Month: December 2014

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

from The Netherlands:

The world’s first solar bike path was unveiled in this bicycle-loving nation.  It’s a 100-meter test bed of concrete modules with photovoltaic cells under a centimeter of tempered glass.  The power it generates will run street lighting, traffic systems – and eventually vehicles and homes, say its private-sector developers, who call it a big step toward “an energy-neutral mobility system.”

Birthday: Emily Dickenson, poet, born December 10^th, 1830.

There’s a certain
Slant of light.
Winter Afternoon
-that oppresses, like the
Heft Of Cathedral Tunes.

          –Emily Dickenson.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Giant waves hit the lighthouse wall in Whitehaven, England, as stormy weather causes disruptions across parts of the UK, with power cuts, ferry and train cancellations, and difficult driving conditions. Owen Humphreys/PA/AP

A woman walks through the snow in Washington Park in Albany, N.Y. A slow-moving coastal storm has dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of upstate New York, knocking out power to more than 10,000 utility customers, closing or causing delayed starts for scores of schools and shutting down a Syracuse-area highway. Mike Groll/AP

A woman pushes a pram through heavy fog in the small town of Zaslavl, Belarus. Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

Market Closes for December 10^th, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17533.15	-268.05
		-1.51%
S&P 500	2026.14	-33.68   -1.64%
NASDAQ	4684.03	-82.438   -1.73%
TSX	13852.95	-342.78
		-2.41%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17412.58	-400.80
		-2.25%
HANG SENG	23524.52	+38.69
		+0.16%
SENSEX	27831.10	+34.09
		+0.12%
FTSE 100	6500.04	-29.43
		0.45%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.832	1.884
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.38	2.411
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.16	2.2085
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.83	2.8656

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.87110	0.87355
US $	1.14797	1.14475
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42872	0.69993
US $	1.24456	0.80350

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1225.15	1203.06
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	60.94	63.82

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks sank the most in 17 months, sending the benchmark gauge to the lowest level since February, as crude resumed a selloff after OPEC said demand will drop next year.

     Penn West Petroleum Ltd. and Crescent Point Energy Corp. plunged at least 9.8 percent as energy producers sank to a 2012 low. Laurentian Bank of Canada dropped 5.3 percent to pace declines among financial services stocks. All 10 main groups in the benchmark index lost at least 0.4 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 342.78 points, or 2.4 percent, to 13,852.95 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The equity gauge has dropped 4.3 percent this week, paring its advance this year to 1.7 percent. Trading volume was 38 percent above the 30-day average.

     Oil, bank and raw-materials are the biggest laggards in Canada for the first time since at least 1988, fueling concern the nation’s economy is fading just as the U.S. is taking off. The three industries, which collectively account for two-thirds of the S&P/TSX, are the worst performers among 10 groups this year, led by a 18 percent slump in energy, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     Penn West tumbled 13 percent to C$2.67, a 1996 low, and Crescent Point plunged 9.8 percent to C$22.50 as energy stocks sank 5.2 percent as a group. The energy index has fallen 32 percent from a high in June.

     West Texas Intermediate crude fell 4.5 percent to settle at $60.94 in New York and Brent dropped 3.9 percent to a five-year low as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries lowered its estimate for 2015 demand for its oil by about 300,000 barrels a day to 28.9 million.

     Oil has collapsed into a bear market amid the highest U.S. output in more than three decades and signs of slowing global demand growth. Prices now are below what 10 out of OPEC’s 12 members need for their annual budgets to break even, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Kuwait and Qatar are the exceptions.

     Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. slipped 4.4 percent to C$201.88 and Canadian National Railway Co. retreated 4.1 percent to C$73.62 as industrial stocks lost 3.1 percent.

     Laurentian Bank of Canada declined 5.3 percent to C$47.60, the biggest drop since June 2011. The bank reported fourth- quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates on charges from cutting jobs and reorganizing businesses.

     The nation’s largest lenders plunged the most in three years last week after posting disappointing earnings.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sinking the most in seven weeks, as energy shares renewed a selloff after OPEC cut its forecast on 2015 demand for crude.

     ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. lost more than 2 percent as energy producers in the S&P 500 tumbled to the lowest since April. Yum! Brands Inc. sank 6.2 percent after cutting its 2014 profit forecast amid a health scare in China. United Continental Holdings Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. rose at least 1.8 percent after an industry group said global airlines will make record profit next year.

     The S&P 500 lost 1.6 percent to 2,026.14 at 4 p.m. in New York, the most since Oct. 13. The benchmark gauge has slumped 2.4 percent over the past three days, after reaching a record on Dec. 5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 268.05 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,533.15. The Dow’s retreat was its biggest since Oct. 9.

     “Oil is lower on the reduced demand outlook and it’s not a surprise to see the rest of the market, at least in sympathy, going down on that,” Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc., said in a phone interview. “Without any news to prompt the market to move higher today, it puts the onus back on the bulls to see how much conviction they have in buying stocks.”

     The S&P 500 closed little changed yesterday after reversing a loss of as much as 1.3 percent. The gauge has jumped 9.6 percent in 2014, heading for a third year of gains, fueled by better-than-forecast economic data and corporate earnings.

     Data later this week may show U.S. retail sales increased in November, initial jobless claims last week stayed unchanged from a week earlier, and consumer confidence improved this month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

     Oil tumbled to a five-year low. OPEC cut its forecast for how much crude it will need to provide in 2015 to the lowest in 12 years amid surging U.S. shale supplies and reduced estimates for global consumption.

     The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries lowered its projection for 2015 by about 300,000 barrels a day, to 28.9 million a day. That’s about 1.15 million a day less than the group’s 12 members pumped last month, and the 30-million barrel target they reaffirmed at a meeting in Vienna on Nov. 27. The impact of this year’s 40 percent price collapse on supply and demand remains unclear, OPEC said.

     Energy companies in the S&P 500 dropped 3.1 percent. Denbury Resources Inc. plunged 6.4 percent and Oneok Inc. retreated 7.8 percent. The group is down 13 percent since the beginning of November, and has plummeted 25 percent from a high in June.                         

     All 10 groups in the S&P 500 declined as materials, industrial and technology shares each lost more than 1.6 percent.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of options prices known as the VIX, climbed 24 percent to 18.53. The gauge has soared 57 percent in three days, the most since October.

     Banks in the S&P 500 fell as JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will probably report a “high teens” percentage drop in fourth- quarter trading revenue from a year earlier. JPMorgan dropped 2.8 percent, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. each lost 2.5 percent.

     Yum declined 6.2 percent. The owner of the KFC and Taco Bell fast-food chains said earnings per share will rise by a mid-single-digit percentage, excluding some items. That is down from a 20 percent growth forecast that was issued in July.

     A Bloomberg index of U.S. airlines gained 0.8 percent. The industry may generate a record $25 billion in net income next year, the International Air Transport Association said today. United Continental gained 1.9 percent, while Southwest jumped 1.8 percent. American Airlines Group Inc. advanced 1.3 percent.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

To find God, you must welcome everything.

 

Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,
 

Carolann

Everything you can imagine is real.

        -Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

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:

David Brooks wrote this article in The New York Times last Sunday:

Why Elders Smile

A few months ago, Ezekiel Emanuel had an essay in The Atlantic saying that, all things considered, he’d prefer to die around age 75. He argued that he’s rather clock out with all his powers intact than endure a sad, feeble decline.

  The problem is that if Zeke dies at 75, he’ll likely be missing his happiest years.  When researchers ask people to assess their own well-being, people in their 20s rate themselves highly.  Then there’s a decline as people get sadder in middle age, bottoming out around age 50.  But then happiness levels shoot up, so that old people are happier than young people.  The people who rate themselves most highly are those ages 82 to 85.

  Psychologists who study this now famous U-curve tend to point out that old people are happier because of changes in the brain.  For example, when you show people a crowd of faces, young people unconsciously tend to look at the threatening faces but older people’s attention gravitates toward the happy ones.

  Older people are more relaxed, on average.  They are spared some of the burden of thinking about the future.  As a result, they get more pleasure out of present, ordinary activities.

  My problem with a lot of the research on happiness in old age is that it is so deterministic.  It treats the aging of the emotional life the way  you might treat the ageing of the body: as  this biological, chemical and evolutionary process that happens to people.

  I’d rather think that elder happiness is an accomplishment, not a condition, that people get better at living through effort, by mastering specific skills.  I’d like to think that people get steadily better at handling life’s challenges.  In middle age, they are confronted by stressful challenges they can’t control, like having teenage children.  But in old age, they have more control over the challenges they will tackle and they get even better at addressing them.

  Aristotle teaches us that being a good person is not mainly about learning moral rules and following them.  It is about performing social roles well – being a good parent or teacher or lawyer or friend.

  It’s easy to think of some of the skills that some people get better at over time.

  First, there’s bifocalism, the ability to see the same situation from multiple perspectives.  Anthony Kronman of Yale Law School once wrote, “Anyone who has worn bifocal lenses knows that it takes time to learn to shift smoothly between perspectives and to combine them in a single field of vision.  The same is true of deliberation.  It is difficult to be compassionate, and often just as difficult to be detached, but what is most difficult of all is to be both at once.”  Only with experience can a person learn to see a fraught situation both close up, with emotional intensity, and far away, with detached perspective.

  Then there’s lightness, the ability to be at ease with the downsides of life.  In their book, “Lighter as We Go,” Jimmie Holland and Mindy Greenstein (who is a friend from college) argue that while older people lose memory they also learn that most setbacks are not be end of the world.  Anxiety is the biggest waste in life.  If you know that you’ll recover, you can save time and get on with it sooner.

  “The ability to grow lighter as we go is a form of wisdom that entails learning how not to sweat the small stuff,”  Holland and Greenstein write, “learning how not to be too invested in particular outcomes.”

  Then there is the ability to balance tensions.  In “Practical Wisdom,” Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe argue that performing many social roles means balancing competing demands.  A doctor has to be honest but also kind.  A teacher has to instruct but also inspire.  You can’t find the right balance in each context by memorizing a rule book.  This form of wisdom can only be earned by acquiring a repertoire of similar experiences.

  Finally, experienced heads have intuitive awareness of the landscape of reality, a feel for what other people are thinking and feeling, an instinct for how events will flow.  In “The Wisdom Paradox,” Elkhonon Golberg details the many ways the brain deteriorates with age:  brain cells die, mental operations slow.  But a lifetime of intellectual effort can lead to empathy and pattern awareness.  “What I have lost with age in my capacity for hard mental work,” Goldberg writes, “I seem to have gained in my capacity for instantaneous, almost unfairly easy insight.”

  It’s comforting to know that, for many, life gets happier with age.  But it’s more useful to know how individuals get better at doing the things they do.  The point of culture is to spread that wisdom from old to young; to put that thousand-year-heart in a still young body.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Holiday lights illuminate the small harbor of Neuharlingersiel, Germany, by the North Sea. Ingo Wagner/dpa/AP

 

Municipal workers walk along a fence surrounding a Christmas market in Red Square, with St. Basil’s Cathedral in the background, in Moscow. Pavel Golovkin/AP

Market Closes for December 9^th, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17801.20	-51.28
		-0.29%
S&P 500	2059.82	-0.49   -0.02%
NASDAQ	4766.465	+25.773   +0.54%
TSX	14195.73	+51.56
		+0.36%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17813.38	-122.26
		-0.68%
HANG SENG	23485.83	-561.84
		-2.34%
SENSEX	27797.01	-322.39
		-1.15%
FTSE 100	6529.47	-142.68
		-2.14%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.884	1.896
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.411	2.427
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2085	2.2587
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8656	2.9081

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.87355	0.87096
US $	1.14475	1.14815
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41653	0.70595
US $	1.23741	0.80814

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1203.06	1203.11
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	63.82	63.05

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, after plunging the most in 18 months yesterday, as a rebound in commodities producers with gold and crude prices offset a fourth day of declines for banks.

     Iamgold Corp. and Detour Gold Corp. surged at least 7.2 percent as gold jumped to a six-week high. Crew Energy Inc. and Surge Energy Inc. increased more than 9.9 percent as oil climbed from a five-year low. National Bank of Canada lost 2.5 percent, the most since May 2012, to pace declines among the nation’s largest lenders. AGF Management Ltd. plunged 15 percent after saying it will cut its dividend in the first quarter next year.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 51.56 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,195.73 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The equity gauge sank 2.3 percent yesterday, the most since June 2013, after dropping 1.8 percent last week. The benchmark for Canadian equities has pared its advance to 4.2 percent this year.

     Iamgold soared 9.9 percent to C$3.01 and Detour Gold surged 7.2 percent to C$10 as raw-materials stocks jumped 2.3 percent to snap a three-day decline. Gold futures for February delivery climbed 3.1 percent to $1,232 an ounce in New York, the highest since Oct. 23.

     Crew Energy added 13 percent to C$6.26 and Surge Energy increased 9.9 percent to C$4.10 as West Texas Intermediate jumped 1.2 percent to $63.82 a barrel.

     The 14-day relative strength index for WTI stood at 26.1178, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors typically start buying contracts when the reading is below 30.                        

     Talisman Energy Inc. jumped 12 percent to C$4.81 after people with knowledge of the matter said Spain’s Repsol SA has revived acquisition talks with the company.

     Seven of 10 industries in the benchmark Canadian equity gauge gained on trading volume 39 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Oil, bank and raw-materials are the biggest laggards in Canada for the first time since at least 1988, fueling concern the nation’s economy is fading just as the U.S. is taking off. The three industries, which collectively account for two-thirds of the S&P/TSX, are the worst performers among 10 groups this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     While commodities shares gained today, financial companies continued to slump.

     National Bank, Canada’s sixth-largest lender, dropped 2.5 percent to C$47.93 for an eighth straight day of declines, the longest streak since 2010. Financial stocks in the S&P/TSX retreated 0.2 percent. The group has tumbled 3.9 percent over four days.

     AGF Management plunged 15 percent to C$8.28, the biggest drop ever, after the investment management company said it will slash its quarterly dividend 70 percent to 8 Canadian cents a share from 27 cents in the first quarter of 2015. The asset manager said it will also renew its share buyback program when the current one expires in February.

US

By Oliver Renick and Callie Bost

     Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was little changed after erasing a drop of 1.3 percent, as a rally among energy and technology shares offset concern over China and Greece that sparked a global equities selloff.

     Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. dropped at least 0.6 percent as financial shares declined, while Verizon Communications Inc., Merck & Co. and AT&T Inc. led the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower. Newmont Mining Corp. jumped almost 5 percent as gold futures rallied.

     The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent to 2,059.82 at 4 p.m. in New York after yesterday sliding the most in seven weeks. The Dow average dropped 51.28 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,801.20. The Nasdaq 100 Index added 0.4 percent and the Russell 2000 Index of small companies rallied 1.8 percent, as energy companies in the index rallied the most in three years.

     “You had some real change in the situation in both China and Greece and yet that wasn’t enough to keep the market down, that’s very bullish,” Matt Maley, equity strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in Newton, Massachusetts, said via phone. “With the Russell and Nasdaq up on the day, this is the type of thing that hopefully will get us to break out of the tight range we’ve been in the last week or so.”

     Global equities fell after China said certain lower-rated bonds can no longer be used as collateral for some short-term loans, sparking a selloff in riskier debt that spread to government notes and stocks. Stocks in China tumbled the most since 2009 and the MSCI All-Country World Index dropped 0.5 percent. About 7.3 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 7.3 percent above the three-month average.

     The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 2.3 percent as Tesco Plc slumped, energy companies extended losses and U.K. manufacturing output unexpectedly fell for the first time in five months. Meanwhile, Greece’s move to bring forward the process for choosing a new head of state risks triggering parliamentary elections that could put in power a party that opposes the terms of the nation’s bailout by the European Union.

     Oil touched a five-year low yesterday, stoking concern that lower demand points to a slowing global economy.

     “There was a bit of baby with the bathwater this morning so you’re seeing some quality rally with other stuff staying down,” Benjamin Dunn, president of Alpha Theory Advisors, which advises hedge funds with about $6 billion in assets, said in an e-mail from Crested Butte, Colorado. “If you think the secular tailwinds and positive growth in the U.S. is for real then you shrug off China.”

     The S&P 500 has rebounded 11 percent from a low in October amid speculation the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand a slowdown overseas and tighter monetary policy after the Fed wound up its asset-purchase program.

     The index dropped 0.7 percent yesterday, following a seventh straight weekly gain that pushed the gauge to a record as better-than-estimated payrolls data increased optimism in the economy. The gauge ended the week trading at 17.3 times its members’ projected earnings, the highest valuation since 2009. The Dow also reached a record last week, climbing within 10 points of 18,000 before retreating.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of options prices known as the VIX, climbed 4.8 percent to 14.89, after jumping 20 percent yesterday, the most since October.

     Five of 10 major industries in the S&P 500 fell, with telephone companies dropping 3.2 percent as a group and health- care shares losing 0.4 percent. Energy shares added 0.9 percent, after retreating 5.8 percent over the previous three days.

     The Russell 2000 Energy Index surged 6.1 percent, the most since November 2011, rebounding from a 7.3 percent selloff yesterday.

     Citigroup Inc. fell 0.9 percent to $55.85 after Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat said the company will report $2.7 billion of legal costs in the fourth quarter and $800 million in expenses tied to headcount and real estate.

     Bank of America declined 0.6 percent to $17.56 after the second-biggest U.S. bank said it expects trading revenue to decline this quarter from the previous three months and a year earlier.

     Verizon Communications Inc. slipped 4.1 percent, the most since August 2011, after saying phone discounts and promotions will hurt profitability at its wireless business.                         

     Merck & Co Inc. lost 3 percent to $60.01, ending three days of advances. Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., the drugmaker being bought by Merck for $8.4 billion, lost a bid to block Hospira Inc. from offering a generic version of its top-selling Cubicin treatment for flesh-eating infections beyond 2016.

     Lululemon Athletica Inc. advanced 6.2 percent to $47.73 after Wells Fargo Securities analyst Paul Lejuez raised his rating on the clothing company to “outperform” from “market perform.”

     Newmont Mining Corp. jumped 4.9 percent to $20.01 as gold futures rose to the highest in six weeks. The global selloff in equities revived demand for the metal as a haven.

     T-Mobile US Inc. dropped 8.3 percent to $25.85 after offering to sell as many as 17.4 million new convertible shares.

     H&R Block Inc. fell 5 percent to $32.34 after the provider of tax services posted a larger-than-estimated loss for the second quarter, while sales for the period also disappointed analysts.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

In music, I am the melody.

The Bhagavad Gita

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

                                          -George Santayana, 1863-1952

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

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:

Fashionistas, take note:

The experts at Pantone have named an earthy reddish-brown hue called Marsala the “it” color of 2015. We look at the impact of the announcement on design circles, noting that the shade will likely appear throughout fashion and décor. But how does one even arrive at a color of the year? Pantone polls designers and creative types about what shades are on their minds and then tips off some marketing partners. That way, they can manufacture products in the shade ahead of time. Some brands have already been using the color. Marsala pants, coats and dresses appeared in the spring 2015 men’s and women’s collections of some designers. One style director met with her team before Thanksgiving to discuss holding space on the website in January to spotlight the color—whatever it was. “Having the color of the year has become a way of displaying authority,” she says.

Birthday: James Thurber, December 8^th, 1894.  It is better to know some of the questions  than all of the answers.

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. –Mark Twain

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

UFO Sighting in Seattle

Visitors look at the headless, reclining sculpture of the river god Ilissos at the State Hermitage Museum as part of its 250th anniversary celebration in St Petersburg, Russia, Saturday. The British Museum loaned one of the Elgin Marbles to Russia, the first time any of the ancient sculptures have left Britain since they were taken from the Parthenon in Athens 200 years ago. Grigory Dukor/Reuters

Market Closes for December 8^th, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17852.48	-106.31
		-0.59%
S&P 500	2060.31	-15.06   -0.73%
NASDAQ	4740.691	-40.064   -0.84%
TSX	14144.17	-329.53
		-2.28%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17935.64	+15.19
		+0.08%
HANG SENG	24047.67	+45.03
		+0.19%
SENSEX	28119.40	-338.70
		-1.19%
FTSE 100	6672.15	-70.69
		-1.05%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.896	1.912
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.427	2.459
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2587	2.2394
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9081	2.9385

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.87096	0.87816
US $	1.14815	1.13874
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41312	0.70766
US $	1.23077	0.81250

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1203.11	1205.83
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	63.05	66.81

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in 18 months, reaching a seven-week low, as crude tumbled with copper on an unexpected drop in Chinese imports and banks extended their rout.

     Lightstream Resources Ltd. and MEG Energy Corp. sank at least 15 percent as energy stocks tumbled to a more than two- year low. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co., which ship crude by rail, slumped more than 1.4 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s largest lender by assets, declined 2.8 percent to pace a retreat among financial stocks.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index sank 329.53 points, or 2.3 percent, to 14,144.17 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest drop since June 2013. The equity gauge slumped 1.8 percent last week for a second week of losses and is down 9.7 percent from an all-time high on Sept. 3.

     The benchmark for Canadian equities has pared its advance to 3.8 percent this year. Trading volume was 38 percent higher than the 30-day average today, as all 10 main groups in the gauge retreated.

     Financials, raw-materials and energy stocks, which make up about two-thirds of the S&P/TSX, are the three worst-performers year-to-date among 10 industries in the benchmark equity gauge for the first time since at least 1988, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     Lightstream Resources slumped 16 percent to C$1.62, extending an all-time low as it has fallen 82 percent from a June high. MEG Energy fell 15 percent to C$14.90, also a low. The S&P/TSX Energy Index sank 5.7 percent, the biggest drop since August 2011, as 68 of 69 members in the gauge declined. The group has retreated 14 percent this year, the worst performer among 10 industries in the S&P/TSX.                          

     Crude futures dropped 4.2 percent in both London and New York amid concern hedge funds and other money managers bet too much on rising prices.

     Net-long positions on Brent rose to the highest in four months in the week to Dec. 2, according to data from the ICE Futures Europe Exchange, while bullish bets on West Texas Intermediate climbed the most in 20 months.

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. sank 5.5 percent to C$16.95, and Teck Resources Ltd. slipped 4.3 percent to C$15.93 as copper fell the most in more than a week.

     Inbound shipments to China, the world’s biggest metals consumer, fell 6.7 percent in November, compared with a 3.8 percent projected increase from a Bloomberg News survey. Exports rose 4.7 percent, missing the 8 percent median estimate.

     Toronto-Dominion Bank lost 2.8 percent to C$52.72, the lowest since Oct. 16, and Bank of Nova Scotia dropped 1.8 percent to C$65.07, the lowest since April. The S&P/TSX Banks Index declined 1.5 percent after losing 4.8 percent last week, the biggest loss since August 2011, as earnings from the nation’s largest lenders disappointed investors.

US

By Oliver Renick

     Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slid, pulling benchmark indexes down from records, with energy producers leading declines as oil dropped to the lowest level since 2009.

     Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. declined more than 2.2 percent to pace losses in 42 of 43 energy companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. McDonald’s Corp. lost 3.8 percent, the most in two years, after same-store sales trailed analysts’ estimates. Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 35 percent as Merck & Co. agreed to acquire the maker of antibiotics.

     The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent to 2,060.31 at 4 p.m. in New York, its worst loss in almost two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 106.31 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,852.48. The Russell 2000 Index of smaller companies dropped 1.3 percent.

     “The market has got to take a break, there isn’t a lot of investing cash in the market today and there’s not any one thing in particular that’s forcing it,” Ron Anari, the Jersey City, New Jersey-based senior vice president of trading at ICAP Plc, said via phone. “Lower oil may be better for U.S. consumers but it could be giving us an indication of a slowing global economy, and no matter how good we do here we won’t be fully robust unless the world economy shows some activity.”

     U.S. stocks began their biggest retreat of the day, a 0.4 percent tumble that began at 12:09 p.m. in New York and lasted 10 minutes, as a handful of large trades in the S&P 500 e-mini contract hit the market. Four transactions in sizes ranging from 300 to 470 contracts occurred between 12:10:41 and 12:13:28 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of options prices known as the VIX, climbed 20 percent to 14.21, the most since October.

     The S&P 500 retreated today after capping a seventh straight weekly gain, the longest streak in a year, and closing at a record as better-than-estimated payrolls data increased optimism in the economy. The gauge ended the week trading at 18.4 times reported earnings, its highest valuation since 2009. The Dow also reached an all-time high last week, climbing within 10 points of 18,000.

     The S&P 500 has rebounded 11 percent from a low in October amid speculation the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand a slowdown overseas and tighter monetary policy after the Federal Reserve wound up its asset-purchase program.

     Chinese overseas shipments rose 4.7 percent from a year earlier in November, the customs administration said today. That missed the 8 percent estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports fell 6.7 percent, compared with projections of a 3.8 percent increase.

     U.S. data last week showed employers added 321,000 jobs in November, the most since January 2012, while the unemployment rate held at a six-year low of 5.8 percent. Reports later this week will show U.S. consumer confidence and retail sales improved, according to economists’ estimates.                         

     Exxon Mobil retreated 2.3 percent while Chevron lost 3.7 percent to help lead the Dow lower. Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s biggest provider of oilfield services, slid 3.4 percent to $84.21. Denbury Resources Inc., Ensco Plc and Williams Cos. lost at least 6.7 percent.

     Energy shares tumbled 3.9 percent as a group to the lowest closing level since April 2013. Laszlo Birinyi, president and founder of money-management and research firm Birinyi Associates Inc., told CNBC “I don’t want to touch the oil stocks.”

     Crude slumped 4.2 percent to $63.05 a barrel as OPEC’s refusal to cut output targets amid an oversupply prompted some banks to cut price estimates.                    

     Six of the 10 main groups in the S&P 500 retreated, while utilities, health-care and financial shares had the largest gains.

     McDonald’s declined 3.8 percent after the world’s largest restaurant chain posted November same-store sales that trailed analysts’ estimates after efforts to revive growth in the U.S. failed to gain traction. Global sales at stores open at least 13 months fell 2.2 percent.

     Wynn Resorts Ltd. slipped 3.9 percent. The government of Macau, where Wynn generates more than two-thirds of its sales, forecast lower gaming revenue in 2015.

     Cubist Pharmaceuticals rallied 35 percent, the most in 14 years. Merck agreed to acquire the company for $8.4 billion in cash. Merck will begin a $102-a-share tender offer for Cubist, the companies said in a statement today. Merck added 0.6 percent to $61.88.

     Celgene Corp. jumped 3.6 percent to $118.19, the most in the S&P 500, and Gilead Sciences Inc. added 0.9 percent to $105.56.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The soul is the home of all living beings;

and from the soul all loving beings derive their strength.

There is nothing in the universe that does not come from the soul.

The soul dwells within all that exists;

it is the truth of all that exists.

You, my son, are the soul.

 

Chandogya Upanishad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.

                                             -Orisen Swett Marden, 1850-1924

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

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 in 1956, rockabilly singer Carl Perkins was in the Sun Records studio in Memphis, recording a follow-up to his big hit “Blue Suede Shoes.” Among the session players was Jerry Lee Lewis, not yet a household name. Another artist hanging around the studio joined in as well. But even Johnny Cash was overshadowed by the next Sun artist to walk through the door: Elvis Presley. The four men sat down – the one and only time – for an impromptu jam session. The gathering came to be called the “Million Dollar Quartet.” –Wall Street Journal.

Joe Kernen enlightened us with this fact on CNBC’s Squawk Box  this morning:
The world’s best whisky, if you’re to believe the Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2015, is now the Japanese Yamazaki single malt sherry cask.
Also, countries without an “e” in their spelling, spell whisky without an “e” such as Japan and Canada and Scotland.  Countries with an “e” in their spelling, spell whiskey with an “e” such as Ireland and the USA.

From CNNMONEY:
Watch out, Scotland! Japanese whisky is no longer an insider secret — it’s grown into a $6 billion industry, competing with scotch for the spotlight.
Whiskies from Japan have been winning accolades at the Whisky Magazine Awards for years, including world’s best single malt. This year, a Japanese distiller took home the prize for best blended malt whisky.
Some Japanese whiskies are so coveted that buyers have pushed prices at auction up to tens of thousands of dollars a bottle. A Yamazaki single malt aged 50 years went for $33,169 earlier this year at auction in Hong Kong — only 150 bottles were ever produced.
There’s no doubt about it: International demand for Japanese whisky is growing — exports have increased by 86% since 2008. Taiwan, France, Russia and China are bringing in the most Japanese whisky by volume, according to Euromonitor.
“Japanese whisky as a whole is absolutely fantastic,” said Nicholas Pollacchi of Whisky Dog. “The quality that’s coming out of Japan is exceptional, and that’s been happening there for almost 100 years.”
Commercial production started in Japan in 1924 when liquor entrepreneur Shinjiro Torii opened a distillery in Yamazaki and hired Masataka Taketsuru to run the distillery. Taketsuru learned his craft at distilleries in Scotland, and brought the techniques back to Japan.
Early manufacturers tweaked Scottish methods to make original whiskies that catered to Japanese tastes, said Euromonitor analyst Mariko Takemura.
“It was hard for Scotch whiskies to be accepted by Japanese consumers, because they were considered too smoky, so manufacturers tried to find tastes that could be accepted,” said Takemura.
Taketsuru later started his own company, Nikka, which is now one of Japan’s most famous whisky producers. Nikka’s Yoichi single malt, aged 20 years, was named by Whisky Magazine as the world’s best in 2008.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Whiskey On The Rocks

Their First Flight

Market Closes for December 4^th, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17900.10	-12.52
		-0.07%
S&P 500	2070.41	-3.92   -0.19%
NASDAQ	4769.438	-5.034   -0.11%
TSX	14455.67	-298.39
		-2.02%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17887.21	+166.78
		+0.94%
HANG SENG	23832.56	+403.94
		+1.72%
SENSEX	28562.82	+120.11
		+0.42%
FTSE 100	6679.37	-37.26
		-0.55%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.912	1.940
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.459	2.487
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2394	2.2799
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9385	2.9849

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.87816	0.87675
US $	1.13874	1.14058
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40960	0.70942
US $	1.23786	0.80785

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1205.83	1208.32
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	66.81	67.38

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in more than a year as the nation’s biggest banks posted results that missed estimates and energy shares resumed a selloff with the price of crude.

     Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s largest lender by assets, tumbled the most in more than five years after posting fourth-quarter profit short of estimates. Energy stocks tumbled 2.1 percent as a group as oil fell. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. Sank 16 percent to a decade low after slashing its dividend. Enbridge Inc. jumped 10 percent to a record on plans to transfer C$17 billion ($14.9 billion) in assets to a fund.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index slumped 284.11 points, or 1.9 percent, to 14,469.95 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest drop since June 2013. The equities benchmark pared its gain to 6.2 percent this year.

     “We had crabby investors who woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and were in a fighting mood and wanted to sell,” said Barry Schwartz, fund manager at Baskin Wealth Management in Toronto. He helps manage C$740 million with the firm. “The Canadian banks had a great year but the people wanted more. There’s a lot of people out there who saw how poorly their energy stocks have done and want to rip off Us stoous the heads of their advisers.”

     All of the 10 industries in the S&P/TSX dropped at least 0.6 percent on trading volume 45 percent higher than the 30-day average today. Global equities slumped after the European Central Bank said policy makers will reassess stimulus next quarter, damping hopes for additional bond purchases this year.                         

     Financial stocks, the largest group by weighting, sank 2.2 percent, the most in the benchmark Canadian equity gauge. Toronto-Dominion fell 5.1 percent to C$54.03, the biggest decline since April 2009.

     Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lost 3.4 percent to C$103.52, the worst drop since September 2011, as fourth-quarter profit declined 1.7 percent amid weakness in its wholesale banking and Canadian lending businesses.

     “Bank earnings came in with a disappointment, and it’s putting pressure on the index,” said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at StennerZohny Investment Partners of Richardson GMP Ltd. in Vancouver. Richardson GMP manages about C$29.3 billion. “The thing that’s moving markets today from a macro perspective is the ECB meeting. Bottom line, the markets were expecting more.”                         

     Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, left interest rates unchanged, unveiled “substantially” lower forecasts for inflation and growth in the euro area and said the central bank will reassess the effects of existing monetary stimulus in early 2015.

     Raw-materials and energy shares, which together make up about a third of the broader index, each slumped 2.1 percent as gold and crude prices slipped.

     Canadian Oil Sands retreated 16 percent to C$10.97, the lowest since September 2004, after cutting its quarterly dividend 42 percent to 20 Canadian cents a share.

     Gildan Activewear Inc., the wholesale apparel manufacturer, slumped 9.2 percent to C$60.22, the biggest retreat since December 2011. Revenue of $666 million fell short of the company’s most recent projection of $700 million due to issues including weak market demand and inventory destocking, the company said.

     Enbridge surged 10 percent to C$60.04, a record, as the pipeline operator unveiled a plan to transfer its Canadian liquids pipelines to the Enbridge Income Fund. The company is also considering a similar move for its U.S. liquids pipelines assets and boosted its dividend.

US

By Callie Bost

     Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell from record levels, led by energy shares, as Mario Draghi’s remarks on European Central Bank stimulus disappointed investors before a report on the American labor market.

     Chevron Corp. slid 1.3 percent as energy shares tumbled the most among groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Microsoft Corp. rose 1.6 percent as Barnes & Noble Inc. said it will buy back the company’s stake in its Nook business.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.1 percent to 2,071.92 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 12.52 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,900.1. The Russell 2000 Index of smaller companies dropped 0.5 percent, after a two-day rally. About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 9.6 percent below the three-month average.

     “Draghi’s going to have to start doing some bond-buying if they want to get out of the malaise they’re in,” Karyn Cavanaugh, the New York-based senior market strategist at Voya Investment Management LLC, said by phone. Voya oversees $215 billion. “The writing is on the wall. I think it’ll eventually be good news and QE will have to happen.”

     ECB President Mario Draghi said policy makers will wait until next quarter before assessing if additional stimulus measures are needed. His comments damped speculation the central bank was poised to start a program of sovereign-debt purchases known as quantitative easing, or QE.                        

     Draghi also unveiled “substantially” lower forecasts for inflation and growth. With euro-area inflation well below the ECB’s target, Draghi has warned of a deflationary spiral of falling prices and households postponing spending.

     Stocks briefly erased losses after two euro-area central- bank officials familiar with deliberations said the ECB’s Governing Council expects to consider a proposal for broad-based asset purchases including sovereign debt next month. While the proposal is envisaged to include various types of bonds, it won’t encompass equities, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

     “Nothing Draghi has said surprised me,” Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc., said by phone. “Until you see some kind of QE stimulus from Europe, whatever he says about it isn’t going to matter too much. Everyone will be focused on the strength of the jobs number.”

     Bill Gross said the creation of more debt by policy makers worldwide to solve the credit crisis will be judged by future generations much like smoking in public or discrimination against gays is viewed by people today.

     Gross, who left Pacific Investment Management Co. in September to join Janus Capital Group Inc., recommended in an investment outlook that investors put money into higher-quality assets and reduce the duration of their holdings. He also said they should prepare for asset prices to stop increasing.

     The S&P 500 has rebounded as much as 11 percent from a low in October on speculation that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand a slowdown overseas and tighter monetary policy after the Federal Reserve wound up its asset-purchase program.

     Investors are watching economic reports to help gauge the pace of the recovery. Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week as employers retained staff to meet domestic demand for goods and services ahead of the holiday season, data showed today.

     A release tomorrow may show employers added more than 200,000 jobs in November for the 10th straight month, while the unemployment rate held at the lowest level since July 2008.                       

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index declined 0.7 percent to 12.38, its third day of losses.

     Seven of the 10 main industries in the S&P 500 declined. Industrials shares dropped 0.5 percent. Raw-material producers added 0.3 percent for the biggest gains.

     Energy companies slumped 0.8 percent, following three days of gains as oil slipped as much as 1.9 percent. Transocean Ltd. dropped 4.6 percent. Newfield Exploration Co. and Ensco Plc lost more than 3.5 percent. Chevron slid 1.3 percent, the most in the Dow, and Exxon Mobil Corp. declined 0.6 percent.

     Crude fell 18 percent last month as OPEC maintained its output target, letting prices fall to a level that may slow U.S. production growth.

     Sears Holdings Corp. decreased 4.4 percent. The department- store chain controlled by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert posted its 10th straight quarterly loss as sales continued to decline.

     Microsoft gained 1.6 percent. Barnes & Noble said today it will buy back Microsoft’s stake in its struggling Nook business, which posted a loss that pulled down the U.S. bookstore chain’s second-quarter results. The bookstore operator lost 5.4 percent.

     Avago Technologies Ltd. rose 8.4 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after reporting better-than-estimated fourth-quarter profit and sales, and increasing its forecast for the first quarter.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Silence is a great benediction, it cleanses the brain, gives vitality to it,

and this silence builds up great energy, not the energy of thought or the energy of machines,

but unpolluted energy, untouched by thought.

It is the energy that has incalculable capacity, skills.

And this is a place where the brain, being very active, can be silent.

That very intense activity of the brain has the quality and the depth

and the beauty of silence.

 

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

                                                           –Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784                 

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

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:

THE COUNTRY OF THE TREES

There is no king in their country
and there is no queen
and there are no princes vying for power,
    inventing corruption.
Just as with us many children are born
and some will live and some will die and the country
will continue.

The weather will always be important.

And there will always be room for the weak, the violets
     and the bloodroot.
When it is cold they will be given blankets of leaves.
When it is hot they will be given shade.
And not out of guilt, neither for a year-end deduction
     but maybe for the cheer of their colors, their
     small flower faces.

They are not like us.

Some will perish to become houses or barns,
     fences and bridges.

Others will endure past the counting of years.
And none will ever speak a single word of complaint,
     as though language, after all,
     did not work well enough, was only an early stage.
Neither do they ever have any questions to the gods-
     which one is the real one, and what is the plan.
As though they have been told everything already,
     and are content.
                                 -Mary Oliver

Writer Joseph Conrad’s birthday today, b. December 3^rd, 1857.

All a man can betray is his conscience.  –Joseph Conrad.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A woman walks a dog through the ice and snow-covered landscape near Winterberg, western Germany. Joerg Taron/dpa/AP

More than 200 booths offer traditional Thuringian handicrafts and sweets and a Ferris wheel at the Christmas Market in front of the Mariendom (Cathedral of Mary) and St. Severi’s Church in Erfurt, central Germany. Jens Meyer/AP

Market Closes for December 3^rd, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17912.62	+33.07
		+0.18%
S&P 500	2074.33	+7.78   +0.38%
NASDAQ	4774.473	+18.662   +0.39%
TSX	14754.06	+133.99
		+0.92%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17720.43	+57.21
		+0.32%
HANG SENG	23428.62	-225.68
		-0.95%
SENSEX	28442.71	-1.30
		—
FTSE 100	6716.63	-25.47
		-0.38%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.940	1.955
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.487	2.510
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2799	2.2923
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9849	3.0095

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.87976	0.87675
US $	1.13668	1.14058
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.39953	0.71453
US $	1.23125	0.81218

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1208.32	1198.89
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	67.38	66.88

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose the most in a month, ending a five-day loss, as commodities producers jumped with gold and crude prices while the nation’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged.

     Iamgold Corp. and Semafo Inc. increased at least 4.2 percent as gold prices climbed. Surge Energy Inc. and Meg Energy Corp. rallied more than 5.7 percent as crude climbed. Royal Bank of Canada, the nation’s second-largest lender by assets, added 0.2 percent after profit rose.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 133.99 points, or 0.9 percent, to 14,754.06 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest increase since Nov. 5. The equities benchmark had fallen 3 percent over five straight days previously.

     Surge Energy increased 6.8 percent to C$4.55 and MEG Energy rallied 5.8 percent to C$18.59 as energy stocks jumped 1.9 percent as a group. The industry has rebounded 2.7 percent in the past two days after a six-day slide.

     West Texas Intermediate added 0.8 percent to settle at $67.38 a barrel in New York. A U.S. government report said the country’s crude inventories dropped last week.

     The recent plunge in oil prices poses an important risk to the outlook for Canadian inflation, the Bank of Canada said today. Oil prices have fallen due to both supply and demand factors, the central bank said as it kept its policy interest rate unchanged at 1 percent, an outcome anticipated by all 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

     Seven of 10 industries in the benchmark Canadian equity gauge advanced on trading volume 19 percent higher than the 30- day average today, led by gains among energy and raw-materials producers.

     Iamgold soared 8.3 percent to C$2.73 and Semafo increased 4.2 percent to C$3.49 as gold for February delivery advanced 0.8 percent to $1,208.70 an ounce in New York. 

US

By Callie Bost

     Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an all-time high, as industrial and commodity shares rallied while data boosted confidence in the economy before Friday’s jobs report.

     Energy companies in the S&P 500 climbed 1.2 percent for a third straight advance as Cimarex Energy Co. and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. surged more than 3.5 percent. Consumer- staples stocks slipped the most in the U.S. benchmark gauge as Brown-Forman Corp. and Molson Coors Brewing Co. slumped at least 3.7 percent.

     The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 2,074.33 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average extended a record, climbing 33.07 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,912.62. The Russell 2000 Index jumped 0.9 percent. About 6.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 6.3 percent below the three-month average.

     “I think a lot of people are waiting for Friday and the payrolls number,” Jim Paulsen, who helps oversee $345 billion as chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, said by phone from San Francisco. “We’re going to have another 200,000-plus payroll number if ADP is any indication, and unit labor costs should stay low. Put those two together and you have real growth without inflation. That’s a recipe for a melt-up in the stock market.”

     The S&P 500 topped its record of 2,072.83 reached on Nov. 26. The gauge has rebounded 11 percent from a low in October amid optimism the economy is strong enough to withstand a slowdown overseas and tighter monetary policy after the Federal Reserve wound up its asset-purchase program.                         

     Companies in the U.S. added 208,000 workers in November, indicating steady progress in the labor market, a private payrolls report showed. The increase in employment followed a revised 233,000 gain the prior month, figures from the Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed today. Payrolls have climbed by at least 200,000 in seven of the last eight months.

     The Labor Department releases its jobs data on Friday. The government’s report may show companies added 230,000 nonfarm payrolls in November while the unemployment rate held at 5.8 percent, according to the consensus forecast by economists.

     The Fed said “employment gains were widespread across districts” as the economy continued to expand amid advances in consumer spending and lower gasoline prices. Some districts noted that “contacts remained optimistic” about the economic outlook, the Fed said in its Beige Book business survey based on reports gathered on or before Nov. 24.                          

     Fed Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said a drop in the U.S. unemployment rate and moderate growth call for returning monetary policy to normal from an emergency stance with near-zero interest rates.

     “Labor markets continue to heal, and their stronger-than- expected recovery should serve to underpin continued economic expansion,” Plosser said in a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Individuals have regained significant fractions of the wealth they lost during the crisis. That gives me additional confidence that the economy is now operating fairly normally and that policy should reflect that normalization.”

     A separate report today showed service industries in the U.S. expanded in November at the second-fastest pace in more than nine years, a sign the world’s largest economy is powering past a global slowdown.

     Investors are also awaiting signals from the European Central Bank. Mario Draghi and his central bank colleagues may move a step closer to full-scale quantitative easing when they meet tomorrow in Frankfurt. The majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict the ECB will eventually buy government bonds to help spur growth in the region.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index slid 3 percent to 12.47. The gauge of S&P 500 options prices plunged 13 percent in a two-day slide, the most since October.

     Seven of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 gained. Raw- materials and industrials shares advanced more than 1.2 percent.

     Energy companies climbed 1.2 percent, extending the group’s gains this week to 3.2 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.8 percent today, resuming a rebound from a five-year low last week.

     Prices climbed after a government report showed that U.S. crude inventories dropped as refineries bolstered operating rates. Crude has collapsed into a bear market amid the highest U.S. output in more than three decades and signs of slowing global demand growth.

     Cimarex surged 5.1 percent, while Diamond Offshore increased 3.6 percent. Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 0.8 percent, while Chevron Corp. dropped 0.3 percent. Both energy producers climbed at least 1.9 percent yesterday.

     Consumer-staples shares slipped 0.8 percent. Brown-Forman dropped 3.9 percent, while Molson Coors slumped 3.7 percent. Monster Beverage Corp. slid 2.4 percent.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Meditation is to be aware of every thought and of every feeling,

never to say it is right or wrong, but just to watch it and move with it.

In that watching you begin to understand the whole movement of thought and feeling.

And out of this awareness comes silence.

 

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The ultimate inspiration is the deadline.

 

                    -Nolan Bushnell, 1943-

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

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:

THE Man of December:  Napoleon III (1808-1873).  He was elected president of the Second French Republic on December 10, 1848;  made his coup d’état on December 2^nd, 1851, and became emperor on December 2^nd, 1852.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind.  Thou art not so unkind.  As man’s ingratitude.  –William Shakespeare.

OWL POEM

One has to say this for the rounds of life
     that keep coming and going; it has worked so far.
The rabbit, after all, has never asked if the grass
     wanted to live.
Any more than the owl consults with the rabbit.

Acceptance of the world requires
     that I bow even to you,
Master of the night.

                         -Mary Oliver

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Free range Christmas geese run to their free-stall barn on a farm in Pfarrkirchen, southern Germany. Roasted goose is one of the traditional German Christmas feasts. Matthias Schrader/AP

A Macy’s Santa Claus visits with 8-month-old Brystal Logsdon at Hoops Family Children’s Hospital in Huntington, W.Va. Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch/AP

Market Closes for December 2^nd, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17879.55	+102.75
		+0.58%
S&P 500	2066.53	+13.09   +0.64%
NASDAQ	4755.813	+28.466   +0.60%
TSX	14626.30	+0.98
		+0.01%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17663.22	+73.12
		+0.42%
HANG SENG	23654.30	+286.85
		+1.23%
SENSEX	28444.01	-115.61
		-0.40%
FTSE 100	6742.10	+85.73
		+1.29%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.955	1.896
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.510	2.450
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2923	2.2323
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.0095	2.9620

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.87675	0.88272
US $	1.14058	1.13286
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41201	0.70821
US $	1.23798	0.80776

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1198.89	1211.46
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	66.88	69.00

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed, at a three-week low, as losses among gold producers and banks offset a rebound in energy and industrials shares.

     Semafo Inc. and Iamgold Corp. retreated with the price of bullion. Bank of Montreal dropped 2.3 percent, the most since October, as profit missed estimates. Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, advanced a fourth day to extend a six-year high. Keyera Corp. and Trilogy Energy Corp. climbed at least 3.6 percent as crude pared an earlier loss.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 5.25 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 14,620.07 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, erasing earlier gains of as much as 0.6 percent. The equities benchmark has fallen five straight days to pare its gain this year to 7.3 percent.

     Telus Corp. tumbled 3.3 percent to C$41.83, the most since June 2013, as telephone stocks lost 1.6 percent as a group. Telus has reportedly struck a deal to share its network with Wind Mobile customers to hep the wireless carrier expand its service across Canada.

     Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. rallied 3.7 percent to C$220.51 and Canadian National Railway Co. gained 1.5 percent to C$78.23 as industrial companies rebounded 1.4 percent, the most in the S&P/TSX. The group had slumped 7 percent in the previous two days.

     Air Canada added 0.8 percent to C$11.51, the highest close since January 2008. WestJet Airlines Ltd. jumped 1.9 percent to C$34.19, an all-time high. Shares of the Calgary-based carrier have soared 14 percent in five days.

     Keyera jumped 5 percent to C$82.18 and Trilogy Energy rallied 3.6 percent to C$10 as the S&P/TSX Energy Index rebounded 0.8 percent to snap a six-day losing streak. Seven of 10 industries rose on trading volume 34 percent higher than the 30-day average today.

     West Texas Intermediate fell 3.1 percent to $66.88 a barrel in New York. Brent dropped in London. Crude had the biggest monthly loss in November in almost six years after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries signaled it will leave it to the market to curb a glut.

US

By Callie Bost

     Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record, as biotechnology and energy companies rallied and data on construction spending boosted confidence in the economy.

     Biogen Idec Inc. led gains in health-care shares after its Alzheimer’s drug showed promising early results. Energy shares climbed 1.3 percent even as oil resumed a selloff, while railroads surged the most in a month. Genworth Financial Inc. slid 5.9 percent as JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its price target on the shares.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.6 percent to 2,066.55 at 4 p.m. in New York, for the largest gain since Oct. 31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 102.75 points, or 0.6 percent, to an all-time high of 17,879.55. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies jumped 1.3 percent after dropping 1.6 percent yesterday. About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, in line with the three-month average.

     “The economy seems to be fine and nothing is changing that narrative,” James W. Gaul, a portfolio manager at Boston Advisors LLC, which oversees about $2.8 billion, said by phone. “The energy sector is up while oil is down. Maybe the thought is the sector fell too far, too fast. Health-care is being led by biotechnology stocks, mainly Biogen Idec.”

     The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent yesterday, the most since Oct. 22, as weaker data on Black Friday sales and China manufacturing overshadowed a rebound in oil prices and expansion in American factories.

     Data today showed construction spending grew more than estimated in October. The government’s labor report later this week may show companies added 230,000 payrolls in November while the unemployment rate held at 5.8 percent, according to the consensus forecast by economists.

     Two of the Federal Reserve’s most influential policy makers said sharply lower crude prices will boost spending and aid U.S. growth. Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and New York Fed President William C. Dudley, speaking at separate events yesterday in New York, both stressed the positive economic impact from the steepest decline in oil prices for five years.

     “I’m not very worried,” Fischer told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The lower inflation that we’ll get from the lower price of oil is going to be temporary.”

     Oil resumed its declines today, as West Texas Intermediate fell 3.1 percent. Crude has collapsed into a bear market amid the highest U.S. output in more than three decades and signs of slowing global demand growth. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may hold an emergency meeting in the first quarter, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez said in an interview with Panorama newspaper.                         

     The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Nov. 26. The gauge has climbed for six Decembers in a row, posting an average return of 2.2 percent.

     “Yesterday’s action shows we might see near-term weakness, but that’s healthy,” Matt Maley, equity strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in Newton, Massachusetts. “With what seems to be dovishness from central banks globally and chatter about China getting more dovish, unless a central bank really changes its stance, it would seem that the month of December should continue on its historic stance as a positive month.”

     Global equities rose earlier today as the People’s Bank of China, which reduced interest rates on Nov. 21, refrained from draining funds from the financial system, fueling speculation it may be preparing stimulus measures after data yesterday showed manufacturing slowed.

     The European Central Bank is set to review monetary policy later this week. ECB council member Jens Weidmann said last week that the drop in energy costs is like a mini stimulus package, suggesting no need for the ECB to expand its current measures. The opposing view, previously argued by President Mario Draghi and ECB Chief Economist Peter Praet, is that temporary price shocks can deliver lasting harm to an economy as feeble as the euro area’s.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index slid 10 percent to 12.85 for its biggest drop since Oct. 28. The S&P 500 options gauge rose 7.2 percent yesterday and 10 percent on Nov. 28.

     Nine of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 advanced. Health- care companies increased 1.1 percent as the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index surged 2.1 percent to a record. Financial-services companies rose 1 percent, with JPMorgan Chase climbing 1.8 percent.

     Energy shares rallied 1.3 percent for the largest gains. The group has surged 2.1 percent in the past two days after closing at a 15-month low last week. Marathon Petroleum Corp. surged 3.7 percent and Valero Energy Corp. climbed 4.1 percent.

     Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. increased more than 1.9 percent, pacing gains in the Dow for a second straight day.

     Railroad companies in the S&P 500 surged 3.6 percent, advancing the most since Oct. 23 to rebound from a 7.6 slide over the previous two trading sessions. CSX Corp. rallied 4 percent, while Union Pacific Corp. increased 3.8 percent. Norfolk Southern Corp. rose 2.8 percent.

     Biogen Idec soared 6.4 percent. In a small, early stage trial, Biogen’s drug BIIB037 reduced beta amyloid in the brain, said Doug Williams, executive vice president of research and development, at a Deutsche Bank conference in Boston today.

     Beta amyloid, a protein fragment that creates plaque tangles in the brain, is thought to be a key component in Alzheimer’s disease.

     Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 13 percent. Japan’s Otsuka Holdings Co. agreed to buy the Aliso Viejo, California- based drugmaker for about $3.54 billion to gain treatments for neurological conditions.                    

     Spansion Inc. increased 22 percent. Cypress Semiconductor Corp. is acquiring it for about $1.6 billion in stock, creating a company that will supply chips for products including cars and consumer electronics.

     Apple slid 0.4 percent after losing 3.3 percent yesterday. The stock dropped almost 6.4 percent during a 60-second swoon that started 20 minutes after trading yesterday, before paring the decline. Apple’s retreat was mirrored in technology stocks from Tesla Motors Inc. to TripAdvisor Inc. and Facebook Inc.

     TripAdvisor rebounded 7.9 percent today for the largest advance in the S&P 500, while Facebook added 0.5 percent. Tesla slipped less than 0.1 percent.

     Genworth slumped 5.9 percent for the worst performance in the S&P 500. Jimmy Bhullar, an analyst at JPMorgan, lowered his price target for Genworth shares to $11 from $18 today, citing a “cautious” outlook for the insurer’s main businesses such as mortgage guaranties and life coverage. Genworth has plunged 39 percent since Nov. 5.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

When the life of a man, freed from all distractions, finds its unity in the spirit,

the knowledge of the infinite comes to him immediately and naturally,

like light from a flame.

 

Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

Both following and leading are skills to be learned.

                     -David Zane Fleisher, 1894-1979 

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

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:

December (Latin= 10^th month) was the tenth month in the Roman calendar when the year began in March with the vernal equinox.  The old English name was derra geola, “earlier Yule”.  In the French Revolutionary calendar it was Frimaire, hoarfrost month, from November 22^nd– December 21^st.

Went to Vancouver for my Mother’s birthday over the weekend and had the added bonus witnessing all the excitement and energy  in the city created by the  Grey Cup fans.  There were a lot of visitors from Calgary and some pretty wild costumes on fans headed to the game.  We had a wonderful birthday dinner at Oru, the restaurant in the Fairmont Pacific Rim.  There were twenty of us and everything was perfect – I cannot recommend it highly enough.  We had artichoke soup and ceviche  amon for a couple of the courses and they were amazing.  The service is first rate also.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Shepherdess Narcisa Cornelio (r.) and her daughter Nancy Condor rest in front of Hualcan glacier in Huascaran natural reserve in Ancash, Peru. Peru is home to 71% of the world’s tropical glaciers, which are a source of fresh water for millions, but 22% of the surface area of Peruvian glaciers has disappeared in the past 30 years. Mariana Bazo/Reuters

A long-tailed macaque naps on a religious statue after eating during the annual Monkey Buffet Festival at the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi, north of Bangkok, Thailand. The festival provides food and drinks to the local monkey population, which numbers more than 2,000, to thank them for drawing tourists to the town. Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Market Closes for December 1^st, 2014     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17776.80	-51.44
		-0.29%
S&P 500	2053.44	-14.12   -0.68%
NASDAQ	4727.348	-64.282   -1.34%
TSX	14625.32	-119.38
		-0.81%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17590.10	+130.25
		+0.75%
HANG SENG	23367.45	-620.00
		-2.58%
SENSEX	28559.62	-134.37
		-0.47%
FTSE 100	6656.37	-66.25
		-0.99%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.896	1.858
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.450	2.424
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2323	2.1640
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9620	2.8888

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.88272	0.87509
US $	1.13286	1.14274
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41260	0.70791
US $	1.24694	0.80196

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1211.46	1167.35
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	69.00	66.15

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell a fourth day, sending the benchmark gauge to a three-week low, as railway shares tumbled and a gauge of Chinese manufacturing dropped more than economists forecast.

     Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co., which ship crude by rail, sank at least 3.6 percent after oil touched a five-year low before recovering. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. tumbled 6.6 percent after analysts at Bank of Montreal cut their rating for the stock. Surge Energy Inc. lost 9.4 percent to pace declines among energy producers. Iamgold Corp. and Argonaut Gold Inc. each jumped as gold and silver prices rebounded.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 119.38 points, or 0.8 percent, to 14,625.32 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the lowest level since Nov. 6. The index has lost 3 percent in four days. The S&P/TSX is up 7.4 percent this year, the 12th-best performer among developed markets in the world.

     West Texas Intermediate rebounded after touching the lowest level in more than five years as the market selloff prompted by OPEC’s failure last week to curb production took a pause. Crude had the biggest monthly loss in November in almost six years after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries signaled it will leave it to the market to curb a glut.

     Canadian Pacific declined 3.6 percent to C$212.68 and Canadian National tumbled 5.1 percent to C$77.09, the most in five years, as industrial stocks retreated 3.5 percent as a group. The industry has slumped 7 percent in the past two sessions.

      Westport Innovations Inc., which makes natural gas engines and components, sank 12 percent to C$4.62 after Jefferies LLC analyst Laurence Alexander lowered the stock’s rating to hold from buy. The stock has plunged 29 percent during an eight-day losing streak.

     Surge Energy lost 9.4 percent to C$4.54, the lowest since May 2013. The S&P/TSX Energy Index fell 1.8 percent. The gauge has retreated 12 percent in six days.

     Eight of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX fell on trading volume 51 percent higher than the 30-day average today.

     The Chinese government’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to an eight-month low of 50.3 in November, compared with the 50.5 median estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey and October’s 50.8. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

     The government ordered factories in Beijing and surrounding regions to shut down during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to curb pollution.

     Iamgold jumped 18 percent to C$2.64, and Argonaut Gold surged 9.3 percent to C$2 after gold for February delivery rallied 3.6 percent in New York for the biggest gain in 14 months.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for a second day as weaker data on Black Friday sales and China manufacturing overshadowed a rebound in oil and expansion in American factories.

     Retailers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell the most in a month as post-Thanksgiving holiday sales came in below forecasts. Apple Inc. fell as much as 6.4 percent in early trading  before paring the loss in half. Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. gained at least 2 percent as crude oil ended a four- day skid.

     The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent to 2,053.44 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 51.44 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,776.8. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index lost 1.2 percent. About 7.6 billion listed shares changed hands in the U.S., 13 percent higher than the three-month daily average.

     “There’s a lot of rotation here in the market right now,” Gene Peroni, a fund manager at Advisors Asset Management Inc. in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees $14.7 billion. “The market is holding up pretty well.  We’re just going through an intermediate consolidation.”

     The S&P 500 dropped as much as 0.8 percent in the first half hour of trading as Apple, the world’s largest company, posted its biggest intraday plunge since January. Equities briefly pared losses as Apple trimmed its declines and data from the Institute for Supply Management showed manufacturing in the U.S. grew in November at a faster pace than projected.                         

     The ISM’s factory index in the U.S. was little changed at 58.7 last month, the second-strongest level since April 2011, compared with 59 in October. It exceeded the median forecast of 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg and readings greater than 50 indicate growth.

     China’s official factory index fell to 50.3 for November, below the 50.5 reading projected by economists, while a private gauge from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics came in at 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction.

     “Chinese data is starting to give investors pause about global growth,” Bill Schultz, who oversees $1.2 billion as chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, said in a phone interview. “If we can stabilize oil here, that would be a positive for the market.”

     Oil prices reversed earlier declines today, with West Texas Intermediate rebounding 4.3 percent after plunging 3.7 percent to $63.72 a barrel, the least since July 2009.

     That benefited Exxon Mobil and Chevron, which had the largest gains in the Dow. Occidental Petroleum Corp. increased 3.8 percent, while ConocoPhillips climbed 2.6 percent.

     A measure of energy-related stocks in the S&P 500 slid 9.5 percent last week, the most since September 2011, as oil slumped after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to keep its output limit unchanged. Oil has collapsed into a bear market as the U.S. pumps crude at the fastest rate in three decades while global demand growth slows.

     The Dow Jones Transportation Average slid 2.7 percent, the most since Feb. 3, with all 20 of its companies declining on the day. Southwest Airlines Co. and Delta Air Lines Inc. fell more than 2.2 percent as the Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index retreated for the first time in five days. The group rallied 10 percent last week amid prospects for lower fuel costs.

     The S&P 500 climbed 2.5 percent in November, rising for a second month, as global central banks added stimulus, and data showed the U.S. economic recovery remained intact. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on Nov. 26.                         

     Investors will be watching other data this week for clues to the economy’s strength, with the focus on Friday’s labor statistics. Companies added 228,000 payrolls in November while the unemployment rate held at 5.8 percent, according to the consensus forecast by economists.

     A report from the National Retail Federation showed U.S. consumers spent an estimated 11 percent less than last year over the four days through November 30. It’s the second year in a row that Thanksgiving sales fell during a period famous for long lines and frenzied crowds.

     The slower foot traffic means retailers will have to wring more money from consumers in December, including during today’s Cyber Monday e-commerce blitz.

     “There were disappointing holiday sales over the weekend and now basically retail, online, anything Internet is really getting hit today,” Rick Fier, director of equity trading at Conifer Securities LLC in New York, said via phone.                       

     A group of retailers in the S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent. Best Buy Co. and GameStop Corp. were hit the hardest, falling more than 5.2 percent. Amazon.com Inc. and Macy’s Inc. also declined more than 2.6 percent.

     Apple shares plunged almost 5 percent during a 60-second swoon that started 20 minutes after trading began today, falling the most since January before paring half the loss almost as quickly. About $40 billion of market value was erased and then mostly restored as shares of the iPhone maker slumped along with other technology stocks.

     “Being as big and visible as it is, some people use Apple as a proxy for worldwide consumer technology,” John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York, said in a phone interview. “Little hiccups can be translated into rather large spasms from time to time.”

     Apple’s retreat was mirrored in technology stocks from Tesla Motors Inc. to TripAdvisor Inc. and Facebook Inc., which fell more than 3.3 percent.

     Industrial and technology shares had the biggest losses among 10 groups in the S&P 500, dropping more than 1.1 percent.  Energy stocks had the largest gain, rising 0.7 percent.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of options prices known as the VIX, jumped 7.2 percent to 14.29. The benchmark gauge of price swings climbed 3.3 percent last week.

 

Have  a wonderful evening.

 

Be magnificent!

But if you are not connected with all living beings on earth,

you risk losing your relationship with humanity, with human beings.

We never truly look at a tree’s qualities; we never touch it to feel how solid it is, how rough its bark is,

to listen to the sound it makes.  Not the sound of the wind in the leaves,

nor the morning breeze that makes them rustle, but its own sound, the sound of the trunk,

the silent sound of the roots.  You have to be extremely sensitive to hear this sound.

It is not the noise people make, the chattering of thoughts, nor that of human quarrels and wars,

but the very sound of the universe.

 

Krishnamurti

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

You always pass failure on the way to success.

                        -Mickey Rooney, 1920-2014

 

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7