Month: September 2013

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Désirée Goyette wrote a piece today  in one of the daily newspapers I receive which I thought was very beautiful.  Here is an excerpt:

“When I was a little girl, I loved watching my parents drop all their workaday cares to dance across the kitchen floor to the sound of Glenn Miller’s classic “A String of Pearls,” composed by Jerry Gray. There was just something “perfect” about that recording, with a title that had to do with every note being in place and shining like a pearl in a necklace…. I’ve yearned for a way to distill the wisdom I’ve been exposed to into something as flawless as that pearl. One gem of wisdom is the idea of being present “in the moment” – accepting that our future prospects so often relate to paying attention to the present.  With my busy schedule as a wife, mother, and musician, it often seems as though my mind is much too busy living in “fast forward” even to catch a glimpse of the present.  One particularly stressful morning I realized…. Moment-by-moment communion….allows us to abandon will-based responsibility and enjoy every moment to the fullest, enriched by priceless pearls of insight and contentment.

Photos of the Day –September 6th, 2013

A girl plays in front of the skyline of New York’s Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in a park along the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey, September 5th. New York will mark the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade center next week. Gary Hershorn/Reuters

A Komondor, a traditional Hungarian guard dog, shakes its long fur in Bodony, Hunagry, September 3rd. Komondors, have a fur coat that weighs 60 pounds. Photo released September 6th. Laszlo Balogh /Reuters

Market Closes for September 6^th, 2013

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	14922.50	-14.98    -0.10%
S&P 500	1655.17	+0.09    +0.01%
NASDAQ	3660.010	+1.225    +0.03%
TSX	12820.92	-24.14
		-0.19%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	13860.81	-204.01
		-1.45%
HANG  SENG	22621.22	+23.25
		+0.10%
SENSEX	19270.06	+290.30
		+1.53%
FTSE 100	6547.33	+14.89
		+0.23%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.771	2.804
CND.   30 Year Bond	3.241	3.258
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.9342	2.9937
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.8657	3.8849

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.96002	0.95217
US   $	1.04165	1.05023
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.37273	0.72848
US  $	1.31784	0.75882

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1391.90	1367.30
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	110.53	108.37
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, after reaching a five-month high, as technology companies dropped and investors weighed reports on domestic and U.S. jobs growth amid growing tensions between America and Russia over Syria.

BlackBerry Ltd. dropped 2.7 percent, snapping three days of gains. Bombardier Inc. lost 1 percent after rallying the most in four months yesterday. Torex Gold Resources Inc. and B2Gold Corp. added at least 4.8 percent as the price of gold climbed.

Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, jumped 3.1 percent after announcing it will refinance its long-term debt at a lower cost. Suncor Energy Inc. rose 1.2 percent as crude rallied to a two-year high.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 24.14 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,820.92 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, paring the weekly gain to 1.3 percent. The S&P/TSX closed at its highest level since March 12 yesterday.

“We’re seeing a bit of technical selling after the TSX reached a short-term high yesterday and has had a pretty good run the past few weeks,” said Youssef Zohny, a portfolio manager with Stenner Investment Partners of Richardson GMP Ltd. in Vancouver. Richardson GMP manages about C$15 billion ($14.4 billion).

Data showed Canadian employment increased by 59,200 last month and the jobless rate fell to 7.1 percent from 7.2 percent.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a 20,000 job increase and an unchanged jobless rate.

“Given the improved tone in the global economy, Canada is poised to enter a period of higher-than-potential growth resulting in more consistent gains in hiring and a gradual decline in the unemployment rate,” Dawn Desjardins, assistant chief economist at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note to clients today.

In the U.S., employers added 169,000 workers in August, following a revised 104,000 rise in July that was smaller than first reported. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had called for a 180,000 gain. Unemployment fell to 7.3 percent from 7.4 percent. The data fueled speculation that any reduction in Federal Reserve stimulus will be limited.

“People were feeling pretty good about things going in with the jobs data, but with a print like this, maybe the U.S. economy isn’t ready for tapering,” said Michael O’Brien, fund manager with TD Asset Management Inc. in Toronto. The firm manages about C$216 billion ($207 billion).

Technology stocks declined 1.1 percent as eight of 10 groups in the S&P/TSX retreated. Trading volume was 14 percent below the 30-day average.

BlackBerry dropped 2.7 percent to C$11.29. The smartphone maker had risen 9 percent in the past three days amid speculation BlackBerry may sell itself as soon as November.

Niko Resources Ltd. slumped 10 percent to C$3.68 after Darren Engels, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital, lowered his rating to underperform from market perform and cut his price target to C$3 from C$8.50 after accounting for the company’s financing needs and potential capital spending.

Suncor gained 1.2 percent to C$36.68 and Bankers Petroleum Ltd. advanced 3 percent to C$3.80 as crude gained 2 percent to $110.53 a barrel in New York, the highest since May 2011.

Bombardier lost 1.4 percent to C$4.91. The stock rallied 5.5 percent yesterday, the most since May 9, after announcing the sale of one of its units along with a jet order worth a minimum of $1.8 billion.

B2Gold added 4.8 percent to C$2.85 and Torex Gold jumped 8.1 percent to C$1.61. Gold rebounded from a two-week low, rising 1 percent to $1,386.50 an ounce in New York.

Air Canada increased 3.1 percent to C$3.03. The airliner plans to refinance about C$1.1 billion of its outstanding senior notes to extend the maturity of Air Canada’s long-term debt and lower costs of financing.

US

By Lu Wang and Nick Taborek

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s Index erased almost all its gains as an escalation in tension over Syria overshadowed slower-than-forecast jobs growth that eased concern about reductions in Federal Reserve stimulus.

Airlines slipped 0.9 percent as a group as crude oil rose to a two-year high. Mattress Firm Holding Corp. dropped 15 percent after cutting its forecast. American Tower Corp. climbed 4.6 percent after agreeing to acquire the parent company of rival Global Tower Partners for about $3.3 Billion. Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc. jumped at least 1.9 percent to pace gains among homebuilders as bond yields plunged.

The S&P 500 rose less than 1 point to 1,655.17 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge swung 1.5 percentage points during the session, the widest since June 24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 14.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,922.50, snapping a three-day winning streak. About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, in line with the three-month average.

“It’s a very skittish stock market,” John Augustine, who helps manage $27 billion as chief market strategist at Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp, said in a phone interview.

“We’re in a period where markets will react quickly to external news from a variety of sources, whether it’s the bond market, the Middle East, or one single economic report.”

The S&P 500 erased gains of as much as 0.6 percent in the final hour of trading after a report from Al-Arabiya, citing unidentified activists, said forces for the regime of Bashar al- Assad shelled Damascus with gas.

The report stoked concern that the U.S. could take military action in Syria even as President Barack Obama acknowledged domestic and international resistance to his call for a strike.

One of the biggest hurdles to Obama’s efforts has been put up by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Equities started the day higher before falling as much as 0.9 percent to the lowest level of the day after Putin said at the Group of 20 summit that his country will assist Syria if strikes are launched. Putin is Assad’s most powerful ally.

The S&P 500 recovered the losses by 11 a.m., turning higher as investors turned back to a Labor Department jobs report that eased concern about the size of potential Fed stimulus cuts.

Employers added 169,000 workers last month, missing the median forecast of 180,000 in a Bloomberg survey of 96 economists. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 7.3 percent as more people left the labor force.

Central-bank stimulus has helped drive a global equity rally, with the S&P 500 rising as much as 153 percent from its bear-market low in 2009. The U.S. gauge fell as much as 4.6 percent from an Aug. 2 record as speculation grew that the Fed would begin winding down its monetary support after its next meeting on Sept. 17-18.

Today’s report on weaker jobs growth hasn’t derailed economists’ expectations that the Fed this month will taper its monthly bond buying by $10 billion, to $75 billion, according to the median of 34 responses today in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. That was unchanged from an Aug. 9-13 poll, as was a projection that the program will end in June.

“What the jobs report told us is that it’s a slow recovery, but it’s a recovery, so that while the Fed is likely to taper in September, it won’t be surprising to see a tiny taper as the Fed tries to wean the market off quantitative easing,” Kristina Hooper, a U.S. investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors in New York, said in a phone interview.

Her firm oversees $409 billion. “It could be an almost Goldilocks scenario where you have just enough tapering to satisfy the hawkish sentiment but too little to impact stock.”

Fed Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans, a voter on policy this year, said today the central bank shouldn’t taper until inflation and economic growth pick up. Esther George, the Fed Bank of Kansas City president who has consistently dissented against additional stimulus, called for tapering at this month’s meeting while cautioning that such reductions may prompt market volatility.

The S&P 500 capped a 1.4 percent advance over the holiday- shortened week for the biggest weekly increase since July 12.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, gained 0.5 percent to 15.85, snapping a three-day advance.

The equity volatility gauge is down 12 percent this year.

Half of 10 main S&P 500 groups fell as consumer- discretionary and raw-materials companies each slipped 0.2 percent. Utility shares rose 0.6 percent for the best performance.

The Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index dropped 0.9 percent amid concern rising oil prices will boost fuel costs. Delta Air Lines Inc. lost 1.8 percent to $19.89 while US Airways Group Inc. declined 1.1 percent to $16.80.

Mattress Firm tumbled 15 percent to $35.59. The mattress retailer cut its profit forecast as same-store sales fell in the second quarter.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. fell 10 percent to $10.31. The handgun manufacturer forecast earnings to be no more than 22 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter. That trailed the average analyst estimate of 29 cents in a Bloomberg survey.

Real-estate shares jumped 2.1 percent for the best performance among 24 industries in the S&P 500. American Tower rallied 4.6 percent to $71.91. The biggest operator of cellular towers in the U.S. agreed to acquire MIP Tower Holdings LLC, giving it thousands of additional wireless sites as appetite for next-generation services grows.

An S&P index of homebuilders rebounded from a 12-month low, rising 2 percent, as a drop in bond yields eased concern that surging borrowing costs will hurt a housing recovery. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes fell the most in 10 months.

Lennar advanced 2.3 percent to $32.25. D.R. Horton climbed 1.9 percent to $18.10.

Facebook Inc. climbed 3 percent to a record $43.95. The owner of the world’s largest social-networking service had its share-price estimate boosted to $55 from $40 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. E*Trade Financial Corp. climbed 4.6 percent to $16.26.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its recommendation on the online brokerage to buy from neutral.

Timken Co. rose 2.1 percent to an all-time high of $61.52.

The maker of ball bearings agreed to spin off its steel unit, dropping opposition to a plan pushed by Ralph Whitworth’s Relational Investors LLC after a shareholder vote and a Goldman Sachs Group Inc.-led review favored the split.

VeriFone Systems Inc. jumped 10 percent to $22.81, the highest since June 4. The maker of credit-card terminals forecast fourth-quarter sales of at least $418 million, topping the average analyst estimate of $412.9 million.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

It is only when we give complete attention to a problem,

and solve it immediately – never carrying it over to the next day,

the next minute – that there is solitude.

To have inward solitude and space is very important

because it implies freedom to be, to go, to function, to fly.

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.  It is not the urge

to surpass others at all cost, but the urge to serve others at

whatever cost.

-Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993

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:

On this day, September 5^th, 1882, the first Labour Day Parade took place in Manhattan.

And also on this day in…

1957,Jack Kerouac published On the Road, the defining work of the 1950’s Beat Generation.

1958, Russian writer Boris Pasternak’s epic Doctor Zhivago, is published in the US.

1997, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Theresa died.

2007, Apple, under the leadership of Steve Jobs, launched the iTouch, a device combining features from the iPhone and iPod.

Photos of the Day –September 5rd, 2013

A visitor takes a picture in front of the installation ‘Collosseo’ by Russian artist Victor Sachivko on the first day of the 10th International Museum Biennale “The Love of Space” at the Museum Center in the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, September 4th. Modern artists from around the world participated in this biennale – one of largest and oldest modern arts project in Russia. lya Naymushin/Reuters

A giant 3D-presentation is seen through 3D glasses at the LG Electronics booth at IFA, one of the world’s largest trade fairs for consumer electronics and electrical home appliances, in Berlin, Germany. Gero Breloer/AP

A British common white butterfly rests on a flower in St James Park in London. Temperatures in the capital rose unusually high for the time of year to 28 Celcius (82 Fahrenheit) Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Market Closes for September 5^th, 2013

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	14937.48	+6.61    +0.04%
S&P 500	1655.08	+2.00    +0.12%
NASDAQ	3658.785	+9.743    +0.27%
TSX	12845.06	+87.25
		+0.68%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14064.82	+10.95
		+0.08%
HANG  SENG	22597.97	+271.75
		+1.22%
SENSEX	18979.76	+412.21
		+2.22%
FTSE 100	6532.44	+57.70
		+0.89%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.804	2.720
CND.   30 Year Bond	3.258	3.182
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.9937	2.8966
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.8849	3.7970

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.95217	0.95266
US   $	1.05023	1.04969
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.37773	0.72583
US  $	1.31184	0.76229

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1367.30	1393.17
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	108.37	107.23
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Nick Taborek and Eric Lam

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, sending the benchmark index to the highest level since March, as forestry and technology shares soared amid optimism over acquisitions while oil companies climbed as a U.S. panel approved military strikes on Syria.

Ainsworth Lumber surged 33 percent after agreeing to sell itself to Louisiana-Pacific Corp. BlackBerry Ltd. gained 2.8 percent on a report the mobile phone maker aims to find a buyer by November. Celestica Inc. rose 1.6 percent after its solar lab unit received approval to provide product testing.  Talisman Energy Inc. gained 4.4 percent as oil futures rose. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank rallied at least 1.5 percent as financial stocks reached a five-year high.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 87.25 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,845.06 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest close since March 12. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge is up 3.3 percent this year.

“After yesterday’s vote the odds of a military attack rose, therefore that’s why you’re seeing energy prices supported,” said Andrew Pyle, fund manager with ScotiaMcLeod Inc. in Peterborough, Ontario. He manages about C$210 million ($200 million). “The latest U.S. data is also giving the market a lift in economic confidence, which had been waning after the last couple of weeks in the summer.”

Talisman Energy climbed 4.4 percent to C$11.71 and Crew Energy Inc. added 3.6 percent to C$6.11. Oil prices climbed from the lowest price in more than a week after a U.S. Senate panel yesterday voted to authorize President Barack Obama to conduct a limited U.S. military operation against Syria.

Data today indicated fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week. The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index increased to 58.6, the fastest pace since at least January 2008, from 56 the prior month.

Technology stocks advanced 1.8 percent as a group, as eight of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX gained. Trading volume was 2.9 percent above the 30-day average at this time of the day.

BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, Ontario, added 2.8 percent to C$11.60 for a third day of gains. The smartphone maker held talks with potential bidders and whittled down its target list, Dow Jones said in a report yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Celestica rose 1.6 percent to C$11.66, its highest close since March 2011, after announcing test provider TÜV Rheinland Ptl has audited and approved Celestica’s solar lab in Toronto to provide testing for certification of solar modules.

Toronto-Dominion Bank surged 1.5 percent to C$91.65, a record high, and Royal Bank added 1.7 percent to C$66.56 as the S&P/TSX Financials Index reached the highest close since December 2007.

Ainsworth Lumber, which produces oriented strand board used in housing construction, jumped 33 percent to C$3.92 after agreeing to a C$906 million ($863 million) sale to Louisiana- Pacific.

Norbord Inc., a competing wood producer, rose 10 percent to C$29.98 and Western Forest Products Inc. advanced 7.2 percent to C$1.49.

Bombardier Inc. jumped 5.5 percent to C$4.98, the biggest gain since May, after the company agreed to sell its Flexjet aircraft flight-share unit to a new company funded by a group led by Directional Aviation Capital. The group will order 85 business jets worth a minimum of $1.8 billion from Bombardier, with options for 160 more jets that would push the total value to $5.2 billion, Bombardier said.

Global:

By Richard Frost and Stephen Kirkland

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) — Treasuries fell, with 10-year yields reaching a two-year high, while stocks rose as data on service industries and jobs added to signs the economy is gaining momentum. The euro slid as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said rates will remain low.

U.S. 10-year note yields jumped nine basis points to 2.99 percent at 4 p.m. in New York, reaching the highest since July 2011. German 10-year yields rose to the highest in 17 months, climbing above 2 percent, and rates on U.K. gilts of similar maturity topped 3 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.1 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.7 percent. The euro weakened 0.7 percent to $1.3119. Oil advanced after a Senate committee approved military strikes on Syria and U.S. inventories dropped in Cushing, Oklahoma.

A private report said U.S. service industries expanded at the fastest pace in eight years, while Labor Department data showed the number of workers claiming jobless benefits slid more than economists predicted. The reports come before the monthly payrolls data tomorrow and the Fed’s next meeting from Sept.

17-18. Draghi said the ECB’s monetary policy will remain accommodative for “as long as necessary” and the economy was too weak to exclude rate-cut discussions after the ECB, Bank of England and Sweden’s Riksbank kept key rates unchanged today.

“We’ve had a strong move to the upside” in yields, said Karsten Linowsky, a fixed-income strategist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich. “Everyone is waiting for these events, like the payrolls and the Fed meeting and that’s why we’ve seen pressure to the upside in yields.”

Five-year Treasury yields increased 10 basis points to 1.84 percent, the highest since May 2011, and 30-year rates added eight basis points to 3.88 percent.

Germany’s 10-year bund yield rose 10 basis points to 2.04 percent, the highest level since March 2012. The rate on French 10-year bonds increased 10 basis points to 2.63 percent as France’s borrowing at an auction today rose to the most since President Francois Hollande was elected. The government sold 4.24 billion euros ($5.59 billion) of 2023 debt at an average yield of 2.57 percent.

The 10-year U.K. gilt yield rose 13 basis points to 3.01 percent, the highest since July 2011, after Britain kept rates on hold and refrained from adding to its stimulus program.

Sweden’s 10-year bond yield jumped 15 basis points to a two-year high of 2.74 percent and the krona dropped versus all 16 of its major peers after Sweden’s central bank stuck to a plan to start raising borrowing costs late next year.

Austrian, Finnish, and Dutch 10-year yields also reached the highest in more than a year.

U.S. benchmark stock indexes rose for a third day, the longest rally since July. Louisiana-Pacific Corp. surged 11 percent after agreeing to buy Ainsworth Lumber Co. Costco Wholesale Corp. gained 2.8 percent as August sales beat analysts’ estimates. Groupon Inc. climbed 3.6 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock. Homebuilders and companies paying the highest dividends fell as Treasury yields surged.

Jobless claims declined by 9,000 to 323,000 in the week ended Aug. 31, less than the lowest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Another report showed companies boosted employment by 176,000 workers in August, according to the ADP Research Institute.

Nonfarm payrolls data on Sept. 6 will probably indicate an increase of 180,000 in August, compared with a gain of 162,000 for July, according to a separate Bloomberg survey. The U.S. economy maintained a “modest to moderate” pace of growth from July to August, the Fed said yesterday in its Beige Book survey.

“U.S. payrolls is the key event,” Chris Green, a strategist at First NZ Capital Ltd., a brokerage and wealth- management firm, said from Auckland. “We’re looking at something around 190,000 and if we get that sort of number it reinforces the idea of Fed tapering occurring at the upcoming meeting.”

The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index rose to 58.6 in August from 56 the prior month, topping the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey for a drop to 55. A reading greater than 50 indicates expansion in the industries that make up almost 90 percent of the economy.

Another report showed orders placed with U.S. factories fell less than forecast in July as rising fuel prices propelled the biggest gain in non-durable goods in a year.

A gauge of carmakers posted the biggest gain of 19 industry groups in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index as PSA Peugeot Citroen advanced 5.4 percent. Chief Executive Officer Philippe Varin forecast that the company’s market share will increase in the third quarter, according to an interview in Le Parisien newspaper.

Telecom Italia SpA jumped 8.4 percent after La Repubblica reported that Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris may buy a stake in the phone company. The newspaper did not cite anyone.

TeliaSonera AB slid 1.9 percent after Solidium Oy, Finland’s state-owned asset manager, started an accelerated book build to sell a stake in the Swedish telecommunications operator.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 1 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong climbed 1 percent and benchmark gauges in Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and the Czech Republic gained at least 1 percent.

India’s Sensex index climbed for a second day, jumping 2.2 percent. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan announced plans to make it easier for banks to open branches and lend to non-state sectors.

“This should give incentive for banks to offer U.S. dollar deposits to offshore investors,” Albert Leung, a strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, wrote today in a report. It “should bring in close to $10 billion of foreign exchange and stabilize the Indian rupee at around current levels,” he said.

Poland’s WIG20 Index fell 4.6 percent, the most since June.

Poland said yesterday it will take over and cancel government bonds held by its privately managed pension funds. Morgan Stanley said today the changes are negative for stocks and will likely reduce inflows into equity markets. The five-year yield climbed to an 11-month high of 4.24 percent today and the zloty fell 1.4 percent versus the dollar.

Turkey’s lira fell as much as 1.6 percent to a record 2.0841 per dollar. Turkey’s central bank indicated that it will drop its defense of the lira to focus on keeping interest rates unchanged, according to economists who attended a private meeting with policy makers in Ankara yesterday.

Shares in the Middle East fell, with the main indexes for Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar sliding at least 1.6 percent. Dubai’s stocks posted the biggest swings in the world in the past month as concern the U.S. is moving closer to a military strike against Syria led investors to exit this year’s best-performing index.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10-7 in the first test of Congress’s willingness to back American military action against the Syrian regime. President Barack Obama is meeting world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg today. The office of Russian President Vladimir Putin said there’ll no separate session on Syria at the summit.

West Texas Intermediate oil advanced 1.1 percent to $108.37 a barrel after a government report showed that inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the contract, dropped to the lowest level in a year and a half. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities climbed 0.2 percent as energy and industrial metals gained.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

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

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

Accomplishments will prove to be a journey,

not a destination.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969

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:

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown tonight and ends at sundown on Friday, September 6^th.  Tradition is to eat apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year.

On this day, September 4^th, 1888, George Eastman registered his trademark Kodak and received a patent for his roll-film camera.

If you like old photos, you can find a wonderful photo album of time gone by at the Shorpy blog site (named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a 20^th-century teenage coal miner).  Check out www.shorpy.com

September tries its best to have us forget summer. –Bern Williams

Photos of the Day –September 4th, 2013

A woman stops to photograph the skyline of New York across from the Empire State Building as she walks in a park along the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey, yesterday evening. Gary Hershorn/Reuters

The sun rises behind the sheer rock faces at the mouth of Eldorado Canyon State Park, a place for technical rock climbers and also a popular retreat for local tourists, just outside Boulder, Colo. Brennan Linsley/AP

Market Closes for September 4^th, 2013

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	14930.87	+96.91    +0.65%
S&P 500	1653.08	+13.31    +0.81%
NASDAQ	3649.042	+36.430    +1.01%
TSX	12757.81	+17.31
		+0.14%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14053.87	+75.43
		+0.54%
HANG  SENG	22326.22	-68.36
		-0.31%
SENSEX	18567.55	+332.89
		+1.83%
FTSE 100	6474.74	+6.33
		+0.10%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.720	2.680
CND.   30 Year Bond	3.182	3.150
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.8966	2.8576
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.7970	3.7943

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.95266	0.94912
US   $	1.04969	1.05361
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.38569	0.72166
US  $	1.32009	0.75753

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1393.17	1404.45
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.23	108.54
BRENT	109.360	109.359

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced as BlackBerry Ltd. rallied along with utilities and industrial companies, offsetting losses in commodity producers amid concern about a U.S. military strike on Syria.

BlackBerry jumped 4.9 percent after a report the mobile phone maker aims to find a buyer by November. Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, climbed 2.5 percent for a fourth day of gains. Niko Resources Ltd. lost 9.5 percent as crude slipped for the third time in four days. Torex Gold Resources Inc. slid 5.6 percent and Silvercorp Metals Inc. sank 4.2 percent as the prices of both metals fell.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 17.31 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,757.81 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has risen 2.6 percent this year.

Trading volume was 2.1 percent lower than the 30-day average at this time of the day.

“The oil price and gold price are reflecting geopolitical risk,” said Jeffrey Burchell, a fund manager with Aston Hill Financial Inc., in a telephone interview from Toronto. His firm manages about C$8 billion ($7.6 billion). “People are getting settled in and trying to figure out what to do next.”

Gold and silver futures fell the most in eight weeks. Torex Gold sank 5.6 percent to C$1.53. Silvercorp Metals fell 4.2 percent to C$3.85.

The S&P/TSX Materials Index lost 0.1 percent as 35 of 55 members retreated. The group has plunged 24 percent this year, the worst performer among 10 industries in the S&P/TSX.

The international community’s credibility is on the line after Syria used chemical weapons against civilians, U.S. President Barack Obama said at a news conference today in Stockholm, repeating a claim the Syrian government has denied.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to authorize a limited U.S. military operation in Syria, the first step toward congressional endorsement of the effort.

Torex Gold Resources Inc. slid 6.1 percent Silvercorp Metals Inc. sank 4.2 percent as the prices of both metals fell.

Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$931 million in July from C$460 million in June, Statistics Canada said. The gap exceeded the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Exports fell 0.6 percent to C$39.2 billion on a 7.3 percent drop in shipments of metal and non-mineral products.

“The hearty gain in energy exports that the street was expecting didn’t quite materialize,” Emanuella Enenajor, an economist with CIBC World Markets Inc., said in a note to clients today. “Overall a disappointing figure.”

The Bank of Canada today kept its main interest rate unchanged at 1 percent for the 24th meeting. Policy makers reiterated that current monetary policy remains appropriate as an expected rotation of demand to exports and investment is being delayed.

BlackBerry advanced 4.9 percent to C$11.28. The mobile device maker has held talks with bidders and plans to begin an auction process soon, Dow Jones said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Niko Resources declined 9.5 percent to C$4.29 and Bankers Petroleum Ltd. slipped 0.3 percent to C$3.60. Crude for October delivery lost 1.2 percent to $107.23 a barrel in New York.

Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, rose 2.5 percent to C$2.89. The stock has jumped 8.7 percent in the past four sessions, the longest winning streak since June.

US

By Lu Wang and Alex Barinka

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, led by automakers and technology companies, as a Senate panel voted to authorize military action in Syria and the Federal Reserve said the economy maintained a “modest to moderate” pace of growth.

Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. rallied at least 3.5 percent after sales beat forecasts. Micron Technology Inc. and SanDisk Corp jumped more than 3.3 percent after a fire forced rival SK Hynix Inc. to suspend operations at a factory in China.

Apple Inc. gained 2.1 percent as Cantor Fitzgerald LP initiated coverage of the shares with a buy rating and amid speculation that the company may team up with China Mobile Ltd.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.8 percent to 1,653.08 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 96.91 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,930.87. About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, in line with the three-month average.

“Managers actually are fairly bullish on the environment,” Arvin Soh, a New York-based portfolio manager with GAM, said by phone. His firm has more than $120 billion under management. “The view has been, ‘yes we have some serious issues with Syria, but at the end of the day, growth is improving.’”

The S&P 500 briefly pared its gain after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to authorize President Barack Obama to conduct a limited U.S. military operation in Syria, the first step toward congressional endorsement of the effort. Republican House Speaker John Boehner yesterday said he supports Obama’s call for military action. The full Senate is expected to consider the resolution on Sept. 9.

The Fed said today the economy continued to grow from early July through late August, even as borrowing costs increased. The central bank’s Beige Book survey of economic conditions in 12 Fed districts showed consumers spent more on travel and tourism, while manufacturing expanded “modestly.”

Fed officials have been scrutinizing data to determine the timing and pace of any reduction in its $85 billion in monthly bond buying. The central bank, which has said it may pare stimulus if the U.S. economy improves in line with its forecasts, will hold its next policy meeting on Sept. 17-18.

Figures from the Labor Department on Sept. 6 may show payrolls increased in August and the jobless rate held at 7.4 percent. A report from Automatic Data Processing Inc. tomorrow is expected to indicate that companies hired fewer workers than in July. A manufacturing gauge published yesterday reached a two-year high.

“The employment number is going to help drive the Fed,” Jim Landreth, a portfolio manager with 300 North Capital LLC in Pasadena, California, said by phone. His firm oversees $640 million. “The Fed is going to be careful. They don’t want rates to spike up again because housing has been one of the fundamental underpinnings of this recovery.”

The S&P 500 has lost 3.3 percent from a record on Aug. 2 amid speculation the Fed will scale back its bond buying.  The stimulus has helped push the benchmark equity gauge up 144 percent from its March 2009 low. There have been signs that the housing recovery has begun to slow, including a drop in sales of previously owned homes in July, as yields on 10-year Treasury notes rose to a two-year high last month.

Citigroup Inc. downgraded U.S. equities to underweight today, saying valuations are “not as attractive as other parts of the world.” The firm upgraded the U.K. and emerging markets.

These areas “appear the cheapest major regions across the world,” strategists including Robert Buckland and Tobias Levkovich wrote in a note.

Emerging markets have a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 11.8 and the U.K. has a multiple of 13.3, the firm said. The benchmark gauge for U.S. equities trades at 15.9 times profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, slipped 4.4 percent to 15.88 today. The equity volatility gauge is down 12 percent this year.

All but two of 24 S&P 500 industry groups advanced.

Automakers surged 3 percent for the best performance, as U.S. car and light-truck sales rose 17 percent to 1.5 million units, the most since May 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp.

That exceeded the average 14 percent gain estimated by 10 analysts in a survey by Bloomberg News.

Ford climbed 3.5 percent to $16.91 after posting a 12 percent increase. GM gained 5 percent to $35.85 as sales grew 15 percent.

Micron jumped 5.3 percent to $14.75 while SanDisk advanced 3.3 percent to $57.14. SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest maker of computer-memory chips, is ascertaining if there are any casualties and investigating the cause of the fire, which occurred at a plant in Wuxi, China.

Apple advanced 2.1 percent to $498.69. Cantor’s 12-month share-price estimate was $777, 59 percent higher than yesterday’s close of $488.58. The world’s biggest technology company announced a Sept. 10 event at which it will unveil new models of the iPhone. The next day, it will host an event in Beijing, spurring speculation that Apple may announce an agreement with China Mobile, according to Reuters.

Apple may sell more than 5 million iPhones to China Mobile in the December quarter, with the potential subscriber base at the Chinese wireless carrier reaching 38.7 million next year, Brian Marshall, an analyst with International Strategy & Investment Group, estimated in a note yesterday.

Networking-equipment makers rallied after Ciena Corp. posted profit and sales that beat analysts’ estimates. Ciena, which provides fiber-optic networking gear for carriers such as AT&T Inc., jumped 14 percent to $23.54. Phone stocks rallied 1.3 percent as a group, the most among 10 main S&P 500 industries.

Juniper Networks Inc. climbed 6.5 percent to $20.72 while JDS Uniphase Corp. increased 5.9 percent to $13.70.

J.C. Penney & Co. gained 6.1 percent to $13.50 after Glenview Capital Management LLC raised its stake in the department-store chain to 9.1 percent. Glenview joined J. Kyle Bass in boosting its Penney holdings, becoming the biggest shareholder in a bet the retailer will recover after Bill Ackman ended a revamp effort last month. Bass’s Hayman Capital Management LP holds 11.4 million shares.

Dollar General Corp. added 4.7 percent to a record $56.39.

The discount retailer reported second-quarter adjusted profit of 77 cents per share, beating the 74 cents estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Competitor Dollar Tree Inc. rose 3.1 percent to $54.17.

E*Trade Financial Corp. rallied 8.1 percent to $15.71, the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The online brokerage said a subsidiary will pay a $100 million dividend to the parent company and plans to make similar payments every quarter.

Microsoft Corp. lost 2.2 percent, the most in the Dow, to $31.20. Morgan Stanley downgraded the world’s biggest software maker to equal weight, a rating comparable to neutral, from overweight, which is similar to buy. The company’s 5.44 billion- euro ($7.2-billion) deal to with Nokia Oyj’s devices unit brings execution risks and increased expenditure, the brokerage wrote in a note.

LinkedIn Corp. fell 2.9 percent to $238.93. The owner of the world’s biggest professional-networking website said in a filing it plans to sell 4.17 million shares of its Class A stock. LinkedIn estimated it will raise $1 billion from the sale, based on a closing price of $240.04 on Aug. 30.

SAIC Inc. tumbled 4.9 percent to $14.41. The company, which provides scientific services for government agencies related to national security, posted second-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates and cut its annual sales forecast.

 

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

 

The attempt and not the deed confound us.

-William Shakespeare, 1564-1616

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:

From the tribute by Erica Wagner to Irish wordsmith Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) in the weekend Financial Post:

“…Heaney, who has died in Dublin aged 74, was that rarest of creatures:  a great poet who was also a popular poet.  He was, too, a passionate advocate for his art, along with friend and mentor, Ted Hughes.  It was Hughes’s work that offered proof modern poetry could be made from the matter of rural life.  He recalled reading Hughes’s ‘View of a Pig’.  ‘The poem begins, ‘The pig lay on a barrow dead./  It weighed, they said, as much as three men.’  And I thought, ‘How does he know about all this?’

Heaney and Hughes together would bring their natural worlds to poetic life and go on to influence generations not just of poets but of readers, most notably through the two anthologies they edited, The Rattle Bag (1982) and The School Bag (1987)….His 1995 Nobel Prize for literature was one of many honours.  He was professor of poetry at Oxford and Ralph Waldo Emerson poet in residence at Harvard…..With the poet’s death, once for all has come;  but th work, like the human chain itself, endures.”

The cold smell of potato

mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt

cuts of an edge

Through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them,

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.

-Seamus Heaney, from Digging, in The Death of a Naturalist (1966).

So now, as a thank–

offering for one

Whose long wait on the

shaded bank has ended,

I arrive with my bunch of

stalks and silvered heads

Like tapers that won’t dim

As her earthlight breaks

and we gather round

Talking baby talk.

–Seamus Haney, from Route 110, in The Human Chain (2010).

Photos of the Day –September 3rd, 2013

Elementary school children share an electronic tablet on the first day of class in the new school year in Nice, France. Eric Gaillard/Reuters

Sunlight glints from the Walkie Talkie tower in central London. The London skyscraper reflects sunlight at such intense levels that it warped panels and melted mirrors on a parked car. Its developers will not need to break the bank to fix the problem, a project source told Reuters. Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

The eastern span of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge is seen from inside a vehicle in Oakland, Calif. The largest self-anchored suspension bridge in the world opened before the morning’s rush hour across San Francisco Bay, six years behind schedule and five times over budget.Stephen Lam/Reuters

Market Closes for September 3^rd, 2013

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	14833.96	+23.65    +0.16%
S&P 500	1639.77	+6.80    +0.42%
NASDAQ	3612.612	+22.744    +0.63%
TSX	12740.50	+86.60
		+0.68%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	13978.44	+405.52
		+2.99%
HANG  SENG	22394.58	+219.24
		+0.99%
SENSEX	18234.66	-651.47
		-3.45%
FTSE 100	6468.41	-37.78
		-0.58%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.680	2.612
CND.   30 Year Bond	3.150	3.067
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.8576	2.7766
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.7943	3.7074

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.94912	0.94942
US   $	1.05361	1.05357
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.38768	0.72062
US  $	1.31706	0.75926

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1404.45	1395.13
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	108.54	107.73
BRENT	109.359	109.359

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, for the highest close in a week, as the nation’s largest wireless carriers rallied after U.S.-based Verizon Communications Inc. said it would not enter the market.

Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. advanced at least 5.5 percent as telephone stocks surged the most in more than four years. Teck Resources Ltd. and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. added more than 1.7 percent as the price of copper climbed on signs of improving growth in China and the U.S. BlackBerry Ltd., which is weighing a sale, increased 1 percent after Microsoft Corp. agreed to acquire Nokia Oyj’s handset business.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 86.60 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,740.50 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the best close since Aug. 26. The gauge earlier climbed as much as 1.4 percent to the highest since March 20. Markets were closed yesterday for a holiday in Canada.

“The 800-pound gorilla is not coming to Canada,” said Irwin Michael, portfolio manager with ABC Funds in Toronto. His firm manages C$800 million ($760 million). “Clearly the fears of Verizon coming to Canada was there overhanging the market. Right now it’s a knee-jerk reaction to the surprise.”

Telephone stocks jumped 5.1 percent, the steepest rise since November 2008, to lead seven of 10 industries in the benchmark index higher. Trading volume was 18 percent lower than the 30-day average at this time of the day.

Verizon said yesterday it was not going to make an acquisition in Canada. Shares of the country’s existing wireless providers had slumped after the U.S. company said in June it was weighing a bid to buy Wind Mobile, the largest of three new Ontario-based carriers.

Rogers, Canada’s largest wireless carrier, soared 7.2 percent to C$44.59, the biggest gain since November 2008. Telus gained 5.5 percent to C$34.50, the most since August 2009. BCE Inc. added 3.9 percent to C$44.86, its best day in two years.

BlackBerry advanced 1 percent to C$10.75. Microsoft agreed to buy BlackBerry rival Nokia’s handset business and license its patents, casting together the lot of two technology companies trying to stay relevant against more fleet-footed rivals.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker said in August it has formed a special committee to explore various options for the company including a possible sale. Both Nokia and BlackBerry have lost market share to Apple Inc. and devices running Google Inc.’s Android software.

Teck Resources rose 3.2 percent to C$27.38 and First Quantum Minerals added 1.7 percent to C$17.85. Copper futures jumped 2.2 percent, the most in more than three weeks, as signs of improving economic growth buoyed demand prospects in China and the U.S., the world’s biggest consumers of the metal.

Manufacturing in the U.S. expanded more than forecast in August to the fastest pace since June 2011. Data yesterday showed China’s manufacturing index increased to a 16-month high in August, while other gauges showed euro-area factory output expanded at a faster pace than initially estimated in August.

Eldorado Gold Corp. increased 2.6 percent to C$9.20 and Goldcorp Inc. gained 1 percent to C$31.42. Gold rose for the first time in a week, as tension in the Middle East spurred demand for assets considered safe havens.

Trinidad Drilling Ltd. gained 4.4 percent to C$9.48, the biggest rise in eight months, after entering into a joint venture with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Halliburton Co. to provide drilling rigs in Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

Gabriel Resources Ltd. plunged 18 percent to C$1.39 as a potential referendum on a mine it is developing in Romania could delay what would be Europe’s largest gold mine.

The Romanian government proposed a referendum next year on allowing the project to proceed, following a protest by thousands of people over the company’s plan to use cyanide at the Rosia Montana mine. Gabriel had said it could “hopefully” receive approval by November.

US

By Lu Wang

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, following the worst month since May 2012 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as better-than-forecast economic data overshadowed concern over possible military action against Syria.

CBS Corp. jumped 4.7 percent after the broadcaster’s programs returned to Time Warner Cable Inc. Microsoft Corp. slipped 4.6 percent after agreeing to buy Nokia Oyj’s mobile- phone business and license its patents for 5.44 billion euros ($7.2 billion). Verizon Communications Inc. dropped 2.9 percent after agreeing to buy Vodafone Group Plc’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless for $130 billion.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent to 1,639.77 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring an earlier advance of as much as 1.1 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 23.65 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,833.96. About 6.6 billion shares changed hands, the highest level since Aug. 1. U.S. exchanges were closed yesterday for the Labor Day holiday.

“The economy, things are coming in pretty good,” Karyn Cavanaugh, a vice president and market strategist at ING U.S. Investment Management in New York, said in a phone interview.

Her firm oversees about $190 billion. “We know there are a lot tensions in the Middle East. If you wait for the dust to settle in order to get in the market, you’re going to be waiting forever. Look at the fundamentals and if the fundamentals are increasing, that’s your directional signal.”

Global stocks rose yesterday as data showed China’s manufacturing index increased to a 16-month high in August, while other gauges showed euro-area factory output expanded at a faster pace than initially estimated in August.

Among today’s reports in the U.S., the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index increased to 55.7 in August, the strongest since June 2011, from 55.4 a month earlier.

Readings above 50 indicate growth. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 54. Another report showed construction spending in the U.S. increased in July to the highest level in four years, propelled by gains in residential real estate.

Equities pared gains after President Barack Obama won endorsement from the two top Republicans in the U.S. House for taking action against Syria. Backing from Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor will help the president as he makes his case to lawmakers who’ve questioned the evidence presented by the administration that the Syrian government was behind a sarin gas attack last month or whether the U.S. has a vital interest in the region.

Obama urged Congress to take a “prompt” vote authorizing military action. He announced on Aug. 31 that he’d seek support from Congress, after previously saying he had authority to order a military mission.

The benchmark index fell 3.1 percent in August amid concern the Federal Reserve would reduce its monthly bond purchases and the U.S. would take military action against Syria.

Investors in August pulled money from exchange-traded funds at the fastest rate since January 2010, with withdrawals reaching $17.7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from about 1,500 funds. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, the largest ETF for American equities, experienced $14 billion in outflows, the data show.

Better-than-estimated corporate earnings and monetary stimulus from the Fed helped the index rally as much as 153 percent from a 12-year low in 2009, with the gauge reaching a record 1,709.67 on Aug. 2.

The Fed holds a policy meeting on Sept. 17-18 to decide whether to slow the pace of its bond-buying program. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has said that the central bank may reduce its monthly purchases if the employment outlook substantially improves and the economy grows in line with forecasts.

The S&P 500 failed to stay above its average in the past 100 days after briefly surpassing the threshold that’s watched by some analysts to gauge the market’s trends. The index closed below the trend measure for a fifth session, the longest stretch since Nov. 21, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The average was at 1,640 recently.

Financial, consumer-discretionary  and health-care shares climbed more than 0.6 percent for the biggest gains among 10 S&P 500 industries. Utilities and phone companies had the biggest declines, dropping at least 1.1 percent.

CBS rose 4.7 percent to $53.50. The broadcaster’s programs returned to Time Warner Cable in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas after the companies ended a one-month blackout, in time for the start of National Football League regular-season games.

Time Warner Cable agreed to pay a significant increase for the right to transmit CBS signals, according to people with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because the terms are private. Shares of Time Warner Cable added 1.8 percent to $109.25.

Citigroup Inc. climbed 2.2 percent to $49.37. The third- biggest U.S. bank by assets has sold more than $6 billion in private-equity and hedge-fund assets in the past month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the transactions.

Bank of America Corp. added 0.9 percent to $14.25. The lender confirmed plans to sell its remaining stake in China Construction Bank Corp. for a gain of about $750 million before taxes. The second-biggest U.S. lender first invested in Construction Bank in 2005.

Apple Inc. rose 0.3 percent to $488.58, trimming an early rally of as much as 2.8 percent. The world’s largest technology company said it will hold a Sept. 10 event, when it’s projected to announce new iPhones.

J.C. Penney Co. advanced 1.9 percent to $12.72. Hayman Capital Management LP reported a 5.2 percent passive stake in the department store chain that is seeking to rebound from its worst sales year in more than two decades.

Stocks gained as the U.S. market is poised for the busiest month of takeovers since October 2012. More than $130 billion of mergers and acquisitions have been announced since the end of August, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Jarden Corp. jumped 10 percent to $47.43. The company agreed to buy Yankee Candle for $1.75 billion, making its biggest acquisition to add the 43-year-old scented candle maker to its collection of more than 120 consumer brands.

More acquisitions are “indicative of increased confidence in the corporate space in that they view opportunities to take advantage of and feel comfortable using some of their capital to do so.” Ethan Anderson, senior portfolio manager at Rehmann Financial in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees about $1.5 billion.

Microsoft slid 4.6 percent to $31.88. The maker of the Windows operating system will pay 3.79 billion euros for Nokia’s devices and 1.65 billion euros for its patents, according to a statement from the companies. Microsoft is deepening a push into hardware as dwindling computer sales sap demand for the programs that made it the world’s largest software maker. Nokia’s U.S.-traded shares surged 31 percent to $5.12.

Verizon lost 2.9 percent to $46.01. Verizon will get full control of the most profitable U.S. mobile-phone carrier in the biggest acquisition in more than a decade. The deal, sought by Verizon since at least 2004, implies a total value for Verizon Wireless of almost $290 billion — larger than the market capitalization of Google Inc.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, fell 2.4 percent to 16.61 today, after a 26 percent rally in August. Options strategists from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Weeden & Co. are predicting that U.S. equity volatility will extend its increase in September after posting its biggest monthly advance in more than a year.

JPMorgan said in an Aug. 29 note that volatility is likely to increase in September and October, and recommended buying puts on global stocks gauges including the S&P 500. Weeden told investors to implement a bearish strategy using October contracts on a security tracking the Russell 2000 Index. The VIX has fallen every September in years when volatility was below its historical average at the start of the month, data since 1996 compiled by Bloomberg show.

“There are a number of catalysts that could drive volatility higher in September such as an escalation in the Syrian crisis, further deterioration in emerging markets, or larger-than-expected tapering by the Fed,” Mandy Xu, a New York-based equity-derivatives strategist at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in an Aug. 29 interview.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

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

What I have done, that I can undo.

Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily.

That is what tragedy means.

-Tom Stoppard, 1937-

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:

As Carolann is out of the office this afternoon, I will be sending the newsletter on her behalf.

For everyone out there who wears glasses (just like me), I wanted to share a website with you that I have used many times and been very happy with.  The company is called “Clearly Contacts”.  Not only do they have a wide variety of glasses, but you are also able to shop for contact lenses and sunglasses.  If you have never ordered from Clearly Contacts, they are offering your first pair of glasses for free!!!!!  Yes, you heard me right, for FREE.  Simply visit their website: www.clearlycontacts.ca and find the pair of glasses you like.  Not all frames are part of this offer, so when you find a pair you like, click on “description” and if it says “excluded from first free pair”, then unfortunately you will have to shop for another pair.  Once you have found the pair you like, continue to the checkout. When you get to the payment area, it will have a section for you to enter a coupon code in which you will enter “FPF”.  All you will have to pay is your shipping and handling and you will have your new frames in no time!

Hope everyone enjoys their free pair of glasses!

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

Photos of the Day –August 30^th, 2013

MiG-29 jet fighters of the Strizhi (Swifts) and Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighters of the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) aerobatic teams perform during a demonstration flight at the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow. The world’s top aircraft makers will be touting their wares at Moscow’s MAKS air show in hopes of winning a big slice of the multi-billion dollar fighter jet market. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Revellers play with fireworks in an enclosed area on the main street of the village of Paterna near Valencia, Spain, during the annual ‘Corda’ festivity. Picture is taken through a security fence. Heino Kalis/Reuters

Market Closes for August 30^th, 2013

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	14807.69	-33.26    -0.22%
S&P 500	1630.35	-7.82    -0.48%
NASDAQ	3589.868	-30.435    -0.84%
TSX	12699.19	-5.54
		-0.04%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	13388.86	-70.85
		-0.53%
HANG  SENG	21731.37	+26.59
		+0.12%
SENSEX	18619.72	+218.68
		+1.19%
FTSE 100	6412.93	-70.12
		-1.08%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.612	2.606
CND.   30 Year Bond	3.067	3.067
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.7766	2.7617
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.7074	3.7144

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.94942	0.94915
US   $	1.05327	1.05357
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.39210	0.71834
US  $	1.32169	0.75661

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1395.13	1407.84
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.73	108.80
BRENT	109.359	109.359

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Alex Barinka

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed as Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. rose after reporting higher- than-estimated earnings while gold producers slumped.

Couche-Tard increased 4.7 percent after same-store sales rose. Bank shares added 0.2 percent as a group after seven firms this week posted earnings that beat analysts’ predictions.

B2Gold Corp. and Alacer Gold Corp. slipped as much as 2.7 percent as the precious metal fell on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will curb stimulus. BlackBerry Ltd. fell 1.7 percent after people familiar with the matter said Morgan Stanley is holding off on upgrading its employees to the company’s newest smartphones.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 27.7 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,677.03 at 2:54 p.m. in Toronto, erasing earlier gains. The index had gained 1.5 percent in August.

Canadian stock exchanges are closed on Sept. 2 for the Labor Day holiday.

“Canadian bank earnings were solid, if not terrific, and that should bode well going forward,” Barry Schwartz, vice president and portfolio manager with Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, said in a phone interview. He helps manage about C$535 million ($508 million). “GDP in Canada was so-so, but it was positive and there is really no indication that it is going negative. Gold is a fear-trade. Some of that fear is subsiding.”

Seven of the 10 industries in the S&P/TSX declined.

Materials producers and phone companies fell more than 0.3 percent. Consumer staples, utilities and financial stocks climbed at least 0.2 percent. Trading volume in the benchmark gauge was 34 percent below the 30-day average at this time.

Canada’s gross domestic product rose at a 1.7 percent annualized pace from April to June, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa, while economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast a 1.6 percent rate.

The central bank forecast expansion at a 1 percent annual rate in the second quarter, accelerating to 3.8 percent growth from July to September, aided by the impact of a weaker currency and growing U.S. orders.

B2Gold fell 3.4 percent to C$2.83 and Alacer Gold slumped 3.2 percent to C$3.28 amid declines in prices for the precious metal and speculation the U.S. Fed will reduce stimulus.

Niko Resources slid 6.7 percent to C$4.89 as crude prices fell after U.K. lawmakers rejected a motion for attacks against Syria. Triology Energy Corp. fell 2.1 percent to C$27.40.

BlackBerry slid 1.7 percent to C$10.62. Morgan Stanley would normally have a firm timeline for an upgrade by now, more than five months after the new phones were introduced, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the bank’s deliberations are private.

Laurentian Bank of Canada fell 1.2 percent to C$44.43 after posting quarterly earnings that missed analysts’ projections as profit fell on costs tied to acquisitions.

Canadian Western Bank paced gains among lenders, climbing 0.9 percent to C$29.76. Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.8 percent to C$90.65.

Couche-Tard surged 4.7 percent to C$60.04, leading consumer companies higher. The convenience store operator also boosted its dividend.

US

By Nick Taborek and Jonathan Morgan

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index capping its worst monthly drop since May 2012, as investors weighed the prospects for American military action in Syria and disappointing data on consumer spending.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 1,632.60 at 4 p.m. in New York, extending its decline in August to 3.2 percent. U.S. exchanges are closed Sept. 2 for the Labor Day holiday.

“People don’t want to go into the weekend hugely exposed up or down, especially with this fear of Syria overhanging the market,” Beth Lilly, a Minneapolis-based portfolio manager with Gabelli Funds, which oversees $40 billion, said in a phone interview. “There’s a lot of concern of if we get involved in a bombing, how protracted will our involvement be. The market does not like uncertainty, and there’s a lot of uncertainty as it relates to Syria.”

President Barack Obama told reporters that he hasn’t made a final decision on his response to the country’s alleged use of chemical weapons, and that “in no event” will it involve U.S. troops on the ground in Syria.

The S&P 500 earlier fell as low as 0.6 percent as Secretary of State John Kerry spoke after the Obama administration released an assessment saying intelligence agencies have “high confidence” that Syrian forces used chemical weapons in an Aug. 21 attack.

The index pared its decline as Kerry said the U.S. is committed to “a diplomatic process” and that any response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria will be “limited and tailored.”

“It’s clear that the administration is setting the stage and laying out the justification for a limited military strike,” Jim Russell, senior equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said in an interview. His firm oversees $110 billion. “The key language in Kerry’s talk was that the strike would tend to be limited and confined to a smaller scope. The markets like the tone of a one-and-done or confined type of program.”

The S&P 500 retreated this month amid the tension in Syria and concern that the Federal Reserve will reduce its bond purchases. Minutes of the central bank’s July meeting released Aug. 21 showed policy makers supported stimulus cuts this year if the economy improves. The officials next meet Sept. 17-18.

Data today showed consumer spending in the U.S. rose less than forecast last month. The measure, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, rose 0.1 percent. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.3 percent gain.

A separate report indicated consumer confidence dropped in August from a six-year high as interest rates rose and tensions in the Middle East intensified. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment for this month fell to 82.1, a four-month low, from 85.1 in July.

The MNI Chicago Report business barometer rose to 53 in August from a reading of 52.3 the prior month, in line with estimates. The regional index is viewed as an indicator of business activity across the U.S.

Investors head into the holiday weekend watching the political wrangling over the approaching limit on federal spending. The U.S. government is expected to exhaust its ability to borrow funds in mid-October, when it will hit the statutory debt limit, according to an estimate from the Treasury Department.

“September promises to be an important month, as discussions on the U.S. debt situation resurface and as the holiday season ends,” Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Plc in London, wrote in an e-mail. “As investors roll up their sleeves for the last third of the year, volumes should pick up markedly from the current low levels.”

 

Have  a wonderful long weekend everyone!

 

Be magnificent!

 

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” – Albert Einstein

 

As ever,

 

Amanda Bourke

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities Inc.

 

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