financial companies and computer makers rose the most among 10 groups, surging at least 21 percent so far in 2012.

Peter Lee, the New York-based chief technical analyst for UBS AG, said fund managers’ purchases of the best-performing stocks at the end of the quarter are likely to push the S&P 500 toward his 2012 target range of 1,440 to 1,450 sooner than the second half of the year, as he had anticipated.

The S&P 500 would need to rise 1.7 percent to reach 1,440 from yesterday’s closing level of 1,416.51. A failure of the benchmark index to hold gains above these levels may trigger a pullback of 5 percent to 10 percent, he said.

“When the quarter has been extremely strong, these institutional investors are pressured or motivated to dress up their portfolios to show clients that they actively participated in the marketplace during the quarter,” Lee wrote in a note yesterday. “The focus on momentum stocks and sectors leaves the overall market vulnerable for a correction.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Contemplation is seeing the here and now.

-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

Follow your honest convictions and stay strong.

-William Thackeray, 1811-1863

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear  Friends,

 

Tangents: Well I finally watched Mad Men for the very first time last night, the season’s premiere.  I very seldom watch television except for the BBC news every night, but I was curious because of the societal impact this show appears to be having, from cocktails to fashion.   About halfway through, Gary asked me what I thought, and I said, it’s like a daytime soap opera.  He said he agreed but he had actually liked Dynasty better, so we switched the channel to the BBC.

 

I read  a  short book yesterday entitled Here is New York by E.B. White (published by The Little Bookroom, NY).  It is a reissue of the one originally published in 1949, with a new introduction by his step-son, Roger Angell.

 

“In the summer of 1948, E.B. White sat in a New York City hotel room and, sweltering in the summer heat, wrote a remarkable, pristine essay, Here is New York.

Perceptive, funny, and nostalgic, the author’s stroll around Manhattan – with the reader arm-in-arm – remains the quintessential love letter to the city, written by one of America’s foremost literary figures.

Like most of White’s prose (his essays, his ‘Talk of the Town’ columns, The Elements of Style), this book is of modest length.  Yet, like Charlotte’s Web, it speaks more eloquently about what lasts and what really matters than other, more expansive pieces.

The New York Times has chosen Here is New York as one of the ten best books ever written about the grand metropolis.  The New Yorker calls it ‘the wittiest essay, and one of the most perceptive, ever done on the city.’

This edition of Here is New York marks the 100^th anniversary of E.B. White’s birth, and appears with a new introduction by Roger Angell.” –from the publisher.

If you love New York like me, you will love this little book.

photos of the day

March 26, 2012

People take a stroll in the garden of Schwetzingen Castle in Schwetzingen, Germany.

Ronald Wittek/dapd/AP

People walk along a tidal causeway in the town of Peel on the Isle of Man. The British Isles have seen a spell of particularly warm weather over the past few days.

Raphael Satter/AP

 

Market Closures for March 26, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13241.63	+160.90
		+1.23%
S&P 500	1416.51	+19.40
		+1.39%
NASDAQ	3122.57	+54.65
		+1.78%
TSX	12574.79	+109.13
		+0.88%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10018.24	+6.77
		+0.07%
HANG SENG	20668.86	+0.06
		–%
SENSEX	17052.78	-308.96
		-1.78%
FTSE 100	5902.70	+47.81
		0.82%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.189	2.179
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.721	2.717
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2479	2.2317
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3391	3.3051

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00878	1.00215
US $	0.99129	0.99785
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32411	0.75522
US $	1.33574	0.74865

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1689.60	1662.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.12	106.81

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 26 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to a three- week high, led by commodity producers, as investors speculated that the European Union will increase the size of its bailout fund and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said accommodative monetary policy is still needed to reduce U.S. unemployment.

San Gold Corp., the developer of a project in Manitoba, advanced 6.4 percent. Yamana Gold Inc., Canada’s third-largest producer by market value, gained 1.5 percent. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, rose 1 percent, as oil erased an earlier loss after Bernanke’s comments. Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., which operates in Peru and Mexico, plunged 9.2 percent after it reported a fourth-quarter loss.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 109.13 points, or 0.9 percent, to 12,574.79 in Toronto.

“Commodities have clearly been pushing the market higher,” Brian Huen, a managing partner at Red Sky Capital Management Ltd. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$55 million ($55 million). “You’re seeing oil prices firm up and you’re seeing a rally in gold today. The rally in gold is mainly driven by Bernanke’s comments that the job market in the U.S. isn’t recovering as quickly as he’d like it to.”

The index slipped 0.3 percent last week as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and gold fell to a 10-week low before rebounding on March 23. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Materials stocks in the S&P/TSX gained after Bernanke said that while he’s encouraged by the unemployment rate’s drop to 8.3 percent, further improvement in the job market will require continuing the central bank’s stimulative monetary policies.

Commodities also increased after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany may back plans for the temporary and permanent euro-area rescue funds to run in parallel. European finance ministers will meet on March 30 to discuss raising a 500 billion-euro ($664 billion) ceiling on the region’s financial firewall.

San Gold advanced 6.4 percent to C$1.50. Yamana Gold gained 1.5 percent C$16.16. Suncor advanced 1 percent to C$33.12.

Fortuna Silver Mines dropped 9.2 percent to C$5.60 after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of $1.2 million. Excluding some items, the company broke even, missing the the 8.4 cent average of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The results were hurt by higher tax rates in Peru, Trevor Turnbull, an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, said in a telephone interview.

Financial stocks in the S&P/TSX rose. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, advanced 1.2 percent to C$58.67. Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services Inc. increased 2.5 percent to C$31.10.

“This market strength could last for a little while longer,” said Huen. “The Canadian markets have lagged the U.S. markets year-to-date, so you could see a bit of a catch-up.”

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., Canada’s largest engineering and construction company, rose 5.2 percent to C$41.31, reversing an earlier loss prompted by the resignation of Pierre Duhaime as the company’s chief executive officer after a probe into project payments.

The discovery of incorrectly booked payments does not appear to have caused the loss of any contracts, company executives said in a statement today. SNC-Lavalin isn’t planning legal action against Duhaime, Chairman Gwyn Morgan said on a conference call.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the highest level since May 2008, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that accommodative monetary policy is still needed to spur jobs.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy rose 1.3 percent. Apple Inc. jumped 1.8 percent to a record as the world’s most-valuable technology company said it plans to increase investment in China. Amazon.com Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. climbed at least 2.2 percent to pace gains among the largest companies. Pfizer Inc. added 1.6 percent as health-care shares rose the most among 10 S&P 500 groups.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.4 percent to 1,416.51 at 4 p.m. New York time, erasing last week’s loss and posting the fourth- biggest gain of 2012. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 160.90 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,241.63 today. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies rallied 1.9 percent to 846.13, the highest level since July. About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, or 6 percent below the three-month average.

“Bernanke is in a difficult situation because the Federal Reserve is mostly relying on the Fed’s speech as opposed to money to move markets,” said David Kelly, who helps oversee about $394 billion as chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds in New York. “What he’s trying to say is that they’re going to be pretty slow to remove stimulus.”

Equities rose as Bernanke said in a speech that while he’s encouraged by the unemployment rate’s decline, the economy still needs help. The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes held in February near an almost two-year high, a sign that the real estate market may be stabilizing.

Gains in stocks were also driven by speculation the European Union will increase the size of its bailout fund.

European finance ministers meet March 30 to discuss raising a 500 billion-euro ($664 billion) ceiling on the region’s financial firewall. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany may back plans for the temporary and permanent euro-area rescue funds to run in parallel.

“Europe took care of a liquidity problem, but the solvency concern still remains,” E. William Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, said in a telephone interview. His firm manages about $107 billion. “Some action to bolster the firewall would be viewed as positive.”

All 10 groups in the S&P 500 rose today as some of the largest companies rallied. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, a proxy for the economy, gained 1.4 percent. The KBW Bank Index added 1.5 percent as 23 of its 24 stocks rose. Amazon.com increased 4 percent to $202.87. JPMorgan climbed 2.2 percent to $46.17.

Apple jumped 1.8 percent to a record $606.98. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited the world’s most populous country, where store openings have trailed a forecast the company made two years ago. Cook had “great meetings” with Chinese officials, Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman, said by phone, without identifying the officials.

A measure of health-care companies in the S&P 500 rose the most among 10 industries, adding 1.7 percent. Pfizer added 1.6 percent to $22.16. Tenet Healthcare Corp. had the second-biggest advance in the S&P 500, adding 5.5 percent to $5.54.

The U.S. Supreme Court opened historic arguments on President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul by debating whether it should rule this year at all. The justices are considering whether an 1867 law bars them from ruling for now on the measure that requires almost every American to get health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared 25 percent to $3.01, the highest level since September 2010. The weight-loss pill maker faces an advisory panel on May 10 as Food and Drug Administration staff said in a report today that obesity treatment manufacturers may need to study the heart risks of their medicines before U.S. regulators weigh approval.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. rallied 5.9 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $75.51. The company’s Sapien device replaces damaged aortic heart valves as well as surgery, without cracking open the chest or triggering higher rates of stroke or death after two years, a company-funded study found.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. added 4.5 percent to $15.18.

“The Hunger Games” collected $155 million in weekend sales in the U.S. and Canada, a record opening for the company and for the month of March.

Safeway Inc. declined 3.4 percent, the biggest loss in the S&P 500, to $20.42. The grocer was cut to neutral from outperform at Credit Suisse Group AG, meaning the firm expects the stock to perform in-line with the market over the next 12 months.

A123 Systems Inc. tumbled 12 percent to $1.49, the lowest price since it went public in September 2009. The company said it’s replacing defective battery packs and modules it supplies to customers, including Fisker Automotive Inc., and that the flaw caused a Fisker Karma to shut down in a Consumer Reports test.

The S&P 500 today erased last week’s 0.5 percent decline and extended its monthly advance to 3.7 percent. The benchmark measure is poised for a fourth straight monthly gain, the longest winning streak since September 2009. The index has risen 13 percent in 2012 amid better-than-estimated economic and corporate data. It trades for 14.6 times reported earnings, below the average since 1954 of 16.4.

Hedge funds trailing the S&P 500 for the last five months are giving up on bearish bets and buying stocks at the fastest rate in two years.

A gauge of hedge-fund bullishness measuring the proportion of bets that shares will rise climbed to 48.6 last week from 42 at the end of November 2011, the biggest increase since April 2010, according to data compiled by the International Strategy & Investment Group. The Bloomberg aggregate hedge fund index gained 1.4 percent last month, lagging behind the S&P 500 by 2.65 percentage points.

Money managers struggling to catch up with the gains have contributed to the rally that pushed the S&P 500 up 27 percent since October.

Market bulls say they are a continuing source of cash that can move stocks higher. Bears say capitulating hedge funds are further evidence that equities have risen too far, too fast as economic growth remains sluggish, warning that the pool of potential buyers is being depleted.

“It’s encouraged me to gradually increase my exposure to stocks,” Barton Biggs, founder of hedge fund Traxis Partners LP in New York, said in a March 23 phone interview, referring to an improving economic outlook. “The shift has occurred gradually in the six or so months since the beginning of October. I’d be inclined to raise my net long further because the potential to the upside would be greater” should the S&P 500 fall 5 percent to 7 percent, he said.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Such awareness is like living with a snake in the room;

you watch its every movement, you are very, very sensitive to the slightest sound it makes.

Such a state of attention is total energy;

in such awareness the totality of yourself is revealed in an instant.

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never,

ever have enough.
– Oprah Winfrey, 1954-

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

March 23^rd, 1922, Mahatma Gandhi, at his trial on a charge of sedition:

 

Non-violence is the first article of my faith.  It is the last article of my faith.  But I had to make my choice.  I had either to submit to a system which I considered has done an irreparable harm to my country or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips.  I know that my people have sometimes gone mad.  I am deeply sorry for it;  and I am therefore, here, to submit not to a light penalty but to the highest penalty.  I do not ask for mercy.  I do not plead any extenuating act.  I am here, therefore, to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.  –from The Book of Days.

photos of the day

March 23, 2012

A bird sits on the head of a deer shortly after dawn in south west London.

Toby Melville/Reuters

People relax in the sun near the fountains at Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower as unusually warm temperatures hit Paris.

Charles Platiau/Reuters

 

The secret of health for both mind and body is not mourn for the past, not to worry about the future,

not to anticipate the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.     ~ Buddha

 

Market Closures for March 22, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13080.73	+34.59
		+0.27%
S&P 500	1397.11	+4.33
		+0.31%
NASDAQ	3067.92	+4.6
		+0.15%
TSX	12465.66	+103.85
		+0.84%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10011.47	-115.61
		-1.14%
HANG SENG	20668.80	-232.76
		-1.11%
SENSEX	17361.74	+165.27
		+0.96%
FTSE 100	5854.89	+9.24
		0.16%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.179	2.199
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.717	2.730
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2317	2.2781
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3051	3.3596

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00215	1.0061
US $	0.99785	0.9939
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32420	0.75517
US $	1.32705	0.75355

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1662.00	1645.10
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.81	105.53

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 23 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, paring a weekly decline, as precious metal producers rallied after a decline in the U.S dollar spurred demand for gold and silver as alternative investments.

Barrick Gold Corp., the biggest producer of the metal, advanced 1.6 percent. Silver Wheaton Corp., the country’s third- biggest precious metals company by market value, rose 5.3 percent after reporting fourth quarter profit that beat analysts’ average estimate. West Fraser Timber Co., Canada’s largest forestry company, fell 2.2 percent after a U.S. report showed purchases of new homes unexpectedly fell.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 103.85 points, or 0.8 percent, to 12,465.66 in Toronto, reducing its weekly decline to 0.3 percent.

“The dollar is the flipside of commodity prices,” Irwin Michael, a money manager at ABC Funds in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. Michael’s firm oversees C$1 billion ($1 billion). “It doesn’t take very much to cause a move. People are very nervous.”

The index had its fourth-straight weekly decline, the longest slump since November 2011, as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and gold fell to a 10-week low before rebounding today. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Materials companies increased today, driven by precious metals stocks, as gold advanced the most in four weeks on speculation that investors will buy more bullion as an alternative to the slumping dollar. Gold had dropped 4 percent this month on concern over an economic slowdown in China before rebounding.

Gold futures for April delivery climbed 1.2 percent on the Comex in New York while silver futures for May delivery increased 3 percent, the most since Feb. 28.

Barrick Gold advanced 1.6 percent to C$43.80. Silver Wheaton rose 5.5 percent to C$33.74 after reporting fourth- quarter earnings excluding some items of 41 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 1 cent.

Construction and building materials companies declined after purchases of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in February for a second month, a sign the recovery in the housing market may be uneven. West Fraser Timber, which earned 47 percent of its revenue in the U.S. last year, dropped 2.2 percent to C$48.70.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX increased as oil surged almost

$3 a barrel after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day this month because of tighter sanctions.

Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s second-largest oil company by revenue, rose 2.6 percent to C$45.44. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, increased 1 percent to C$32.80.

US

By Inyoung Hwang

March 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, trimming the biggest weekly drop of the year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as gains in commodity and energy companies amid rising oil prices offset an unexpected decline in new-home purchases.

Material and energy shares each climbed 1 percent, the most among 10 groups in the S&P 500, as crude rose on a report that sanctions will reduce Iranian exports. Chevron Corp. gained 1 percent. Morgan Stanley added 3.8 percent, pacing an advance among financial companies, after it was raised to sector perform by Royal Bank of Canada. Bats Global Markets Inc. withdrew its initial public offering after errors on its own system derailed trading in the stock and forced a halt in Apple Inc.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,397.11 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring the benchmark index’s decline for the week to 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 34.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,080.73 today.

“Energy’s leading and it’s a reflection of the news out of Iran and concerns about a potential shortage of oil,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird, which oversees $85 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The market’s had a big run the first quarter and we could see some sort of consolidation phase, but I don’t see the market vulnerable to any significant correction. Despite the big run in stocks, investor sentiment has been contained.”

U.S. stocks retreated yesterday as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. tumbled amid a disappointing forecast. The S&P 500 is still up 2.3 percent for March, heading for its longest monthly rally since September 2009 as economic data topped forecasts and the European Central Bank disbursed more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to lenders.

At the same time, American equity trading has struggled.

Shares changing hands on all U.S. exchanges slumped 30 percent to 5.9 billion today from last week. The average volume in the past three months has been 6.61 billion, compared with the one- year average of 7.53 billion.

Raw-material and energy companies had the biggest gains out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 today as commodity prices rose. Oil surged almost $3 a barrel after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day because of tighter sanctions.

Alcoa jumped 1 percent to $10.11, while Caterpillar added

1.3 percent to $107.83. Chevron climbed 1 percent to $106.36.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. jumped 3.2 percent to $32.52, while Consol Energy Inc. jumped 2.5 percent to $33.76.

Financial shares advanced 0.9 percent as a group. Morgan Stanley added 3.8 percent to $20.33. The New York-based firm was raised to sector perform from underperform at Royal Bank of Canada. Discover Financial Services climbed 4.1 percent to

$33.83 after the payments network company was raised to conviction buy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The S&P Supercomposite Homebuilding Index fell 1.2 percent.

Stocks declined earlier today after figures from the Commerce Department showed that new-home sales fell 1.6 percent to a

313,000 annual pace, the slowest since October, from a 318,000 rate in January that was weaker than previously reported. The median estimate of 78 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for 325,000.

KB Home, the Los Angeles-based homebuilder that targets first-time buyers, sank 8.5 percent to $10.29. Revenue in the first quarter was $254.6 million, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $328.6 million.

Micron Technology Inc. fell 3.6 percent to $8.40 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500 after reporting a third consecutive quarterly loss as sluggish demand for personal computers dragged down chip prices.

“There’s a little bit of nervousness this week,” Nick Sargen, chief investment officer at Fort Washington Investment Advisors in Cincinnati, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees $40 billion. “This was the week where the market had a little bit of second guessing on how strong is Europe, how strong is China, and that raises the question, ‘How confident are we that the economy is going to continue to grow at the pace we’ve seen in recent months?’”

Bats Global Markets withdrew its initial public offering after the six-year-old equity exchange priced the deal yesterday.

Pulling the IPO capped a day of missteps for the electronic exchange, beginning just as the shares were making their debut.

Data received by Bloomberg around 11 a.m. in New York showed the stock, the first ever listed on its Lenexa, Kansas-based market, quoted at pennies after being priced yesterday at $16.

Around the same time, a transaction in Apple was executed on Bats so far away from the market price that it triggered a halt. A single trade for 100 shares executed on a Bats venue briefly sent Apple down to $542.80, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bats sent a notice about 10 minutes before the Apple trade saying it was investigating “system issues” affecting companies with ticker symbols ranging between A and BF. Apple’s symbol is AAPL; Bats’s ticker is BATS. Apple finished regular trading down

0.6 percent at $596.05.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

There is no weapon more powerful in achieving the truth than acceptance of oneself.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

Carolann

Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and

in surpassing itself.  If all it does is maintain itself,

then living is only not dying.

-Simone de Beauvoir, 1908-1986

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents: New moon tonight.

Nature is my mirror, my mentor, every moment whispering, singing her stories and parables.  We are each a product of nature, regardless of how we think and behave.  Clanking around in our skin, feeling at times akin to it and other times alien to it, these dry bones and limbs belong to the very earth they stand on, more a part of it than not.  We differ in our DNA ever so slightly from one another, from other animals, plants, and rocks, but mostly we are kin.

Having risen from this earth just as the trees have, we too seek to grow and bear fruit, withstand the elements, and stretch our limbs to the sun.  How is it that we can see the beauty in a coastal tree bent by prevailing winds and poor soil, but see only the lack in one another when growth conditions have been less desirable?

If I use nature as my guide, she always says “yes”; “yes, give it a try,” “yes, I am here to break your fall,” “yes, now you see what is and is not possible, what harm comes from doing certain things?”  Her yeses are tough love for me.  Inside of me lives an entire world; there are regions that are fully grown and lush, but there are area barren, now growing weeds to compost down and fertilize the ground for what comes next.

-Janis Miltenberger, Artist

photos of the day

March 22, 2012

A man walks along the beach after a storm in Viladecans, near Barcelona, Spain.

Emilio Morenatti/AP

The sun rises through thick fog in Santa Ana, Calif.

Thomas Sullens/The Orange County Register/AP

Market Closures for March 22, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13046.14	-78.48
		-0.60%
S&P 500	1392.78	-10.11
		-0.72%
NASDAQ	3063.32	-12
		-0.39%
TSX	12361.81	-74.68
		-0.60%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10127.08	+40.59
		+0.40%
HANG SENG	20901.56	+44.93
		+0.22%
SENSEX	17196.47	-405.24
		-2.30%
FTSE 100	5845.65	-46.30
		-0.79%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.199	2.239
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.730	2.765
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2781	2.2942
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3596	3.3811

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.0061	1.00853
US $	0.9939	0.99154
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31932	0.75797
US $	1.32011	0.75751

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1645.10	1649.70
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	105.53	106.91

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 22 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the third time in four days, led by materials and energy shares, after manufacturing contracted in Europe and China.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest energy company by market value, declined 3.4 percent.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, dropped 1.8 percent. Avion Gold Corp., which explores for the metal in Mali, plunged 12 percent after army officers in the African country said they toppled the government.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 74.68 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,361.81 in Toronto.

“The correlation between commodities and the Canadian market is very high,” Danielle Park, a money manager at Venable Park Investment Counsel Inc. in Barrie, Ontario, said in a telephone interview. The firm manages at least C$1 million ($1

million) each for more than 200 clients. “This is not only because we’re fairly overweight in that sector, but also because of this whole perception of Chinese demand fueling commodity- based countries.”

The index fell 0.5 percent this week through yesterday as commodity shares fell on concern that slower growth and rising stockpiles in China will curb demand. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 46 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

A gauge of European manufacturing fell today as factory output unexpectedly shrank in Germany and France, according to London-based Markit Economics. A preliminary measure of Chinese manufacturing slipped in March to the lowest level in four months, based on figures from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics.

Canadian gold shares slipped after signs of slowing growth from China to Germany sent the U.S. dollar higher, curbing demand for the precious metal. Gold futures dropped to a nine- week low.

Guyana Goldfields Inc., which explores for gold in South America, decreased 5.6 percent to C$3.35. Jaguar Mining Inc., which produces gold in Brazil, dropped 3.9 percent to C$5.12.

Avion fell 12 percent, the most since November, to C$1.20 following a military coup in Mali, where the company operates.

The company’s Tabakoto mine and Kofi project “are running normally and for the most part unaffected,” John Begeman, chief executive officer of Toronto-based Avion, said today in a statement.

Copper futures dropped 2.1 percent, the most in two weeks.

Teck Resources, Canada’s biggest base-metal company, fell 1.8 percent to C$35.05. Lundin Mining Corp., which operates the Storliden copper and zinc mine in Sweden, declined 2.1 percent to C$4.57.

“There’s been an almost perfect correlation between the price of copper and Canadian stocks over the last couple of years,” Park said. “When you see copper down 2 percent, you say that Canadian stocks, minus some other catalyst, have more downside in the short term.”

Canadian energy companies decreased for a third straight day as oil fell to a one-week low. Canadian Natural Resources fell 3.4 percent to C$33.78. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, dropped 1.8 percent to C$32.47.

Food distributor Colabor Group Inc. fell 24 percent, the most since it went public seven years ago, to C$8 after cutting its dividend by a third.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 22 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks retreated, trimming the longest monthly rally since September 2009 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. tumbled amid a disappointing forecast.

FedEx sank 3.5 percent after the world’s largest cargo airline predicted slower growth in coming quarters. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, which is considered a proxy for economic growth, slumped 2.1 percent. Commodity shares had the biggest losses in the S&P 500 among 10 groups as Alcoa Inc. and Chevron Corp. dropped at least 2.3 percent. Bank of America Corp. fell 2.2 percent to pace declines in financial shares.

The S&P 500 declined 0.7 percent to 1,392.78 at 4 p.m. New York time, slumping 1.2 percent in three days. The gauge has risen 2 percent in March, on pace for a fourth monthly rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 13,046.14. The Russell 2000 Index slid 1 percent to 821.44. About 6.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S.

exchanges, almost in line with the three-month average.

“We are watching China closely,” said Scott Armiger, a portfolio manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, which has $11 billion in client assets. “There are still a lot of questions about the pace of economic growth,” he said.

“It’s not unusual to have a pullback in the market after a strong run. We’ve made a lot of money in less than six months.”

Equities joined a global slump today as a Chinese manufacturing index indicated a worse contraction this month.

Euro-area services and manufacturing output contracted more than economists forecast. Stocks fell even after data showed that jobless claims dropped to the lowest level in four years, reinforcing signs the U.S. labor market is picking up.

Today’s decline trimmed this year’s gain in the S&P 500 to

11 percent. The benchmark gauge is up 27 percent from its October 2011 low amid economic and corporate data that exceeded projections. Financial and technology shares have soared at least 33 percent during that period.

“There’s enough of a reason there after the sharp run-up in stocks for the market to pull back or go sideways in the short term,” said Mark Bronzo, who helps manage about $125 billion at Guggenheim Investments, in Irvington, New York.

“Most people recognize that China growth has slowed. It’s a question of: is it going to be a sharp or a mild slowdown?”

Companies most dependent on economic growth had the biggest declines among 10 groups in the S&P 500 today, as gauges of commodity, financial and industrial shares retreated at least

1.1 percent. The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index dropped 1.9 percent. A measure of 11 homebuilders in S&P indexes slumped 1.7 percent.

FedEx tumbled 3.5 percent to $92.50. It forecast a profit range for its current fiscal quarter whose low end trailed analysts’ estimates amid slowing express-shipment demand.

The company is responding to a drop in express shipments and “below-trend” growth by parking an unspecified number of planes in the desert, reducing flight hours and reviewing domestic capacity. The range of goods delivered by FedEx and United Parcel Service Inc. makes them economic barometers.

Energy and raw material shares retreated as the S&P GSCI gauge of commodities declined 1.1 percent amid concern about slower demand. Alcoa retreated 2.5 percent, the most in the Dow, to $10.01. Chevron slumped 2.4 percent to $105.35. Among industrial companies, Caterpillar Inc. dropped 2.4 percent to $106.43.

The KBW Bank Index lost 1.6 percent as all of its 24 companies declined. Bank of America slipped 2.2 percent to $9.60. Citigroup Inc. retreated 2.4 percent to $36.90.

Discover Financial Services added 2.7 percent to $32.49.

The payments network company said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 36 percent to a record as consumers spent more on credit cards.

Dish Network Corp. rose 1.7 percent to $32.90. The second- largest U.S. satellite-TV provider has its share-price estimate increased to $41 from $35 at Deutsche Bank AG. U.S. regulators began removing barriers to the company’s proposed mobile high- speed data network, voting 3-0 yesterday to begin recasting rules that reserve the company’s recently acquired airwaves for satellite use.

Bats Global Markets Inc., founded by a high-frequency trader and nurtured by the world’s top securities firms into the third-largest U.S. stock exchange operator, will seek more than

$100 million for its owners today. It plans to sell 6.3 million shares between $16 and $18 apiece after the close of trading.

Underwriters led by Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG and Citigroup are pricing the shares at about 16.9 times estimated 2013 earnings, according to Diego Perfumo, an analyst at hedge fund adviser Equity Research Desk.

Started in 2005 with 13 employees, Bats was steered to prominence by brokers and traders trying to hold down fees as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market bought their biggest electronic rivals. Now, with its venues accounting for

11 percent of U.S. share volume, the Lenexa, Kansas-based company is seeking a valuation that is higher than its biggest competitors, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“Naysayers would have said these guys were just a disruptive influence and Bats was created to beat up on the traditional exchanges,” Larry Tabb, chief executive officer of research firm Tabb Group LLC in New York, said in a phone interview yesterday. “The IPO makes the case that Bats is a legitimate exchange just like NYSE and Nasdaq.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Not only must we be aware of the nature and structure of the problem

and see it completely,

but meet it as it arises and resolve it immediately,

so that it does not take root in the mind.

If one allows a problem to endure for a month or a day,

or even for a few minutes, it distorts the mind.

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy

and character.  But if you must be without one,

be without the strategy.

-Norman Schwarzkopf, 1934-

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

I finished reading a wonderful book last night, a memoir by Gully Wells entitled The House in France.  Gully’s mother is Dee Wells, and was caught up in the counter culture of the 1960s, immersing  herself within an intellectual  inner circle that included Isaiah Berlin, Iris Murdoch, Bertrand Russell, Martin Amis, Christopher Hitchens, Robert Kennedy among many others.  The story unfolds in London, Provence and New York.  She  married A.J. Ayer, the celebrated Oxford philosopher when Gully was only a toddler.  Gully writes of lovingly of her step-father Freddie, as A.J. is known:  “His old friend e.e. cummings once wrote him a birthday poem, which captured this charming duality in his nature rather nicely:

 

Considering the gravity of your language

And the levity of your nature

(or, at times, the levity of your language

and the gravity of your nature)

it is clear that keeping your balance

comes easier than it does to teetering us.

You walk on the tightropes as if they lay on the ground,

And always, bird eyed, notice more than we notice you notice; and the

observation follows always with the clarity

of a wire slicing cheese.

 

photos of the day

March 21, 2012

Performers dance during Navruz celebrations in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. Navruz is a traditional Central Asian holiday marking the first day of spring and the beginning of a new year.

Nozim Kalandarov/Reuters

People watch a water fountain on the Swiss Federal square in front of the Swiss Federal Palace (Bundeshaus) in Bern.

Michael Buholzer/Reuters

 

Market Closures for March 21, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13124.62	-45.57
		-0.35%
S&P 500	1402.89	-2.63
		-0.19%
NASDAQ	3075.32	+1.17
		+0.04%
TSX	12436.49	+5.79
		+0.05%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10086.49	-55.50
		-0.55%
HANG SENG	20856.63	-31.61
		-0.15%
SENSEX	17601.71	+285.53
		+1.65%
FTSE 100	5891.95	+0.54
		+0.01%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.239	2.281
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.765	2.806
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2942	2.3591
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3811	3.4454

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00792	1.00853
US $	0.99214	0.99154
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31081	0.76289
US $	1.32119	0.75689

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1649.70	1650.70
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.91	105.61

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 21 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the first time in three days, led by industrial shares, after Bombardier Inc. signed an agreement with China-based Commercial Aircraft Corp. that will help cut costs and boost sales.

Bombardier, a maker of trains and airplanes, increased 3.2 percent. Canadian National Railway Co., the country’s largest railroad, rose 1.8 percent on plans to build a line in Quebec.

Calfrac Well Services Ltd., which provides hydraulic fracturing in Canada and the U.S., fell 5.9 percent after Baker Hughes Inc. said a shift away from gas rigs may hurt its earnings.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 5.79 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,436.49 in Toronto.

March 21 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed as financial shares slipped after a decline in sales of previously owned U.S. homes and gold producers rose with futures for the metal.

Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-biggest lender by assets, fell 1 percent. Yamana Gold Inc., Canada’s third-largest producer by market value, gained 0.8 percent as  futures advanced on speculation that demand will rebound in India.

Calfrac Well Services Ltd., which provides hydraulic fracturing in Canada and the U.S., fell 5.4 percent after Baker Hughes Inc. said a shift away from gas rigs may hurt its earnings.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 0.77 point, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,431.47 at 12:43 p.m. in Toronto.

“For the past couple of weeks this market has been predominantly driven off the commodity space, but you’re not seeing a lot of movement on it today,” Gareth Watson, vice president of investment management and research at Richardson GMP Ltd. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$16 billion ($16 billion). “It’s a reflection of the fact that there really hasn’t been a great deal of news or development overnight from an economic standpoint.”

Canadian financial companies, which make up 30 percent of the country’s stocks by market value, fell after the National Association of Realtors said in a report that purchases of previously owned U.S. homes dropped 0.9 percent to a 4.59 million annual rate from a revised 4.63 million pace in January that was faster than previously estimated.

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased 1 percent to C$55.20. The U.S. accounted for 19 percent of the company’s deposits last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services Inc. dropped 2 percent to C$29.95.

Gold stocks in the index rose on speculation that demand will increase after jewelry shops end a five-day shutdown tomorrow in India. Futures for April delivery gained 0.3 percent to $1,651.90 an ounce at 12:06 p.m. in New York.

Yamana rose 0.8 percent to C$15.60. Centerra Gold Inc., which mines in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, increased 5.4 percent to C$16.34.

Calfrac declined 5.4 percent to C$29.33 after Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oilfield services provider, said it expects operating profit before tax for the first quarter to fall as producers shift drilling from natural gas to crude.

Agrium Inc. gained 1 percent to C$88.43 after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it remains bullish on the sector given the positive outlook for corn prices. The company has partnered with Glencore International Plc in the largest publicly traded commodity supplier’s attempt to buy Viterra Inc.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 21 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down a second day, on concern the best first-quarter since 1998 has outpaced economic prospects and as Baker Hughes Inc. drove a selloff in energy shares.

Baker Hughes, the world’s third-largest oilfield-services provider, tumbled 5.8 percent after saying that a shift away from gas rigs will hurt earnings. Morgan Stanley and Fifth Third Bancorp dropped at least 1.7 percent to pace losses in financial companies. Hewlett-Packard Co. slumped 2.2 percent for the biggest decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2 percent to 1,402.89 at 4 p.m. New York time. The Dow retreated 45.57 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,124.62. About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, or 7.9 percent below the three-month average.

“People won’t play real hard at these levels,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, which oversees more than $300 billion. “I don’t think you should get bearish. Yet the market’s energy seems to be used up after the strong rally.”

The S&P 500 has rallied 12 percent this year amid better- than-estimated economic and corporate data. More than $3.6 trillion was restored to U.S. equity values since last year’s low for the benchmark gauge in October. The rally drove the index to about 14.6 times reported earnings this week, the highest valuation level since July.

Data today showed purchases of previously owned U.S. houses dropped 0.9 percent to a 4.59 million annual rate from a revised 4.63 million pace in January that was faster than previously estimated. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for a rise to 4.61 million.

“The housing situation is not a quick turnaround,” Hank Smith, chief investment officer at Haverford Trust Co. in Radnor, Pennsylvania, said in a telephone interview. His firm manages about $6.5 billion. “In addition, the stock market had an almost one-way ride. It’s due for a pause.”

Energy shares in the S&P 500 slumped 1 percent for the biggest decline among 10 groups.

Baker Hughes tumbled 5.8 percent to $45.04. North American first-quarter profit margin will drop to as low as 13.2 percent from 18.7 percent because of lower prices, higher costs and supply shortages as U.S. operators shift rig locations, the company said. Companies are drilling for oil because it’s worth about eight times more on an energy-equivalent basis than gas on U.S. markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A measure of financial shares in the S&P 500 lost 0.4 percent for the second-biggest decline among 10 industries.

Morgan Stanley fell 1.7 percent to $20.06. Fifth Third retreated 1.8 percent to $14.24.

Hewlett-Packard slid 2.2 percent to $23.46. The company will combine its personal-computer unit with the division that sells printers into a group led by Todd Bradley, who ran the PC business, to help cut expenses amid declining sales and profit.

“Deeper issues will likely take more than management changes,” Maynard Um, an analyst with UBS AG in New York, said in a note to investors.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. rose 1.4 percent to $22.02. Chief Executive Officer Liam McGee responded to billionaire John Paulson’s call for a breakup with plans to shut or sell parts of the 201-year-old insurer. Hartford will stop selling individual annuities and seek buyers for its individual life, Woodbury Financial Services and retirement-plan operations.

LinkedIn Corp. surged 6.5 percent to $97.78. The biggest professional-networking website was raised to buy from neutral at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Netflix Inc. gained 4.4 percent to $120.10. The online and mail-order video-rental service said the mystery series “Hemlock Grove” will be available exclusively to its members for instant viewing early in 2013.

Stocks will probably begin a “steady upward trajectory” over the next few years because any declines in economic growth are already reflected in share prices, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. The MSCI World Index is trading at 13.2 times estimated earnings after falling 7.6 percent last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“Given current valuations, we think it’s time to say a ‘long goodbye’ to bonds, and embrace the ‘long good buy’ for equities as we expect them to embark on an upward trend over the next few years,” Peter Oppenheimer, chief global equity strategist at Goldman Sachs in London, wrote in a report today.

The prospects for returns in equities versus bonds “are as good as they have been in a generation,” he wrote.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I am myself.

The other is simply something else.

I am what I am.

If I am a demon, very well then I am a demon.

That is all.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

I don’t like that man.  I must

get to know him.

-Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents: First Day of Spring!

And while we deal with hail, wet snow and cold, my girlfriend in Toronto called me today to say they are expecting 26 degrees tomorrow.

 

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,

A box where sweets compacted lie;

My music shows ye have your closes,

And all must die.

-George Herbert, Virtue, 1633

 

photos of the day

March 20, 2012

On the first day of spring in Germany a bumble bee collects pollen from a blooming crocus in the sun at a traffic island in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Martin Meissner/AP

In this picture taken with a fish-eye lens, people stand around the “luminous lace” light sculpture by designers Loop.pH in the Stone Hall during a press preview at what used to be the official residence of the late Princess Diana, Kensington Palace in London.

Matt Dunham/AP

Market Closures for March 20, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13170.19	-68.94
		-0.52%
S&P 500	1405.52	-4.23
		-0.30%
NASDAQ	3074.15	-4.17
		-0.14%
TSX	12430.70	-49.00
		-0.39%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10141.99	+12.16
		+0.12%
HANG SENG	20888.24	-227.05
		-1.08%
SENSEX	17316.18	+42.81
		+0.25%
FTSE 100	5891.41	-69.70
		-1.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.281	2.290
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.806	2.818
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.3591	2.3772
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4454	3.4779

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00853	1.01336
US $	0.99154	0.98682
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31122	0.76265
US $	1.32241	0.75619

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1650.70	1663.90
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	105.61	107.88

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 20 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day as energy shares dropped with oil prices on forecasts that the U.S. will report crude stockpiles rose and growing concern that demand will slow in China.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, decreased 1.2 percent. Teck Resources Ltd., the country’s largest base-metals and coal producer, retreated 2.3 percent as copper declined the most in two weeks. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, rose 3.9 percent after Canpotex Ltd., the North American potash cartel, signed a contract to supply the fertilizer to Sinofert Holdings Ltd. in China at the same price as the second half of last year.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index decreased 49 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,430.70 in Toronto.

“The actions we’ve seen in China recently suggest that they might curb some demand” for oil, Daniel L. Bain, chief investment officer of Thornmark Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. Bain oversees about

C$400 million ($402 million). “There has also been a conflict risk premium built into the price, and people might be seeing that as a bit excessive, especially if we see any sort of diplomatic resolution in the Middle East.”

The S&P/TSX slipped 0.1 percent last week as economic data from the U.S. helped commodity shares pare losses after China reported a smaller gain in exports than economists had forecast.

Energy and raw-materials companies make up 46 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX fell today as oil dropped before a report that will show crude stockpiles increased to a six-month high last week, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. China, the world’s second-largest oil consuming country, increased motor fuel prices for the second time in less than six weeks. Gu Xianghua, deputy secretary general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said the country’s vehicle sales may miss industry targets.

Suncor Energy fell 1.2 percent to C$33.05. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy producer, slipped 1.9 percent to C$34.84. Nexen Inc., which develops and produces oil in Yemen, dropped 2 percent to C$19.05.

An index of diversified metal stocks in the S&P/TSX decreased after copper fell as swelling inventories and a slowing economy signaled slackening demand in China.

Lundin Mining Corp., which explores for and produces base metals in Europe, fell 3.5 percent to C$4.68. Teck Resources decreased 2.3 percent to C$35.74.

Industrial stocks in the S&P/TSX dropped, fueled by rail companies, as falling commodity prices and growing stockpiles reduced demand for their services. Concern is also growing over foreign demand after China’s government cut its target for annual economic growth this month to 7.5 percent from 8 percent.

Canadian National Railway Co., the country’s largest railroad, decreased 1.9 percent to C$77.46. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., the nation’s second-largest railroad, dropped 0.9 percent to C$76.92. Bombardier Inc., which makes trains and airplanes, fell 0.3 percent to C$4.05.

Viterra Inc., Canada’s biggest grain handler, fell 0.4 percent to C$15.91 after Glencore International Plc agreed to buy the company for C$6.1 billion to add grain assets in Canada and Australia. The C$16.25 a share purchase price is a 48 percent premium to Viterra’s closing price on March 8, the day before the company said it had received expressions of interest.

“The massive amount of cash on corporate balance sheets along with massive equity and debt issuances will lead to more M&A activity,” Bain said. “We’re already starting to see some action.”

Agrium Inc., a Calgary-based fertilizer producer that is a partner in the deal with Glencore, advanced 2.2 percent to C$87.60.

Potash Corp. jumped 3.9 percent to C$46.40 after Canpotex agreed to supply 500,000 metric tons of potash to Sinofert in the second quarter.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 20 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined, snapping a three-day advance for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as commodities fell on concern about a Chinese economic slowdown.

Industrial and commodity shares slumped as China raised fuel prices by the most in two years and BHP Billiton Ltd. said the nation’s steel production is slowing. Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc. dropped more than 1.5 percent. Adobe Systems Inc.

sank 3.9 percent as its profit forecast missed some estimates.

Bank of America Corp. jumped 2.9 percent. Tiffany & Co. surged

6.7 percent after forecasting profit that beat projections.

The S&P 500 retreated 0.3 percent to 1,405.52 at 4 p.m. New York time, after the benchmark measure yesterday advanced to the highest level since May 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 68.94 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,170.19 today. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies slumped 1 percent to 829.24. About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S.

exchanges, or 6.5 percent below the three-month average.

“A Chinese slowdown is inevitable,” said Peter Jankovskis, who helps manage about $2.9 billion at Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois. “It’s possible that will take some of the heat out of commodities. Yet China is not the only growth story out there. China will continue to be an important player, but the U.S. economy seems to have found its legs.”

Equities fell as China is raising fuel prices for the second time in less than six weeks. The nation’s vehicle sales may miss industry forecasts this year as economic growth slows, an official from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, said China’s steel production is slowing. In the U.S., housing starts hovered in February near a three-year high.

The S&P 500 has rallied 12 percent this year amid better than estimated economic and corporate data. More than $3.6 trillion was restored to U.S. equity values since last year’s low for the benchmark gauge in October. The rally drove the index to about 14.6 times reported earnings yesterday, the highest valuation level since July.

Companies most dependent on economic growth had the biggest declines in the S&P 500. The Dow Jones Transportation Average retreated 1.3 percent. A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes dropped 1 percent as 10 of its 11 stocks fell.

Measures of industrial and commodity shares in the S&P 500 dropped more than 0.5 percent. Caterpillar, the world’s biggest maker of construction and mining-equipment, slumped 2.6 percent to $110.76. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, slid

1.5 percent to $10.44. Peabody Energy Corp., the biggest U.S.

coal producer, declined 5.4 percent to $31.64.

Adobe sank 3.9 percent to $33.16. Excluding some costs, profit will be 57 cents to 61 cents a share in the second quarter, Adobe said. The midpoint of that range — 59 cents — missed the 60 cents predicted by analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Walt Disney Co. dropped 0.5 percent to $43.24. The world’s largest entertainment company said the box-office disappointment “John Carter” will post a loss of about $200 million, possibly the biggest ever for a single film.

A rally in financial companies helped the S&P 500 trim a decline of as much as 0.9 percent. The KBW Bank Index added 0.4 percent. Bank of America rallied 2.9 percent, the most in the Dow, to $9.81. Morgan Stanley gained 1.7 percent to $20.41.

Jefferies Group Inc. climbed 2.3 percent to $19.49. The investment bank that surged by almost half during the fiscal first quarter reported a profit decline that was smaller than analysts estimated as net revenue climbed to a record.

Tiffany surged 6.7 percent to $73.27. The company is benefiting from stock-market gains that have prompted luxury consumers to resume jewelry purchases, a turnabout from January, when the retailer said weak spending from U.S. customers had slowed holiday sales.

Apple Inc. added 0.8 percent to a record $605.96. The Cupertino, California-based technology provider yesterday disclosed plans to pay a dividend and buy back $10 billion of stock.

Barton Biggs, the hedge-fund manager who increased bets on equities before the S&P 500 rallied this year, is getting more bullish.

“I’ve been gradually increasing and I’m up to 90 percent now,” said Biggs, referring to the proportion of his fund that benefits from higher share prices. He spoke in a radio interview today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “There is an awful lot of money that is out of stocks and in very low- yielding fixed-income instruments. I think the odds are that money is going to migrate back.”

Biggs, the founder of the Traxis Partners LP, said last month that his net-long position, a gauge of bullish versus bearish investments, in stocks is about 75 percent, up from 65 percent in January.

Treasuries rebounded today following the longest drop since 2006, with yields on 10-year notes falling to 2.36 percent. U.S.

stocks posted the best returns when 10-year Treasury yields rose to close to 4 percent, according to a study by S&P that tracked market performance since 1953.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.7 percent a month on average during periods when 10-year yields climbed to a range of 3 percent to 4 percent, according to data compiled by New York-based S&P.

That’s the best performance among six categories of rising yields studied by the firm. Stocks began to fall when yields exceeded 6 percent, the study found.

While rising yields tend to boost borrowing costs for companies and act as “a depressant in intrinsic value calculations,” they can also suggest a strengthening economy and prompt investors to switch to equities, according to Sam Stovall, S&P’s chief equity strategist.

“The ‘sweet spot’ for equity prices appears to be a rising rate environment between 3 percent and 4 percent, as a growing economy reduces unemployment while increasing corporate earnings, yet does not trigger growth-slowing efforts by the central bank,” Stovall wrote in a report yesterday.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

All the responsibility of good and evil is on you.  This is the great hope.

Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

 

Carolann

We are now at a point in time when the ability to receive, utilize,

store, transform and transmit data – the lowest cognitive form – has

expanded literally beyond comprehension.  Understanding and

wisdom are largely forgotten as we struggle under an avalanche

of data and information.

-Dee Hock, 1929-

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

Everything is gestation and then bringing forth.  To let each

impression and

each germ of a feeling come to completion, wholly in itself,

in the dark, in

the inexpressible, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s

own intelligence, and

await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new

clarity: that

alone is living the artist’s life: in understanding as in creating.

 

There is here no measuring with time, no year matters, and ten

years are

nothing.  Being an artist means not reckoning and counting,

but ripening like

the tree which does not force its sap and stands confident in the

storms of

spring without the fear that after them may come no summer.

It does come.  But

it comes only to the patient who are there as though eternity lay

before them,

so unconcernedly still and wide.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

photos of the day

March 19, 2012

Cherry blossoms begin to bloom at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial on the Tidal Basin in Washington.

Charles Dharapak/AP

A mother coaxes her new born lamb to stand at the Riverslea Farm in Epping, N.H. during record warm temperatures on the last day of winter.

Jim Cole/AP

 

Market Closures for March 19, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13239.13	+6.51
		+0.5%
S&P 500	1409.75	+5.58
		+0.40%
NASDAQ	3078.32	+23.06
		+0.75%
TSX	12479.70	-17.26
		-0.14%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10141.99	+12.16
		+0.12%
HANG SENG	21115.29	-202.56
		-0.95%
SENSEX	17273.37	-192.83
		-1.10%
FTSE 100	5961.11	-4.47
		-0.07%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.290	2.241
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.818	2.768
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.3772	2.2922
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4779	3.4053

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.01336	1.00847
US $	0.98682	0.99160
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.30645	0.76543
US $	1.32390	0.75534

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1663.90	1658.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.88	107.22

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 19 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks swung between gains and losses as energy companies rose on speculation that U.S. economic growth will accelerate and gold producers fell.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, gained 1.7 percent after a report that U.S. homebuilder confidence held at the highest level since June 2007. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, advanced 1.3 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. declined 1.5 percent as wheat futures fell.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 1.85 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,498.81 at 3:11 p.m. in Toronto.

“We’ve been moving higher over the last few months, but it makes sense for the market to pause from time to time,” Tony Demarin, chief investment officer at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees C$335 million ($333 million). “In terms of oil stocks, there’s still a bit of a disconnect between their prices and the lofty price for crude. They still have more room to climb to catch up, and you’re seeing that a bit today.”

The index slipped 0.1 percent last week as economic data from the U.S. helped commodity shares pare losses after China reported a smaller gain in exports than economists had forecast.

Energy and raw-materials companies make up 46 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Canadian energy companies increased for a third straight day as oil futures in New York gained as much as 1 percent. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index was unchanged in March and sales expectations climbed.

Suncor Energy increased 1.7 percent to C$33.50. Canadian Natural Resources rose 1.3 percent to C$35.49. The Canadian energy shares with the highest market capitalizations are valued at 20 percent below a five-year average for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, UBS AG analyst George Toriola wrote in a March 16 note.

Materials stocks in the S&P/TSX fell after a two-day rebound, led by gold companies, even as gold futures rose after a drop in the dollar boosted the appeal of the metal as an alternative asset.

China Gold International Resources Corp. fell 7 percent to C$4.42. Premier Gold Mines Ltd., which explores in Ontario and Nevada, decreased 3.9 percent to C$4.73.

Nevsun Resources Ltd., which mines gold in the African country of Eritrea, gained 6.1 percent to C$3.50 after saying it may buy back as much as 2 percent of its shares.

Potash Corp., the world’s biggest fertilizer producer, slipped 1.5 percent to C$44.74 as wheat headed for its biggest drop in a week in Chicago on speculation that rain will boost production in North America and China.

Cardiome Pharma Corp., which develops heart drugs, plunged 56 percent to 84 Canadian cents after Merck & Co. decided to discontinue further advancement of the oral formulation of an atrial fibrillation drug it was developing with the company.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 19 (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced to the highest level since May 2008 as Apple Inc. plans to pay a dividend and buy back $10 billion of its stock.

Apple climbed 2.7 percent to a record $601.10. Citigroup Inc. advanced 1.3 percent after selling its 2.71 percent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. U.S. Steel Corp. rallied 6.4 percent to pace gains in commodity shares. United Parcel Service Inc. increased 3.4 percent after agreeing to buy TNT Express NV. Bank of America Corp. retreated 2.8 percent, reversing an earlier advance that drove the stock above $10.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 1,409.75 at 4 p.m. New York time, trading 9.9 percent below its October 2007 record of 1,565.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 6.51 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,239.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.8 percent to 3,078.32, the highest level since November 2000. The S&P Smallcap 600 Index increased 0.9 percent to an all-time high of 465.97. About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, almost in line with its three-month average.

“There’s plenty of room for dividends to increase,” said Paul Zemsky, the New York-based head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management. His firm oversees $160 billion. “Paying dividends is a sign of health in the companies and the economy. That plays well in terms of investors’ confidence.”

The S&P 500 has rallied 12 percent this year and is on pace for the best first quarter since 1998 amid better-than-estimated economic and corporate reports. It trades at about 14.6 times reported earnings, the highest valuation level since July while still below the average since 1954 of 16.4 times earnings.

Today’s rally amid Apple’s announcement added to last week’s optimism over dividend increases by banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. The index rose 2.4 percent between March 9 and March 16 for the biggest weekly gain this year.

“It’s all about confidence,” said James Paulsen, who helps oversee about $333 billion as chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management. “You’re seeing more evidence of corporate confidence rising to the extent that companies are starting to act on that. The environment for the next few years still looks very good for equity investors.”

Apple gained 2.7 percent to $601.10. Investors will receive a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share starting in the period beginning July 1, Cupertino, California-based Apple said in a statement. The buybacks will begin in the fiscal year starting Sept. 30 and will take place over three years, the company said.

The company’s cash pile has swelled amid surging demand for its products. Investors had urged Apple to return some of the balance in the form a dividend.

“We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead,” Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said in the release. He said the company plans to pay out about $45 billion over three years.

The KBW Bank Index added 0.5 percent as 20 of its 24 stocks advanced. Bank of America fell 2.8 percent to $9.53, snapping a four-day rally.

Citigroup added 1.3 percent to $37.17. The third-largest U.S. bank sold its 2.71 percent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to institutional investors, generating after- tax proceeds of about $349 million.

Morgan Stanley rallied 2.7 percent to $20.06. The owner of the world’s largest brokerage is planning its first corporate bond sale since October after the cost to protect its bonds from default dropped by almost 50 percent in the past four months.

U.S. Steel had the biggest advance in the S&P 500, gaining 6.4 percent to $31.64. The country’s largest producer of the metal by volume should benefit from a recovery in steel prices, UBS AG said in a note.

UPS added 3.4 percent to $81.11, the highest level since July 2006. The company raised its offer for TNT Express NV by 5.6 percent to 5.16 billion euros ($6.8 billion) to secure the biggest deal in the U.S. company’s 105-year history.

E*Trade Financial Corp. advanced 1.6 percent to $11.22. The online brokerage was raised to the equivalent of buy at Wells Fargo & Co.

Sprint Nextel Corp. slumped 4.5 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $2.76. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. downgraded the company amid concern it won’t sell enough iPhones to afford its “punishing” commitment with Apple Inc.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. lost 1.9 percent to $68.93.

Express Scripts Inc.’s bid to acquire the company may be delayed by a lawsuit being considered by five states. Express Scripts fell 2.1 percent to $53.22.

A measure of homebuilders in S&P indexes dropped 0.9 percent. The March reading of 28 in the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence was less than projected and followed a February figure that was lower than initially reported, figures from the Washington-based group showed today. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a rise to 30. Readings below 50 mean more respondents said conditions were poor.

KB Home sank 6.8 percent to $11.89. PulteGroup Inc. retreated 1.4 percent to $9.16.

Daily price changes in the S&P 500 are decreasing the most in eight decades, shrinking to the smallest since 1995 when investors abandoned stocks just before the biggest rally ever.

The benchmark gauge for U.S. equities has gained or lost an average 0.46 percent a day this year, compared with 1.04 percent in 2011, the biggest reduction since 1934, during the Great Depression, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Swings are diminishing after valuations fell 40 percent and correlation among shares weakened the most in at least three decades.

At the same time, trading on the New York Stock Exchange has slumped to the lowest rate in 13 years, spurring concern about the biggest first-quarter rally since 1998. Bulls say the decline in trading and daily swings signal fear is dissipating after one of the most volatile years on record. Bears say falling volume is a warning gains will reverse should economic reports and earnings fail to match expectations.

“Low volatility is good in that it will bring investors back,” Tim Hoyle, the director of research at Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Haverford Trust Co., which manages $6 billion, said in a March 13 phone interview. “Even though bullish sentiment is high, people are still fearful. I see it in my business every day, they couldn’t stomach the volatility. This will restore some sense.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The idea of a duty to understand violence engenders for me

a great vitality and passion for knowledge.

But to transcend this violence, I need not repress it, nor deny it, nor say to myself:

It has become a part of me, I can do nothing about it; or, I wish to reject it.

I must observe it, study it, enter into it intimately,

and for that purpose I need neither condemn it nor justify it.

And yet, it is this that we do.

I would ask you, then, to suspend for an instant your judgments on the subject.

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Each friend represents a world in us, a world

possibly not born until they arrive, and it is

only by this meeting that a new

world is born.

-Anais Nin, 1903-77

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents: St. Patrick’s Day this weekend –

You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.  ~ Irish Proverb.

It being St. Patrick’s Day weekend and reminiscing on all the great pleasures the Irish had given the world (e.g. The Book of Kells)
I had an urge to find James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the stacks of books  in my library at home and it was a magical moment.  I have probably not looked at it in decades.  When I opened it, I found that I had written in the perfect handwriting I had back then, my name and the day I acquired it – September 15, 1973.  It would have been my first year at Marianopolis College in Montreal and part of the curriculum for my English Literature class.   Even though I was a science major, literature will always be my deepest love and we were allowed an elective, so naturally literature is what I chose.  I remember the Professor as if it were yesterday – he was the most enigmatic, enlightened, inspirational professor I have ever had (except maybe my biochemistry Professor at University a few years later).  I don’t really remember, but I must have had to do a book report on it because it is scribbled with my handwriting all over the place, for instance:

Page 15: “He turned to the flyleaf of the geography and read what he had written there: himself, his name and where he was.

Stephen Dedalus

Class of Elements

Clongowes Wood College

Sallins

County Kildare

Ireland

Europe

The World

The Universe”

I had written in the margins “attempt to orient himself.”

On another page:

“His mind wearied of its search for the essence of beauty amid the spectral words of Aristotle or Aquinas turned often for its pleasure to the dainty songs of the Elizabethans.  His mind, in the vesture of a doubting monk, stood often in shadow under the windows of that age, to hear the grave and mocking music of the lutenists  or the frank laughter of waist-coasters until a laugh too low, a phrase, tarnished by time, of chambering and false honour stung his monkish pride and drove him on from hid looking-place.”

I had written in the margins: “Real world and Elizabeth, virgin queen.”

Lots more too.

photos of the day

March 16, 2012

People create shadows on a metal wall on a sunny spring day in Berlin.

Thomas Peter/Reuters

A Trabant convertible, a vintage East German car, drives past the Reichstag, the seat of Germany’s lower house of parliament, on a sunny spring day in Berlin.

Thomas Peter/Reuters

Market Closures for March 16, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13232.62	-20.14
		-0.15%
S&P 500	1404.17	+1.57
		+0.11%
NASDAQ	3055.26	-1.11
		-0.04%
TSX	12496.96	+41.14
		+0.33%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10129.83	+6.55
		+0.06%
HANG SENG	21317.85	-35.68
		-0.17%
SENSEX	17466.20	-209.65
		-1.19%
FTSE 100	5965.58	24.86
		+0.42%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.241	2.203
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.768	2.734
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2922	2.2759
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4053	3.4078

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00847	1.00822
US $	0.99160	0.99185
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.30643	0.76544
US $	1.31750	0.75902

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1658.50	1657.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.22	105.41

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 16 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second day, paring a weekly decline in the benchmark equity index, as economic data from the U.S. drove commodity shares higher.

Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd., which operates in western Canada, advanced 6.7 percent, the biggest gain among energy producers.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, gained 3.4 percent. Astral Media Inc., the owner of the Movie Network cable channel, surged 34 percent after BCE Inc. agreed to acquire the company for C$3 billion ($3 billion).

Extorre Gold Mines Ltd. fell 3.9 percent as producers of the precious metal retreated.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 41.14 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,496.96 in Toronto, limiting its weekly decline to

0.1 percent.

“There’s been positive economic news coming from the U.S., and we’re following in the wake,” Pat McHugh, senior managing director and Canadian equity strategist at Manulife Financial Corp.’s asset-management unit, said in a telephone interview.

The unit oversees about $217 billion. “Oil is up, which certainly helps. Our banks have had good results. And Treasury yields coming up have helped insurance companies have a very nice week.”

The index was down 0.4 percent this week through yesterday, as commodity shares declined after China reported a smaller gain in exports than economists had forecast. Energy and raw- materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Canadian resources companies rebounded amid speculation that demand will climb in the U.S., which reported yesterday that jobless claims fell to a four-year low last week. The U.S.

Labor Department reported today that consumer prices climbed less than forecast last month, showing inflation remains controlled. The country is the biggest crude consumer in the world and the second-biggest user of copper.

Advantage Oil & Gas rose 6.7 percent to C$3.80 after releasing a year-end report on its drilling program and reserves. Teck Resources increased 3.4 percent to C$36.75.

Fertilizer companies rose after data from the Fertilizer Institute showed a decline in potash inventories in February.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, gained 6.6 percent to C$45.40. Agrium Inc., a fertilizer company and farm retailer, increased 3.2 percent to C$85.22.

Financial stocks in the S&P/TSX rose for a seventh straight day, led by insurers, after the Federal Reserve raised its assessment on the economy earlier this week and said that 15 of

19 U.S. banks would be able to maintain adequate levels of capital in a financial crisis.

Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services Inc., a Quebec-based insurer, rose 2.2 percent to C$32.40. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-biggest lender, gained 0.9 percent to C$55.86.

Astral Media rose 34 percent to C$48.55 after BCE, Canada’s biggest phone company, said it would buy the company to expand in Quebec’s French-speaking market.

Calgary-based Corus Entertainment Inc., the owner of the YTV cable television network, increased 7.5 percent to C$23.40.

Gold producers declined for the fourth time this week as futures fell after India, the biggest bullion buyer, raised its tax on imports of precious metals for a second time this year.

Goldcorp Inc., the second-largest producer by market value, retreated 1.1 percent to C$43.65. Extorre, which explores for the metal in Argentina, slipped 3.9 percent to C$6.54, the lowest price since Oct. 5.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 16 (Bloomberg) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a seven-day gain after an increase in oil and consumer prices sparked inflation concern as the economy improves.

Energy shares had the biggest advance among 10 groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Noble Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. increased more than 2.5 percent. The Bloomberg U.S.

Airlines Index slumped 3 percent amid expectations about higher fuel prices. Bank of America Corp. jumped 6.1 percent, surging

23 percent in four days. Apple Inc. ended almost unchanged as the company started selling the new iPad.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.1 percent to 1,404.17 at 4 p.m. New York time, capping a fifth week of gains. The benchmark measure has risen 2.4 percent since March 9, the biggest weekly advance in 2012. The Dow dropped 20.14 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,232.62, after rallying to the highest level since December 2007. About 8.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, or 21 percent above the three-month average.

“The bugaboo in the background is oil prices,” said Madelynn Matlock, who helps oversee about $14.6 billion at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati. “I filled up my car yesterday and it hurts. Things are improving at a slow, but steady pace. If oil prices pop up, it will be different story.”

Equities were little changed as the cost of living rose in February by the most in 10 months, reflecting a jump in gasoline. Confidence among consumers unexpectedly fell in March, a sign rising fuel costs may be starting to weigh on economic prospects. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said yesterday rising oil prices show “we still face a dangerous and uncertain world” and there’s no easy way to lower gasoline costs.

 

The S&P 500 is still on pace for the best first quarter since 1998, after rallying 12 percent, amid better-than- estimated economic and corporate reports. It trades at 14.5 times reported earnings, the highest valuation level since July while still below the average since 1954 of 16.4 times earnings.

“It’s a bit of acrophobia,” said John Manley, chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Advantage Funds in New York, citing potential investors’ fear after the S&P 500 rose to the highest level since 2008. His firm oversees $209 billion. “The market has just gone up pretty quickly. Meantime, slow and slightly improving has been the way to look at the economy.”

Energy shares gained, while airlines slumped as oil traded above $107 a barrel. Noble surged 4.8 percent to $41.25.

Chesapeake Energy added 2.5 percent to $25.06. Exxon Mobil Corp.

advanced 0.4 percent to $86.44. US Airways Group Inc. lost 5.7 percent to $7.15. United Continental Holdings Inc. declined 2.2 percent to $19.95.

Financial shares in the S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent as a group. The index surged 6.2 percent in four days following dividend increases by banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bank of America jumped 6.1 percent, the most in the Dow, to $9.80.

Wells Fargo & Co. lost 0.5 percent to $33.89.

American International Group Inc. fell 0.2 percent to $28.03, after rising as much as 1.1 percent earlier today. The insurer’s repayment of $1.6 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department pushed the government’s portion of recouped financial-bailout money to 80 percent, said a Treasury official familiar with the matter.

Apple ended almost unchanged at $585.57, after briefly rising above $600 yesterday. The 9.7-inch iPad, unveiled on March 7, is the biggest upgrade yet to Apple’s tablet before Microsoft Corp. introduces new software for competing devices.

Generating demand with the model is important for Apple to fend off competition from devices using Google Inc.’s Android operating system and the $199 Kindle Fire from Amazon.com Inc.

that’s popular among cost-conscious buyers.

The S&P 500, which yesterday rose above 1,400 for the first time in almost four years amid better-than-estimated economic data, may extend its gain to 1,470, according to Credit Suisse Group AG’s Andrew Garthwaite. He lifted his forecast for the index at the end of 2012 from a previous projection of 1,400, citing increasing risks for bonds and momentum in global earnings.

“The prospects for economic growth are pretty good,”

Michelle Gibley, director of international research at San Francisco-based Charles Schwab Corp., said in a telephone interview. Her firm has $1.81 trillion in client assets. “Near term, you could see some volatility in stocks because the run has been so strong. Longer term, the outlook looks good.”

The benchmark measure has “healthy intermediate-term momentum” that helped it recover from a slump at the beginning of the month and may drive it higher, MKM Partners LP’s chief market technician said.

The market may be staging a “breakout” after matching its

2011 highs last week, MKM Partners’ Katie Stockton said, citing the momentum indicator known as Moving Average Convergence/Divergence. A second-straight weekly close above

1,370 today would confirm the trend and open the way to an increase to 1,440, Stockton said in a phone interview yesterday.

“I’m bullish on the market from an intermediate perspective based largely on momentum and this breakout that appears to be under way,” Stockton said. “The fact that the S&P 500 has managed to exceed resistance at the 2011 high tells us that breakout should overrule any negative set-up otherwise.”

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Live your own life.

That is to say, where you are, as you are, with what you are, and with who you are…

Accept the situation which you find yourself and try, at the same time, to adapt to it.

You cannot escape from it.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Try to be better than yourself.

-William Faulkner, 1897-1962

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor