Month: February 2015

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Happy Valentine’s weekend!

  On February 13^th, 1840, Queen Victoria wrote in her journal, that it was the third day of her marriage,  and that “My dearest Albert put on my stockings for me.  I went and saw him shave; a great delight for me.”

Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. 

         –John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Gary was on call last weekend so on a whim I decided to use some of my airline points and take the red eye to New York City for the weekend.  There is a Cathay flight out of Vancouver that leaves around nine and arrives in NYC at 6 AM.  I spent one day at the met and one day at MOMA, then took the red eye home.  I wanted to see the special Cezanne exhibit at the Met which consists of all the paintings and drawings of his wife during their lifetime together.  It is a wonderful exhibit and she appears to be an enduring inspiration for the artist.  I believe it continues for a few more months, so if you happen to be in NY, worth the visit.  I spent all my time at MOMA on this visit studying the Warhols.  I didn’t realize his famous 52 Campbell Soup varieties was originally shown at a gallery in LA without frames situated on grocery store shelves set up in the gallery.  It is truly a masterpiece.

And on this day…

382 years ago – in 1633 – Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy for supporting Copernican theory that holds the Earth revolves around the Sun. He faced the Roman Inquisition later that year in April and pled guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A toddler stands in a Lunar New Year display featuring sheep at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Friday. The Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 19 will welcome the Year of the Sheep. Bobby Yip/Reuters

Children check out a room in the Ice Hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Mathieu Belanger/Reuters

Market Closes for February 13^th, 2015     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18019.35	+46.97
		+0.26%
S&P 500	2096.99	+8.51   +0.41%
NASDAQ	4893.836	+36.224   +0.75%
TSX	15264.81	+36.29
		+0.24%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17913.36	-66.36
		-0.37%
HANG SENG	24682.54	+260.39
		+1.07%
SENSEX	29094.93	+289.93
		+1.01%
FTSE 100	6873.52	+45.41
		+0.67%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.432	1.394
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.070	2.039
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0504	1.9861
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.6478	2.5770

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.80331	0.79903
US $	1.24485	1.25151
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41688	0.70578
US $	1.13819	0.87859

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1232.50	1222.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.78	51.21

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose a fifth day, extending an almost five-month high, as energy producers gained with the price of oil in London topping $60 a barrel for the first time this year.

     PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. and Enerplus Corp. gained at least 4.5 percent as energy stocks advanced. Dream Unlimited Corp., the commercial and residential real estate manager, jumped 7.5 percent after posting better-than-expected earnings. Centerra Gold Inc. jumped 4.5 percent as gold posted the first back-to- back gains in more than three weeks.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 36.29 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,264.81 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest since Sept. 19. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge rose 1.2 percent in the week and has climbed 4.3 percent this year. Trading volume was 17 percent below the 30-day average. Canadian equity markets are closed Monday for a holiday.

     PrairieSky Royalty climbed 5.3 percent and Enerplus increased 4.6 percent as energy shares rallied 0.4 percent as a group. The S&P/TSX Energy Index gained 1.7 percent this week.

     Brent crude rose 3.8 percent to climb above $60 a barrel for the first time this year amid speculation a decline in U.S. drilling will slow production and curb a global supply glut. West Texas Intermediate oil jumped 3.1 percent.

     B2Gold added 2.6 percent as raw-materials producers rose 0.6 percent as a group.

     Gold for April delivery added 0.5 percent to settle at $1,227.10 an ounce in New York. The metal price rose for its first back-to-back advance in more than three weeks as falling U.S. retail sales cast doubt on the pace of growth in the world’s largest economy.

     Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest diversified miner, rose 2.6 percent and Lundin Mining Corp. added 6.4 percent as tin climbed and copper advanced for a second week. Sherritt International Corp. jumped 11 percent.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — A second straight weekly rally pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an all-time high, as Apple Inc. advanced with technology shares and oil rebounded to end stocks’ longest dip since 2013.

     Energy shares jumped 2.6 percent as crude continued to climb back from the lowest level in almost six years. Apple reached a record, boosting its market cap above $700 billion, as technology shares led gains in the S&P 500. TripAdvisor Inc. surged 24 percent after Expedia Inc. agreed to acquire Orbitz Worldwide Inc.

     The S&P 500 rose 2 percent to 2,096.99 for the week, topping a previous record set in December. The Russell 2000 Index increased 1.5 percent to an all-time high, while the Nasdaq Composite Index and Nasdaq 100 Index reached the highest levels since 2000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 195.06 points, or 1.1 percent, to 18,019.35, less than 0.2 percent from its December peak. U.S. equity markets will be closed Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

     “The market is making new highs, and yet you don’t see any celebrations, which come toward the end of a bull market,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based RW Baird & Co., which oversees $110 billion, said in a phone interview. “That leads us to believe we’re going to go higher here.”

     Equities received a boost from events in Europe, where government officials taking part in Greece’s debt negotiations said both sides are signaling a willingness to compromise, while Russia agreed to enforce a cease-fire in the eastern part of Ukraine. Data also indicated the euro-area economy expanded faster than forecast last quarter.

      U.S. stocks topped record levels for the first time in 2015 amid corporate earnings that have eclipsed analyst estimates and optimism in the economy following the biggest three-month rise in hiring in 17 years.

     The week’s advance pushed the S&P 500’s gain in February to 5.1 percent, following a 3.1 percent drop in January that was its worst month in a year.

     Prior to the leg up that helped it reach a record Friday, the S&P 500 had been whipsawed by investors. It experienced three declines of more than 2.7 percent since the start of the year, only to recover within a week each time. Daily swings in the S&P 500 have averaged 0.86 percent so far this year, compared with 0.53 percent in 2014.                         

     It’s been 46 days since the S&P 500’s last record, reached on Dec. 29, the longest stretch without a high since the 47-day run through Sept. 18, 2013. Prior to that, it had taken about seven days on average to break a new high since March 27, 2013. The S&P 500 closed at a record 53 times in 2014.

     U.S. equities struggled to advance in 2015 as the strongest dollar in at least a decade and a plunge in oil prices threatened earnings growth and tested the resilience of investors as the bull market nears its seventh year.

     Stocks began rising in February as companies from Apple to Schlumberger Ltd. weathered the crude slump and the dollar’s appreciation, helping to deliver profit growth of 5.1 percent among the nearly 400 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far.

     Technology stocks led the S&P 500 higher during the week, rising 4.3 percent as large stocks in the group extended rallies this year.                         

     Apple advanced 6.9 percent in the week to a record, bringing the advance in 2015 to 15 percent. Optimism in the world’s largest company by market capitalization has been growing since Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook revealed larger- screened, more expensive iPhones in September, which helped fuel a record profit during the last three months of 2014.

     Netflix Inc. has surged 36 percent this year, and Amazon.com Inc. has risen 23 percent.

     Cisco Systems Inc. surged 8 percent in the week to erase a loss from January after reporting quarterly profit and sales that topped estimates.

     The gains in technology shares sent the Nasdaq Composite higher by 3.2 percent in the week to 4,893.84, the highest level in almost 15 years. The gauge ended the week 3.1 percent below its all-time closing high of 5,048.62, set on March 10, 2000. It closed below 4,000 twice last year, on Feb. 3 and April 11, but has rallied 22 percent since then.                        

     Energy producers in the S&P 500 have surged 11 percent since Jan. 15, as U.S. crude climbed above $50 a barrel, bolstered by speculation that a decline in drilling will slow output and curb a global supply glut. The group tumbled 10 percent in 2014 as crude sank more than 50 percent.

     Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. led gains in the group for the week, rising at least 6.8 percent.

     Coca-Cola Co. increased 1.3 percent for the five-day period after the company beat forecasts as quarterly profit benefited from cost-cutting efforts. PepsiCo Inc. rose 2.5 percent as its profits also topped estimates, even as currency headwinds eroded sales.

     American Express Co. slid 8.2 percent after saying on Thursday it plans to end co-brand and merchant agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp. The next day, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its price target for the card issuer.

     Utility stocks in the benchmark gauge slipped 3.3 percent in the week for the worst performance among the 10 main S&P 500 groups. The group has fallen 4.8 percent in 2015 after rallying 24 percent last year. The declines come as U.S. 10-year Treasury yields jumped 40 basis points since the start of February. Utilities have the second-highest dividend yield in the broader index.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The divine music is incessantly going on within ourselves,

but the loud senses drown the delicate music,

which is unlike and infinitely superior to anything w4e can perceive with our senses.

 

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

 

Work hard, stay positive, and get up early.  It’s the best part of the day.

                                              -George Allen, 1918-1990

 

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:

A Jewish grandma and her grandson are at the beach. He’s playing in the water, she is standing on the shore not wanting to get her feet wet when all of a sudden, a huge wave appears from nowhere and crashes directly onto the spot where the boy is wading. The water recedes and the boy is no longer there… he was swept away.

The grandma holds her hands to the sky, screams and cries: “How could you do this? 
Haven’t I been a wonderful grandmother? 
Haven’t I been a wonderful mother? 
Haven’t I kept a kosher home? 
Haven’t I given to charity? 
Haven’t I lit candles every Friday night? 
Haven’t I tried my very best to live a life that you would be proud of?”

A voice booms from the sky, “All right already!”

A moment later another huge wave appears out of nowhere and crashes on the beach. As the water recedes, the boy is standing there. He is smiling and splashing around as if nothing had ever happened.

The voice booms again. “I have returned your grandson. Now are you satisfied?”

She responds … He had a hat.”

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People walk across a fog bridge, created by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, in Bristol, England, Thursday, to celebrate the city’s status as a European Green Capital. Ben Birchall/PA/AP

Surfers make their way into the ocean at dawn in Cardiff, Calif., Thursday. Warm Santa Ana winds are expected to push temperatures above 80 degrees in southern California for the next few days. Mike Blake/Reuters

Market Closes for February 12^th, 2015     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17972.38	+110.24
		+0.62%
S&P 500	2088.48	+19.95   +0.96
NASDAQ	4857.613	+56.432   +1.18%
TSX	15228.52	+77.02
		+0.51%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17979.72	+327.04
		+1.85%
HANG SENG	24422.15	+107.13
		+0.44%
SENSEX	28805.10	+271.13
		+0.95%
FTSE 100	6828.11	+9.94
		+0.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.394	1.449
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.039	2.064
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9861	2.0176
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.5770	2.5863

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.79903	0.79224
US $	1.25151	1.26225
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42711	0.70072
US $	1.14031	0.87696

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1222.50	1223.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	51.21	48.84

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Michelle F. Davis and Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a fourth day, extending a four-month high as gains among oil and metals producers offset declines in Bombardier Inc. and the nation’s largest insurers.

     Lightstream Resources Ltd. jumped 10 percent amid a rally in oil. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. added at least 6 percent as copper advanced. Precision Drilling Corp. gained 3.5 percent as earnings beat analysts’ estimates. Bombardier dropped 12 percent after the company announced a replacement for its chief executive officer and suspended its dividend. Manulife Financial Corp. lost 2.3 percent as fourth- quarter profit slid 51 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 77.02 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,228.52 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest since Sept. 19. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has climbed 4.1 percent this year. Trading volume was 12 percent above the 30-day average.

     Lightstream Resources jumped 10 percent and RMP Energy Inc. climbed 6.3 percent as energy shares rose 1.3 percent as a group. Suncor Energy Inc. increased 1.6 percent.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 1.4 percent, rebounding from a two-day retreat as prices for commodities from copper to oil rose.

     West Texas Intermediate crude increased 4.9 percent as producers from Total SA to Apache Corp. announced cutbacks in response to the seven-month collapse in prices. Oil demand is increasing and there are indications that prices are stabilizing, according to Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al- Naimi.

     Copper advanced 2.5 percent in New York amid optimism that a cease-fire in Ukraine will stabilize the region and reduce tensions between Russia and its European neighbors.

     Bombardier plunged 12 percent after saying Alain Bellemare will take over as chief executive officer to replace Pierre Beaudoin, who becomes executive chairman. Faced with delays and cost overruns, the company also suspended its dividend and announced plans to sell debt and equity to shore up its balance sheet.

     Manulife Financial, Canada’s largest insurer, dropped 2.4 percent as profit fell as oil and gas investments languished and it paid out more for policies in North America. Sun Life Financial Inc. sank 6.5 percent.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, sending the Nasdaq Composite Index to the highest level in almost 15 years, as Cisco Systems Inc. and Expedia Inc. rallied and optimism grew over a cease-fire in Ukraine.

     Cisco jumped 9.4 percent as profit and sales topped estimates. Expedia rose 15 percent after agreeing to acquire Orbitz Worldwide Inc. Online travel rival TripAdvisor Inc. soared 23 percent. American Express Co. slipped 6.4 percent as it plans to end co-brand and merchant agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1 percent to 2,088.48 at 4 p.m. in New York. The index is less than 3 points from a record reached Dec. 29. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2 percent to 4,857.61, the highest level since March 2000. The Nasdaq 100 Index surged 1.2 percent, also reaching a nearly 15-year high. About 7.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 4.8 percent above the three-month average.

     “There’s general optimism around the U.S. economy and a little bit of relief that some of the major international issues are not going to impinge just yet on positive trends here,” John Carey, a Boston-based fund manager at Pioneer Investment Management, which oversees about $230 billion, said in a phone interview. “For the moment people seem to be somewhat more at ease about some of the trouble spots in the world. People are looking at the glass half full.”                        

     Equities are approaching record levels for the first time in 2015, bolstered by the biggest three-month rise in hiring in 17 years and signs of easing tension between Greece and its euro-area creditors. The S&P 500 has rallied 4.7 percent in February after sinking 3.1 percent in January for its worst month in a year.

     The Nasdaq Composite closed below 4,000 twice last year, on Feb. 3 and April 11, but has rallied nearly 22 percent since then. The gauge is now 3.8 percent below its all-time closing high of 5,048.62, set on March 10, 2000.

     The index has gotten a boost in 2015 from large technology stocks. Apple Inc. has increased 15 percent, Netflix Inc. has surged 34 percent and Amazon.com Inc. has risen 22 percent year- to-date. Apple climbed to a record of $126.46 high today, while Amazon is about 6.2 percent from an all-time high.

     U.S. stocks have traded for the last two months in one of the tightest ranges since 2007, marked by a record high of 2,090.57 and Dec. 16 low of 1,972.74 for the S&P 500.                        

     The strongest dollar in a decade and a plunge in oil prices that threaten investment and earnings growth have tested the resilience of investors as the bull market nears its seventh anniversary. Concern that European growth is slipping amid signs of deflation, coupled with a showdown that led to speculation Greece would exit from the region’s shared currency also weighed on investor sentiment.

     A peace summit between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French and German leaders ended early Thursday with an accord on a cease- fire to stem the conflict that’s devastated eastern Ukraine.

     European Union leaders will take up the baton on Greece when they gather in Brussels on Thursday after finance ministers from the euro area concluded talks saying that compromise was possible on the country’s future financing. The ministers failed to bridge their differences in six hours of discussions Wednesday and agreed to reconvene for another attempt on Monday.

     “The Ukraine resolution is just one less thing to think about or be concerned about at this point,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview. “U.S.-based companies keep proving that they’re the best place to be, and the market is continuing to have some really nice upward momentum this month.”

     With the S&P 500 trading at 17.5 times its members’

projected earnings, a multiple 22 percent higher than the five- year average, investors are analyzing earnings reports and economic data to assess stocks valuations.

     Equities pared early gains Thursday as data showed sales at U.S. retailers fell more than forecast in January, reflecting smaller receipts at gasoline stations and declines at clothing and sporting goods stores. A separate report showed applications for unemployment benefits climbed last week to a level that’s consistent with progress in the U.S. labor market.

     The S&P 500 has more than tripled from its bear-market low in March 2009, propelled higher by better-than-forecast corporate earnings and three rounds of Federal Reserve bond purchases. The Fed renewed its pledge in January to maintain record-low borrowing costs even as the economy shows signs of acceleration.                       

     Almost three-quarters of index members have reported results so far, with 77 percent beating profit estimates and 57 percent topping sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 9.6 percent to 15.34. The gauge, know as the VIX, is down 11 percent for the week after losing more than 17 percent last week.

     Eight of 10 major industries in the S&P 500 climbed today, with commodity, energy and technology companies jumping at least 1.3 percent.                         

     Cisco Systems rallied 9.4 percent to a seven-year high on better-than-forecast results as customers upgraded their networks and cost-cutting efforts are starting to show up in the bottom line.

     Orbitz Worldwide soared 22 percent after Expedia agreed to acquire the company for $12 a share in cash. Expedia last month also agreed to acquire Sabre Corp.’s Travelocity in an effort to bulk up against Priceline Group Inc. and other competitors. Rival TripAdvisor surged 23 percent, its biggest jump ever, amid a recent spate of deal making in online travel.

     Freeport-McMoRan Inc. rose 4.7 percent to help lead raw material stocks higher as copper prices climbed 2.4 percent.

     Among S&P 500 energy companies, Marathon Oil Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. added more than 2.1 percent as oil prices increased 4.9 percent, halting a two-day slide amid production cuts and speculation that demand is strengthening.

     Lenders rallied, with all 24 members of the KBW Bank Index advancing. The gauge closed at the highest level since Jan. 2., as Zions Bancorp. surged 3 percent to pace gains. JPMorgan Chase & Co. jumped 2.1 percent for the second-biggest rise in the Dow, while Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. added at least 0.7 percent.

     American Express slipped 6.4 percent, its biggest drop in more than three years, as it plans to end co-brand and merchant agreements with Costco next year. The partnership accounts for about 10 percent of AmEx’s total cards, according to the company.

     Tesla Motors Inc. lost 4.7 percent, on pace for its worst decline since October, after the electric-car maker missed targets for vehicle deliveries and reported an unexpected loss.

     Kellogg Co. fell 4.5 percent, the most in more than six months after cutting its long-term growth forecast, hurt by a decline in consumers eating cereal as part of their morning routine.
 

Have a wonderful evening!

 

Be magnificent!

At our first meeting with beauty, we see it in its gaudy faded finery, jarring us with its garish tones,

its frills and flounces, even its deformed shapes.  But when we get to know it better,

the apparent discord reveals itself to us as rhythmic modulations.

At first, we isolate beauty from all that is around it;  we detach it from the rest;

but in the end, we understand its harmony with the whole.

Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists,

to make his life full, significant and interesting.

                                                                 -Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963

 

 

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:

I read a wonderful book on the weekend, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, please do so.  You’ll be profoundly enriched if you do…. I picked it up when I read that Timeawarded it the #1 book of fiction of 2012, but only just got around to reading it this past weekend.

Here’s 3 critics’ assessments:

“Damn near genius . . . The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it’s also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine

 
“This is a book that breaks your heart—not by wearing it down, but by making it bigger until it bursts.”
—The Atlantic
 
“In its every aspect, this novel is a triumph.”
—Booklist, starred review

Quote from The Fault in Our Stars:

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Roses are selected for a bouquet ahead of Valentine’s Day in Subachoque. Colombia, the world’s second-largest flower exporter behind the Netherlands, exports about 500 million flowers to the US for Valentine’s Day. John Vizcaino/Reuters

The sun sets over Lake Geneva and the Swiss and French Alps above Montreux, southwestern Switzerland, Wednesday. Laurent Gillieron/Keystone/AP

Market Closes for February 11^th, 2015     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17862.14	-6.62
		-0.04%
S&P 500	2068.53	-0.06   —
NASDAQ	4801.180	+13.535   +0.28%
TSX	15151.50	+38.98
		+0.26%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17652.68	-59.25
		-0.33%
HANG SENG	24315.02	-213.08
		-0.87%
SENSEX	28533.97	+178.35
		+0.63%
FTSE 100	6818.17	-10.95
		-0.16%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.449	1.429
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.064	2.042
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0176	2.0002
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.5863	2.5785

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.79224	0.79454
US $	1.26225	1.25858
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43100	0.69881
US $	1.13369	0.88208

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1223.75	1234.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	48.84	50.02

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam and Michelle F. Davis

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to the highest since September as consumer and financial companies rallied to offset a drop in Air Canada and raw-material shares.

     Air Canada dropped 10 percent, the most in a year, after fourth-quarter earnings fell short of analysts’ estimates as the weaker Canadian dollar offset cheaper fuel. Ballard Power Systems Inc. soared 64 percent after signing a technology deal with Volkswagen AG and Audi AG. FirstService surged to a record after posting profit and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 38.98 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,151.50 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest level since Sept. 19. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has climbed 3.6 percent this year. Trading volume was 7.9 percent below the 30-day average.

     Kinross Gold Corp. lost 6.7 percent and Barrick Gold Corp. retreated 1.3 percent as raw materials shares sank 0.5 percent as a group. Semafo Inc. dropped 9.5 percent, the most in three months.

     Gold futures slipped 1 percent to the lowest in a month as gains for the U.S. dollar cut demand for the precious metal as an alternative asset.

     Lightstream Resources Ltd. retreated 4 percent as oil fell a second day.

     West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 2.4 percent in New York as rising U.S. crude and fuel inventories added to excess global stockpiles.

     Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. jumped 18 percent after Baupost Group LLC reported an about 11 percent stake in the company in a regulatory filing.

     Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, dropped 10 percent to pace declines among industrial stocks. The air carrier wasn’t able to reduce costs as much as planned as it spent more on jet maintenance and employee benefits.

     FirstService surged 6.9 percent after posting profit and revenue ahead of analysts’ estimates. The real estate services company also said it will separate into commercial and residential real estate units.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stock-index futures rose, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed little changed, on speculation that Greece and its euro-area creditors would reach an agreement on a bailout plan.

     S&P 500 futures contracts expiring in March advanced 0.5 percent to 2,074.30 at 5:02 p.m. in New York. The underlying index on Wednesday fell less than one point to 2,068.53 after rallying 1.1 percent a day earlier.

     Euro-area financial ministers are closing in on a statement pledging the goal of an extension of Greece’s rescue agreement with its creditors, according to four euro-area officials.

     Greece entered the Wednesday meeting in Brussels trying to drum up support for a 10 billion-euro ($11.3 billion) bridge plan to stave off a funding crunch and buy time to win an easing in austerity terms, while Germany has maintained Greece must comply with its bailout terms.

     The financial ministers will take up the issue again at a previously scheduled meeting on Feb. 16.

     In regular trading Wednesday, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 percent, approaching an almost 15-year high, as Apple Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. rallied. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased less than 0.1 percent to 17,862.14. About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 3.4 percent below the three-month average.                         

     Apple extended a record as billionaire activist Carl Icahn raised his anticipated price for the company’s shares. PepsiCo Inc. increased 2.5 percent as profit topped estimates even as currency headwinds eroded sales. Utility companies in the S&P 500 lost 2.4 percent. Energy shares fell 0.7 percent as oil prices declined for a second day.

     “It’s tug of war between some of the macro things, like what’s going to happen with Greece, and decent corporate earnings results in the U.S.,” John Fox, director of research at Fenimore Asset Management in Cobleskill, New York, said in a phone interview. “Those are kind of offsetting one another.”

     Gains in Coca-Cola Co. and General Motors Co. helped spur a rally in stocks Tuesday. The fourth 1 percent rally in seven days pushed the S&P 500 past levels where previous rallies failed and within 25 points of a record.

     U.S. stocks have traded for the last two months in one of the tightest ranges since 2007, marked by a record high of 2,090.57 and Dec. 16 low of 1,972.74. Even as swings in the index become more violent, the gauge has failed to break out, rising above then falling below its 50-day average four times since December.

     The S&P 500 declined 3.1 percent last month as analysts lowered forecasts for corporate profits. Estimates for first- quarter earnings slipped more than 6 percentage points over three months, the biggest decrease in six years, as oil’s plunge triggered revisions for energy companies.

     More than two-thirds of index members have reported results so far, with 77 percent beating profit estimates and 56 percent topping sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     Energy stocks in the S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent as a report showed U.S. crude-oil stockpiles and output advanced to the highest level in more than three decades, a sign that a global supply glut will linger.

     Pioneer Natural Resources Co. lost 4 percent after fourth- quarter results were below forecasts. Apache Corp. fell 2.3 percent and Transocean Ltd. retreated 4.1 percent.

     Genworth Financial Inc. rose 6.7 percent to its highest level since early January. Losses at the insurer’s long-term care unit were narrower than some analysts had expected.                            

     Pier 1 tumbled 24 percent, the most since 2009, after cutting its full-year forecast. The operator of more than 1,000 home-decor stores in North America said profit per share in the year ending Feb. 28 will not exceed 83 cents. The average analyst estimate was for $1.

     Rite Aid added 6.6 percent to its highest level since June after agreeing to buy EnvisionRX for about $2 billion in cash and stock. With the purchase, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid is shifting toward offering services that help insurers and large employers provide drug coverage.

     Consumer staples in the S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent as PepsiCo shares increased 2.5 percent after the company posted fourth- quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates even as currency headwinds eroded sales. Oreo cookies maker Mondelez International Inc.’s results also exceeded analysts’ estimates after cutting costs and raising prices, sending shares up 2.6 percent.                       

     Information technology shares in the benchmark gauge gained 0.4 percent. Akamai Technologies Inc. rose 2.7 percent after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded estimates.

     Apple jumped 2.3 percent to $124.88 as Icahn, who has pushed Apple to return more money to shareholders, raised his anticipated price for the company’s shares after Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said the company is reviewing its capital- return program and will announce changes in April.

     Utility stocks in the S&P 500 slipped 2.4 percent. The index has fallen 5.3 percent since last Thursday’s close ahead of Friday’s report, which showed the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in January, capping the biggest three-month gain in 17 years. Workers’ earnings also jumped. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields have jumped 10 percent during the same period.

     “With the 10-year Treasury back to 2 percent, that’s good for financial stocks, but it’s bad for stocks people have been buying as income substitutes,” said Fox of Fenimore Asset Management. “It’s all the interest rate trade.”

     All 30 companies in the utilities index declined today, led by NiSource Inc. and CenterPoint Energy Inc. falling more than 3.4 percent. Wisconsin Energy Corp. slid 3 percent after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of analyst estimates.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

A man is a universe in miniature, and the universe, a giant living body;

the cosmos is similar to a large man,

and a man is similar to a small cosmos; so say the Sufis.

Kabir

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

                                                                            -Aldous Huxley,  1894-1963

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:

Carolann is out of the office, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Artist Anat Ronen works on a mural featuring a gorilla Monday in Houston. The mural is one of five commissioned by the Houston Zoo to celebrate the arrival of seven western lowland gorillas. Pat Sullivan/AP

A herdsman takes a rest with his goats in a corn field at Dashiwo village, on the outskirts of Beijing. The Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 19 will welcome the Year of the Sheep (also known as the Year of the Goat or Ram.) Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Market Closes for February 10^th, 2015     

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17868.76	+139.55
		+0.79%
S&P 500	2068.59	+21.85   +1.07%
NASDAQ	4787.645	+61.632   +1.30%
TSX	15112.52	+11.82
		+0.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17652.68	-59.25
		-0.33%
HANG SENG	24528.10	+7.10
		+0.03%
SENSEX	28355.62	+128.23
		+0.45%
FTSE 100	6829.12	-8.03
		-0.12%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.429	1.446
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.042	2.028
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0002	1.9549
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.5785	2.5252

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.79454	0.79896
US $	1.25858	1.25163
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42425	0.70212
US $	1.13163	0.88368

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1234.50	1241.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	50.02	51.69

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, erasing an earlier loss, as gains among health-care and industrial shares offset a drop in commodities producers as oil snapped a three-day rally.

     Uni-Select Inc. surged 15 percent after agreeing to sell its U.S. automotive parts distribution business to Icahn Enterprises LP. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. climbed to a record after Barclays Plc recommended the stock. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. and Legacy Oil & Gas Inc. sank at least 10 percent as energy producers slumped. Amaya Inc. slipped 1.8 percent after a Globe and Mail report said regulators are probing the online gambling company over its acquisition of PokerStars last year.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 11.82 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,112.52 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has climbed 3.3 percent this year. Trading volume was 15 percent below the 30-day average.

     Pacific Rubiales sank 16 percent and Eldorado Gold plunged 3.5 percent as energy and raw-materials producers were the only two industries among 10 to decline in the S&P/TSX. The two industries account for about 34 percent of the broader equity gauge.

     Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, soared 3.7 percent to C$13.29, the highest since 2007, to pace gains among industrial stocks. Air Canada, which reports earnings Wednesday in Toronto, has benefited from cheaper fuel costs amid oil’s plunge.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index slipped 1.4 percent, snapping a three-day rally as prices for commodities from copper to oil fell.

     West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery dropped 5.4 percent in New York. The U.S. will contribute most to global growth in oil supplies through 2020, the International Energy Agency said. U.S. inventories probably rose last week, according to analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey before government data on Wednesday.

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 3 percent for a second day of declines as copper dropped the most in a week. China reported consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in more than five years, deepening concerns about demand from the world’s biggest consumer of metals. China is also Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index erased losses for 2015, closing above a level where previous rallies fizzled out this year, as companies from Coca-Cola Co. to General Motors Co. surged and optimism grew over Greece talks.

     Coke gained 2.8 percent as profit benefited from cost- cutting efforts, while GM rose 4.2 percent on buyback speculation. Apple Inc. climbed to an all-time high, with its market capitalization closing above $700 billion for the first time. Health-care and utility stocks rebounded after falling at least 0.9 percent Monday.

     The S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent to 2,068.59 at 4 p.m. in New York, the highest level since Dec. 30. The gauge is 1.1 percent away from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 139.55 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,868.76. The Nasdaq 100 Index rallied 1.5 percent to the highest since December. About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 3.6 percent below the three-month average.

     “You’re seeing a continuation of the short-term momentum we experienced for most of last week,” Joe Bell, a Cincinnati- based senior equity analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc., said in a phone interview. “We’ve been pretty choppy throughout most of 2015 — a lot of volatility but not a lot of net direction. You had some positive news out of Greece. Most people expect that somehow, someway there will be some sort of settlement.”

     The S&P 500 closed above a level where previous rallies have failed. Since the start of the year, three separate advances in the benchmark gauge have fizzled out just above 2,060, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     U.S. stocks have traded for the last two months in one of the tightest ranges since 2007, marked by a record high of 2,090.57 and Dec. 16 low of 1,972.74. Even as swings in the index become more violent, the gauge failed to break out, rising above then falling below its 50-day average four times since December.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 7.1 percent to 17.23. The gauge, know as the VIX, fell more than 17 percent last week.

     “We had a breakout here recently,” Walter “Bucky” Hellwig, who helps manage $17 billion at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama, said in a phone interview. “In addition to the favorable fundamentals that are pulling investor dollars into the market from a trading standpoint, the turnaround we saw has brought in some high-frequency momentum trading.”

     Equities rose early in the day as speculation grew that Greece will reach an agreement at a Feb. 11 emergency meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Brussels. U.S. and European stocks briefly pared gains after German Financial Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said reports that Greece would get six months to work out a debt deal are “wrong.”

     Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told lawmakers on Monday the country will implement about 70 percent of reforms already included in the current bailout accord. He is also seeking support for a bridge funding plan.

     “If this Greece compromise comes about, that will be a clear positive,” Stephen Carl, principal and head equity trader at New York-based Williams Capital Group LP, said in a phone interview. “On the domestic front, you have some nice moves on earnings like Coca-Cola.”

     Eighteen S&P 500 companies release quarterly results today. PepsiCo Inc., Time Warner Inc. and Kraft Foods Group Inc. follow later this week. About two-thirds of the S&P 500 companies have reported results so far, with 77 percent beating profit estimates and 56 percent topping sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     Earnings rose 4.1 percent last quarter, while sales gained 1.4 percent, according to analysts’ forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. That’s up from projections at the start of the year.

     Coke gained 2.8 percent. Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent, coping with currency challenges and sluggish growth worldwide, is trimming expenses and selling more premium-priced beverages. He aims to pare $3 billion from Coca-Cola’s annual costs.

     GM rose 4.2 percent as Harry J. Wilson, a member of President Barack Obama’s auto team that restructured GM and Chrysler, intends to nominate himself for a seat on GM’s board and propose an $8 billion stock buyback. He is acting in concert with four investment funds, including Appaloosa Management LP, which together own about 2.1 percent of GM’s stock.

     Health-care companies in the benchmark equity gauge increased 1.4 percent. Pfizer Inc., Tenet Healthcare Corp. and HCA Holdings Inc. rose more than 2.6 percent.

     The S&P 500 Consumer Services Index climbed 2.6 percent, led by a pair of hotel operators that exceeded earnings expectations. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. jumped 6.6 percent after reporting fourth-quarter profit that beat projections and saying it will spin off its vacation-ownership unit into a publicly traded company. Hotel rival Wyndham Worldwide Corp. rose 8.7 percent after its results were better than forecast and the company raised its profit outlook.

     Qualcomm Inc. advanced 4.7 percent, helping to drive the S&P 500 information technology group up 1.6 percent, after Chinese regulators ended an antitrust probe with a $975 million fine on the chipmaker. Micron Technology Inc. rose 9.7 percent, the best gain in more than a year, and Apple Inc. climbed 1.9 percent to an all-time high. The company sold 1.25 billion Swiss francs ($1.35 billion) of bonds in its debut offering in the currency.

     Sealed Air Corp. shares jumped more than 10 percent, their biggest advance since 2012, and reached a record after the company raised its 2015 profit outlook.

     Oil prices snapped a three-day streak of gains, falling 5.4 percent amid speculation that increasing U.S. supply is exacerbating a global glut.

     Energy stocks in the S&P 500 slipped 0.2 percent as Transocean Ltd., Denbury Resources Inc. and Nabors Industries Ltd. all slipped more than 4.9 percent.

     Halliburton Co. slid 2.1 percent to $42.60 after announcing it’s cutting as much as 8 percent of its global workforce of more than 80,000 as it confronts the collapse of oil prices and brings job reductions more in line with its largest competitors.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!
 

“Happiness doesn’t depend on how much you have to enjoy, but how much you enjoy what you have.” Tom Wilson

As ever,

 

Karen

  

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in 1952, Elizabeth became Queen of England. She succeeded her father King George VI of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth who died in his sleep after a long illness. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at 27.

February 6^th, 1842, Edward  Fitzgerald wrote to Frederick Tennyson, elder brother of the poet:

You enter Drury Lane at a quarter to seven: the pit is already nearly full: but you find a seat, and a  very pleasant one.  Box doors open and shut: ladies take off their shawls and seat themselves: gentlemen twist their side curls: musicians come up from under the stage one by one:  ‘tis just upon seven.  Macready [the manager] is very punctual: Mr. T, Cooke is in his place with his marshal’s baton in his hand: he lifts it up:  and off they set with old Handel’s noble overture…Do you know the music [to Acis and Galatea]?  It is one of Handel’s best: and as classical as any man who wore a full-bottomed wig could write.  I think Handel never gets out of his wig: that is, out of his age: his Hallelujah chorus is a chorus not of angels, but of  well fed earthly choristers, ranged tier above tier in a Gothic cathedral, with princes for audience, and their military trumpets flourishing over the full volume of the organ.  Handel’s gods are like Homer’s, and his sublime never reaches beyond the region of the clouds.  Therefore I think that his great marches, triumphal pieces, and coronation anthems, are his finest works.   –from The Book of Days.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man poses in a flooded St. Mark’s Square during a period of seasonal high water in Venice, Friday. Manuel Silvestri/Reuters

A woman poses for a photograph amongst decorations to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Friday.Kin Cheung/AP

Market Closes for February 6^th, 2015    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17824.29	-60.59
		-0.34%
S&P 500	2055.48	-7.04   -0.34%
NASDAQ	4744.398	-20.699   -0.43%
TSX	15073.30	-51.62
		-0.34%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17648.50	+143.88
		+0.82%
HANG SENG	24679.39	-86.10
		-0.35%
SENSEX	28717.91	-133.06
		-0.46%
FTSE 100	6853.44	-12.49
		-0.18%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.446	1.367
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.028	1.958
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9549	1.8204
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.5252	2.4318

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.79896	0.80419
US $	1.25163	1.24349
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41644	0.70599
US $	1.13168	0.88364

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1241.00	1259.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	51.69	50.48

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks retreated from a four-month high, as gold and silver prices dropped after data showed hiring is accelerating.

     Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Yamana Gold Inc. slipped at least 6.6 percent. Sierra Wireless Inc. slumped 12 percent after posting first-quarter earnings that missed expectations. Lightstream Resources Ltd. surged 17 percent as Brent crude capped the biggest two-week gain in 17 years.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 41 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,083.92 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, erasing an earlier advance of as much as 0.5 percent. The equity gauge rallied 2.8 percent this week. Trading volume was 3.9 percent lower than the 30-day average.

     Yamana Gold lost 6.6 percent and Agnico Eagle retreated 7.7 percent as raw-materials shares plunged 2.7 percent as a group, the most in the S&P/TSX. Gold futures for April delivery fell 2.2 percent to settle at $1,234.60 an ounce in New York. The latest jobs data boosts speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will increase its benchmark interest rate, lowering demand for gold as a hedge against inflation.

     BCE Inc. sank 3.7 percent, retreating from a record, and Telus Corp. slipped 1.3 percent as telephone stocks sank 2.5 percent as a group.

     Canada added 35,400 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell close to a six-year low. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News expected no change in the unemployment rate and 5,000 new jobs. The actual employment gain exceeded all 21 forecasts.

     Employers in the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in January, capping the biggest three-month gain in 17 years, and workers’ earnings jumped. Payrolls advanced 257,000 last month, following a revised 329,000 gain in December that was bigger than previously reported. The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent as the labor force increased.

     Lightstream Resources surged 17 percent to a two-month high and Legacy Oil & Gas Inc. gained 5.3 percent. Energy producers have jumped 4.9 percent this week.

     Brent crude jumped 18 percent in the past 10 trading days, the most since March 1998. A measure of price volatility for the U.S. benchmark rose this week to the highest since 2009.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Callie Bost

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell as benchmark indexes pulled back after climbing toward all-time highs on data showing stronger-than-forecast jobs growth.

     The KBW Bank Index rose 1.8 percent as Regions Financial Corp. and Bank of America Corp. added more than 3.2 percent on the prospect of higher interest rates. Utility companies, which have the second-highest dividend yield among 10 groups in the S&P 500, plunged 4.1 percent for the biggest loss since August 2011. Energy stocks reversed an earlier advance, even as oil continued to rally.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent to 2,055.47 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 60.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,824.29. The gauges came within 1 percent of records reached in December before retreating. Almost 7.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 14 percent above the three-month average.

     “The market is still near all-time highs and there are big unanswered questions out there, whether it be Greece, Ukraine, oil prices or when rates will rise,” Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co LLC in Newton, Massachusetts, said by phone. “Maybe that’s why people are not as enthusiastic to pile in here.”

     Stocks retreated after the S&P 500 earlier pushed its gain since Jan. 30 to 3.9 percent during intraday trading, good at the time for the biggest weekly advance since October. More than 400 of the gauge’s companies have risen in the past four days as the index erased a 2015 decline that exceeded 3.2 percent on Jan. 15 and Jan. 30, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

   The S&P 500 rose as much as 0.5 percent after the government’s report showed the U.S. added more jobs than forecast in January, capping the biggest three-month gain in 17 years, and workers’ earnings jumped.

     The 257,000 advance in payrolls last month followed a 329,000 gain in December that was bigger than previously reported, figures from the Labor Department showed. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 228,000 increase. The unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent as the improving job market lured more Americans into the labor force.

     A stronger economy has encouraged companies to boost hiring, creating a virtuous cycle of growth as Americans spend newfound incomes on goods and services. Sustained job growth will probably help assure Federal Reserve policy makers that the expansion is well-rooted and can withstand an increase in interest rates later this year.                      

     “This is a very positive number,” said Lisa Hornby, a fixed income portfolio manager at Schroders in New York. The firm manages about 276 billion pounds ($447 billion) globally. “The market is starting to price the Fed back into 2015, we’d seen the market price out the Fed all year, now it looks like we’ll have a Fed hike at least priced into the tail end of the year now.”

     The yield on 10-year Treasuries jumped 13 basis points while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 1 percent after the report.

     Fed Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said stronger U.S. economic data had him “at the cusp” of thinking the time to raise interest rates was now.

     “We’re fast approaching” a point where it’s hard to justify not raising rates, Plosser told CNBC in an interview on Friday.                          

      More than $1.3 trillion has been added to the value of global equities this week as higher oil prices boosted energy shares and companies including Pfizer Inc. and Staples Inc. announced more than $20 billion in deals. The S&P 500’s 3 percent weekly gain was its biggest since December.

     The benchmark gauge on Thursday erased its losses for 2015, after posting its worst month in a year. Stocks fell in January amid concern that slowing growth overseas will hurt the U.S. economy, while tumbling crude oil and the strengthening dollar weighed on earnings at multinational corporations.

     Oil rallied for a second straight day on Friday, capping the biggest two-week gain since March 1998. Brent crude climbed9.1 percent this week, adding to an 8.6 percent gain last week. It’s still about half the price it was in June.

     About 77 percent of the gauge’s companies that have posted earnings this season have beaten analyst estimates, while 56 percent have topped sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     With 322 of the 500 companies in the S&P having already reported, earnings last quarter are projected to have grown 4.1 percent, with revenue gaining 1.4 percent. That’s up from 2.4 percent and 0.8 percent at the beginning of the year, respectively.

     All 24 lenders in the KBW Bank Index rose as investors anticipated higher interest rates, with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Comerica Inc. and SunTrust Banks Inc. among the leaders.

     Interest rates have set new lows in the six years since the financial crisis, crimping lending margins for banks. Sustained job growth probably will help assure Fed policy makers that the expansion is well-rooted and can withstand an increase in interest rates this year.

     The Fed’s decision to raise rates will be the biggest story for banks this year, Fred Cannon, a KBW Inc. analyst,  said in December. Cannon, who predicts the Fed will begin raising rates in the middle of 2015, said he would have to cut average earnings estimates for all banks by 5 to 6 percent if the central bank leaves rates unchanged this year.                       

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 2.6 percent to 17.29. The gauge, know as the VIX, fell more than 17 percent this week after rising 26 percent last week.

     Moody’s gained 5.1 percent, its strongest advance since April 2013, after reporting quarterly profit that beat analysts’ estimates, even as the owner of the second-largest ratings company faces lawsuits over its grades leading up to the financial crisis. Insurance providers Lincoln National Corp. and Prudential Financial Inc. gained more than 3.2 percent.

     Twitter surged 16 percent, the most since July, after posting quarterly revenue that topped estimates and forecast that the number of new users will pick up. LinkedIn rose more than 10 percent to its highest level ever as the professional- networking service issued a profit forecast for 2015 that topped estimates.
 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

In this world there are two orders of being,

the perishable and the imperishable.

The perishable is all that is visible.  The imperishable

is the invisible substance of all that is visible.

The Bhagavad Gita

As ever,

 

Carolann

Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.

                                                 -Pearl S. Buck, 1892-1973

 

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:

This is sort of an amazing news item in this week’s Economist:

Dubai airport claimed it had overtaken Heathrow to become the world’s busiest international hub last year, with 70.5 million international passengers passing through its terminals.  That beat Heathrow, which recently said that 68.1 million international passengers had arrived at the airport in 2014.  Extensive repairs to Dubai’s runways over the summer had been expected to prevent the Emirati airport from soaring above its London rival.

Also in The Economist this week:

Astronomy: Old Planets
 

 

The picture above shows Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, as seen a few days ago from Dawn, an American spacecraft that is en route there.  Ceres’s gravity is strong enough to make it round, like a planet.  And it probably has a core and a mantle, like Earth (though the core is thought to be rocky, and the mantle icy).  It may even have a thin atmosphere.

  But Ceres  is not a planet.  It was classified as such in 1801, when it was discovered, but soon after it was spotted astronomers started finding other objects in the junkyard of rock and ice that is now called the asteroid belt.   The idea of calling all of them planets began to look silly, and so Ceres was quietly demoted.  These days it is classed as a “dwarf planet”, one of at least five in the solar system.

  The most famous of them is Pluto, which was, in 2006, demoted from full planethood by the International Astronomical Union, amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Pluto is merely the  biggest object in the Kuiper Belt, a second group of asteroids, which extends far beyond the orbit of Neptune, the most distant of the true planets.

… Neither Ceres nor Pluto has been visited before, though Dawn did visit another big asteroid, Vesta, in 2011.  Both are the cosmic equivalent of builder’s rubble, left over from the construction of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.  These days, the best place to look for full-blown planets is in solar systems other than Earth’s.  More than 1,800 such exoplanets have been discovered  since the first turned up in 1992.  On January 26^th, a group of astronomers led by Tiago Campante of Birmingham University in Britain, announced the discovery of five rocky planets around Kepler-444, a star about 117 light years from Earth that is smaller, dimmer and more orange than the sun.

  The most striking thing about this star, though, is its immense age.  Using a technique called asterosesmology, which measures stellar pulsations, the researchers estimate this to be 11.2 billion years, give or take a billion.  This is ancient indeed.  The universe itself is only 13.8 billion years old.

  Assuming the planets are the same age as their star (likely but not definite; it is just conceivable they have arrived from elsewhere), that suggests planet formation began not long after the Big Bang.  Kepler-444’s worlds look uninhabitable.  All orbit scorchingly close to their parent star.  But if other, similarly ancient worlds exist in more temperate climes, then life may have been possible in the universe almost from the beginning.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A tree is covered by the ice as the snow covers the landscape in the Pyrenees small town of Roncesvalles, northern Spain, Thursday. A cold spell has reached northern Spain with temperatures plummeting far below zero. Alvaro Barrientos/AP

A couple kiss each other as a rainbow forms just after a storm in the Mediterranean Sea in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday. Emilio Morenatti/AP

Market Closes for February 5^th, 2015    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17884.88	+211.86
		+1.20%
S&P 500	2062.52	+21.01   +1.03%
NASDAQ	4765.098	+48.395   +1.03%
TSX	15124.92	+129.27
		+0.86%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17504.62	-174.12
		-0.98%
HANG SENG	24765.49	+85.73
		+0.35%
SENSEX	28850.97	-32.14
		-0.11%
FTSE 100	6865.93	+5.91
		+0.09%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.367	1.279
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.958	1.871
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.8204	1.7641
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.4318	2.3595

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.80419	0.79544
US $	1.24349	1.25716
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42661	0.70096
US $	1.14727	0.87164

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1259.25	1268.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	50.48	49.01

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to a four-month high as energy producers rallied with crude oil and earnings from BCE Inc. bolstered phone shares.

     BCE extended a record after reporting earnings that topped analysts’ estimates. Suncor Energy Inc. rose 2.8 percent as the nation’s largest energy company maintained its dividend and said it will continue development of an oil sands project even as fourth-quarter profit plunged. Lightstream Resources Ltd. and Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. advanced at least 20 percent as U.S. crude surged more than 4 percent in New York.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 129.27 points, or 0.9 percent, to 15,124.92 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest close since Sept. 23. Trading volume was 7.4 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Seven of 10 industries in the equities benchmark climbed Thursday. Energy producers gained 1.5 percent to lead the advance. Toronto-Dominion Bank jumped 2.1 percent to a one-month high to pace a 1.4 percent gain in financials shares.

     Lightstream Resources jumped 23 percent and Pacific Rubiales climbed 20 percent, as West Texas Intermediate oil surged 4.2 percent to settle at $50.48 a barrel in New York.

     Energy shares tumbled 3 percent Wednesday after rising more than 3 percent on each of the week’s first two sessions as the price of crude has swung between gains and losses. A gauge of crude oil volatility is at 63.14, the highest level since April 2009.

     Air Canada soared 5.8 percent to C$13.12 for a second day of gains, the highest close in more than seven years. The nation’s largest airline reported record traffic and load factor results in January. Load factor is a measure of airline efficiency.

     BCE added 0.2 percent to C$58.93, extending a record, after the telecommunications company added more than 117,000 new wireless contract customers and 52,000 Internet customers. The company has added wireless subscribers for the third quarter in a row, outpacing rival Rogers Communications Inc.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed, with benchmark indexes erasing declines for the year, as oil resumed a rebound and Pfizer Inc. announced a $17 billion deal.

     Denbury Resources Inc. and Noble Corp. jumped more than 3.7 percent as oil climbed 4.7 percent. Pfizer added 2.9 percent as it agreed to buy Hospira Inc., the biggest provider of injectable drugs and infusion technology. Hospira jumped 35 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1 percent to 2,062.52 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.86 points, or 1.2 percent, to 17,884.88. The Russell 2000 Index surged 1.5 percent. About 7 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges Thursday, 3.2 percent more than the three-month average.

     “Right now it’s earnings, Greece and M&A,” Krishna Memani, the New York-based chief investment officer at Oppenheimer Funds Inc., said by phone. “It’s more about the corporate outlook in the U.S. remaining good and the realization that while the Greek issue is important, it will eventually be resolved.”

     The S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent yesterday, following the biggest two-day rally in almost a month, as stocks gave up gains in the final 30 minutes after the European Central Bank tightened its rules on lending to Greek banks and oil retreated.

     The benchmark gauge in January posted its worst month in a year amid concern that slowing growth overseas will hurt the U.S. economy, while tumbling crude oil and the strengthening dollar weighed on earnings at multinational corporations.

     U.S. crude prices gained more than 6 percent Thursday, after plunging 8.7 percent Wednesday, the most since November. Oil’s swings have intensified since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided in November not to cut output amid a global surplus. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Crude Oil Volatility Index, which measures price fluctuations using options of the U.S. Oil Fund, ended Wednesday at the highest since April 2009.

     Oil’s wide swings have rippled through equity markets. The CBOE Volatility Index fell 8.1 percent to 16.85 after rising 5.8 percent Wednesday. The gauge, known as the VIX, is down 20 percent this week after jumping 26 percent last week.

     A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. gauge of the most-shorted stocks in the Russell 3000 Index jumped 2.3 percent Thursday, bringing its rally since the end of January to 5.9 percent. The S&P 500 has advanced 3.4 percent in that period.

     About 78 percent of S&P 500 members that have posted results this season have beaten analyst estimates, while 55 percent have topped sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.                           

     Data on Thursday showed fewer Americans than forecast filed jobless claims last week. Applications for unemployment benefits increased by 11,000 to 278,000 in the week ended Jan. 31, from a revised 267,000 in the prior period. The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise to 290,000.

     Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department is predicted to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 230,000 last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 5.6 percent.

     A separate report showed the U.S. trade deficit increased unexpectedly in December to a two-year high on a pickup in imports of motor vehicles and fewer shipments overseas. Companies imported a record $48.8 billion in consumer goods along with more industrial supplies and capital equipment, showing U.S. demand is holding up as global economies cool.

     Progress toward reducing the trade gap will probably be difficult because of slower demand from overseas markets and a rally in the U.S. dollar.

     “Obviously Europe matters but what’s a little more important is what’s happening domestically,” Jerry Villella, a global investment specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank in Dallas, said by phone. “We’re about halfway through earnings season and with the exception of energy and financials, it’s been mostly a good story.”                         

     Materials, health-care and energy companies led as all 10 of the S&P 500’s industry groups rose.

     Pfizer had its biggest gain since April and Hospira climbed to a record. Pfizer has been looking to make an acquisition after a failed $120 billion bid for AstraZeneca Plc last year in what would have been the industry’s biggest-ever takeover. Buying Hospira will add a broad range of generic sterile injectable medicines to Pfizer’s portfolio and assist the company’s strategy to offer more biosimilar drugs.

     Ball Corp. saw its biggest gain since 2011, adding 8.9 percent and reaching a record high, after Rexam Plc confirmed talks about a possible sale to its U.S. competitor that may value the U.K. beverage-can manufacturer at about $6.6 billion.

     “Good companies are feeling comfortable enough that they want to merge and the market is generally positive toward that, but there’s always the question of if they are merging because they can’t grow their top line organically,” Frank Ingarra, head trader at Greenwich, Connecticut-based NorthCoast Asset Management LLC, said by phone.

     Twitter Inc. climbed 1.3 percent as people with knowledge of the matter said it struck a deal with Google Inc. to facilitate easier online searches for its 140-character updates. It climbed an additional 7.6 percent in late trading as fourth- quarter revenue topped estimates, showing the company was able to draw more advertising even as user growth continues to slow.

     Visa Inc. added 2.6 percent to $271.80, a record high. The shares have rallied 10 percent in six sessions, the most since November, after announcing last week better-than-forecast earnings and a stock split.

     Frontier Communications Corp. advanced 5.8 percent on speculation it may buy landline assets. After the close of trading, Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to sell landline assets across California, Florida and Texas to Frontier for$10.54 billion in cash.                        

     Keurig Green Mountain Inc. slid 4.9 percent after cutting its 2015 profit outlook. The company cited slower-than-expected sales of a new coffee brewer.

     Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. fell 2.3 percent after North American sales missed estimates, raising concern that the maker of luxury goods is suffering a slowdown in its biggest market.

     Airline stocks declined for the fourth loss in five sessions, as oil prices gained. United Continental Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. lost at least 1.1 percent as seven of 11 companies in a Bloomberg index of airlines fell.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The lamp is empty; the oil is used up.

The tambourine is dead, the dancer lies down,

The fire is out, and no smoke rises from it.

The soul is absorbed into the Unique, and there is no longer a duality.

Kabir,

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.

                                    -Mae West, 1893-1980

 

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:

Carolann is out of the office, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Skaters pass city hall on an ice rink set up on Rathausplatz square in Vienna Tuesday. Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

Lava erupts from the Mt. Etna’s volcano, near Catania, in Sicily, southern Italy, early Monday. Davide Cautullo/AP

Market Closes for February 4^th, 2015    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17673.02	+6.62
		+0.04%
S&P 500	2037.87	-12.16   -0.59%
NASDAQ	4716.703	-11.035   -0.23%
TSX	14986.12	-76.76
		-0.51%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17678.74	+342.89
		+1.98%
HANG SENG	24679.76	+124.98
		+0.51%
SENSEX	28883.11	-117.03
		-0.40%
FTSE 100	6860.02	-11.78
		-0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.279	1.312
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.871	1.903
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.7641	1.7915
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3595	2.3792

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.79544	0.80484
US $	1.25716	1.24249
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42738	0.70028
US $	1.13583	0.88041

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1268.50	1264.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	49.01	53.05

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first time in five days, as energy producers declined after oil halted its biggest rally since 2009 amid an increase in U.S. inventories.

     Legacy Oil & Gas Inc. and MEG Energy Corp. slumped at least 7.1 percent as energy shares retreated from a two-month high. Alacer Gold Corp. and Yamana Gold Inc. increased more than 8 percent as gold rose for the first time in three days. Equities extended losses in the final 30 minutes of trading after the European Central Bank tightened the terms of Greece’s bailout.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 67.23 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,995.65 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after reaching the highest level since Nov. 25 on Tuesday. The benchmark equity gauge had jumped 3.2 percent in the past four days. Trading volume was 8.5 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Selling accelerated late in the session as the ECB said in a statement that it had lifted a waiver on Greek government debt as collateral. During the 2010 debt crisis Greece met its obligations by issuing short-term bills to local banks, which pledged them to the ECB as collateral.

     Seven of 10 industries rose in the S&P/TSX. Energy shares, which account for about 22 percent of the broader index, sank 3 percent after a three-day rally added 10 percent to the gauge.

     West Texas Intermediate futures fell as much as 9.4 percent, the most since November, to end the biggest rally in almost six years. U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 6.33 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported.

     Alacer Gold jumped 8 percent and Yamana Gold rallied 8 percent as gold for April delivery rose 0.3 percent to settle at $1,264.50 in New York. Copper advanced a second day.

     Air Canada soared 4.9 percent, the most in two months, after it reached a tentative labor deal with Teamsters for 650 U.S. employees including airport, cargo and call center workers.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell, after the biggest two-day rally in almost a month, as the European Central Bank tightened its rules on Greece’s bailout and oil retreated for the first time in five days.

     The S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 2,041.51 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge fell in the final 30 minutes of trading, erasing a gain of 0.2 percent, as the ECB said it lifted a waiver on Greek government debt as collateral. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6.62 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,673.02, after climbing 0.7 percent amid a rally in Walt Disney Co.

     “This happened sooner than expected and the market’s a little shocked,” said Michael Block, chief equity strategist at Rhino Trading Partners LLC in New York. “This is the ECB turning the screws, not going to let Greek banks die but the clock is ticking. People thought the ECB would do this at the end of the month and that perhaps before then, a deal could be struck. I guess not.”

     The ECB said it will no longer suspend its own collateral rules for Greek government debt, citing doubt over the commitment of the new government to previous reform pledges.

     The decision will force Greek lenders, who since 2010 had been able to access funds from the ECB against junk-rated collateral, to apply for funding from their national central bank at less-advantageous rates. The decision comes hours after Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis met ECB President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt to gain support for his government’s push to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout.

     “In the grand scheme of things, it won’t have a major impact on the U.S. stock market, but the fact it was unexpected may cause people to take risk off the table,” Joe Bell, a Cincinnati-based senior equity analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc., said in a phone interview.

     Equities fell earlier in the day as weekly inventory data showed crude stockpiles at their highest levels since at least 1982, sending oil down 8.8 percent to end the biggest rally since 2009.

     Transocean Ltd. paced declines among energy shares in the S&P 500. The group had jumped 6.8 percent over the previous four sessions, the most since December, amid speculation that reduced investment will curb crude production. The industry tumbled 20 percent from a June high through the end of 2014 as crude entered a bear market.

     The S&P 500 rallied 2.8 percent in the past two days, helped by the surge in energy stocks. In January, the index posted its worst month in a year as concern mounted that slowing growth overseas will hurt the American economy, while the plunge in crude oil and stronger dollar have shown signs of eroding corporate profits.

     Economic data on Wednesday was mixed. An ADP Research Institute report showed companies added 213,000 workers in January, below economists’ forecast of 223,000. The data come before Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department, which economists predict will show nonfarm payrolls increased 231,000 last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 5.6 percent.

     The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index expanded at a faster pace in January, a sign of progress in the biggest part of the economy that will help the U.S. work through a global slowdown.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 5.8 percent to 18.33, following a two-day decline. The gauge, known as the VIX, jumped 26 percent last week.

     Volatility has increased this year. The Dow moved at least 1 percent in either direction in each of the previous six sessions, the longest such streak since October 2011. The benchmark’s daily moves were all greater than 190 points in that stretch, the first time that’s happened in the gauge’s history.

     Investors also watched corporate earnings. About 78 percent of S&P 500 companies that have posted results this season have beaten analyst estimates, while 54 percent have topped sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     Merck & Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc. led a 1.4 percent decline in health-care companies. Merck fell 3.2 percent after saying 2015 adjusted earnings and sales will be below analyst estimates.

     Gilead retreated 8.2 percent after saying discounts for its blockbuster hepatitis C drugs will weigh on revenue this year. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index fell for a fourth day, down 1.8 percent.

     Walt Disney rallied 7.6 percent to an all-time high after quarterly results beat analysts’ estimates. Whirlpool Corp. added 6.9 percent after also topping projections.

     Clorox Co. climbed 1.8 percent after raising its 2015 profit and sales outlook, joining Disney and Whirlpool in driving gains in consumer shares. General Motors Co. climbed 5.4 percent after reporting quarterly profit that beat projections and raising its dividend. GM has gained 9.8 percent this week.

     Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. lost 7 percent after posting fourth-quarter same-store sales that trailed analysts’ estimates and saying that higher food costs slowed profit gains.

     J.M. Smucker Co. rose 5.9 percent, the most since 2010, after agreeing to buy Big Heart Pet Brands for about $3.2 billion. Staples Inc. slipped 12 percent after agreeing to buy Office Depot Inc. for about $11 a share. The stocks jumped on Tuesday after the two retailers were said to enter merger talks.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” William Arthur Ward

 

As ever,

 

Karen

 

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Carolann is out of the office, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A decorated elephant marches during Navam Perahera, a Buddhist pageant of elephants, dancers and drummers, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday. More than 50 elephants participated in the parade. Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Seagulls fly near a beach at the Baltic Sea town of Karlshagen, eastern Germany, Tuesday. Stefan Sauer/dpa/AP

Market Closes for February 3rd, 2015    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17666.40	+305.36
		+1.76%
S&P 500	2050.03	+29.18   +1.44%
NASDAQ	4727.738	+51.049   +1.09%
TSX	15062.88	+162.41
		+1.09%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17335.85	-222.19
		-1.27%
HANG SENG	24554.78	+70.04
		+0.29%
SENSEX	29000.14	-122.13
		-0.42%
FTSE 100	6871.80	+89.25
		+1.32%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.312	1.236
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.903	1.830
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.7915	1.6659
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3792	2.2497

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.80484	0.79548
US $	1.24249	1.25711
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42514	0.70169
US $	1.14700	0.87184

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1264.25	1272.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.05	49.57

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose a fourth day, extending a two-month high, as oil surged into a bull market amid speculation reduced investment will curb a production supply glut.

     Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. surged 20 percent, extending a record rally as energy shares jumped to the highest level since November. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s largest lenders, climbed at least 2.6 percent to pace gains in financial shares. Teck Resources Ltd. added 7.4 percent as copper advanced the most in more than 21 months.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 162.30 points, or 1.1 percent, to 15,062.77 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest level since Nov. 25. The benchmark equity gauge has jumped 3.2 percent in the past four days.

     “People are thinking the $40s was a little oversold on oil so now you’re seeing more stabilizing,” said Greg Taylor, fund manager at Aurion Capital Management Inc. in Toronto. His firm manages about C$6 billion ($4.84 billion). “If we can hold in the $50s that will go a long way to adding a lot of support to the energy sector and also the entire Canadian stock market with the banks doing a little better.”

     West Texas Intermediate crude rallied 7 percent to close at $53.05 a barrel in New York. WTI is up 19 percent from its Jan. 28 close of $44.45 a barrel. Brent crude entered a bull market after settling at $57.91 a barrel, more than 20 percent above its Jan. 13 settlement.

     Oil prices are getting a lift as producers cut back on their production and capital investments, lessening a supply glut that drove prices into a bear market last year. Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc lowered their spending targets for this year as the industry cut more than $40 billion from budgets. BP Plc said Tuesday it will cut spending by 13 percent after oil slumped.

     Prices are still down 50 percent since June. The next few days will be crucial in determining whether the current rally will be short-lived, Taylor said.

     Five of the 10 main groups in the S&P/TSX advanced today, with energy shares surging 3.3 percent to lead gains. Financial shares, the biggest industry by weighting, rallied 2.1 percent. Trading volume was 41 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Canadian Oil Sands surged 20 percent for a third straight advance that has lifted the oil and gas producer’s shares by 75 percent. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. climbed 29 percent and Lightstream Resources Ltd. jumped 31 percent.

     “It appears the market was a bit too negative and oversold,” said Irwin Michael, fund manager at ABC Funds in Toronto. His firm manages about C$600 million. “You do want to see some stability. Things can change very quickly.”

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. soared 6.8 percent and Capstone Mining Corp. increased 16 percent as copper rose the most in 21 months on speculation more stimulus in China will boost demand for the metal. Aluminum had the biggest three-session gain in 15 weeks. Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified miner, climbed 7.4 percent.

     Royal Bank jumped 2.6 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the bank has closed many of its wealth-management offices across Latin America in the past 18 months due to scrutiny of potential money-laundering activities.

     Bank of Montreal rallied 2.4 percent, the biggest increase since November 2011.

     Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., the investment services company, soared 10 percent, the most in a year, after reducing its workforce by 4 percent Monday.

US

By Oliver Renick and Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied for a second day, rebounding from the biggest monthly drop in a year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as a surge in energy stocks spread to the broader market.

     Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. climbed at least 3 percent as Brent crude entered a bull market. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. rose 8.8 percent as commodities had the biggest three-day advance since 2012. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. jumped after sales exceeded analysts’ estimates as cheaper gas and falling unemployment boosted consumer confidence.

     The S&P 500 added 1.4 percent to 2,050.03 at 4 p.m. in New York, climbing above its average level for the past 50 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 305.36 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,666.40. The gauge is up 2.9 percent over two days, the most since Jan. 8.

     “The fact that oil is stabilizing takes some edge off the argument that the global economy is really in trouble,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based RW Baird & Co., which oversees $110 billion, said in a phone interview. “The markets are a little oversold after being down in January, which is also part of the strength today.”

     The S&P 500 rebounded 1.3 percent Monday, and the two-day rally has trimmed the gauge’s decline for the year to 0.4 percent. The index lost 3.1 percent in January, the worst performance in a year, as concern mounted that slowing growth overseas will hurt the American economy at the same time that the plunge in crude and the stronger dollar have shown signs of eroding corporate profits.

     Brent crude closed more than 20 percent above its Jan. 13 settlement, a common definition of a bull market, on speculation that reduced investment will curb crude production. Crude prices are still down 50 percent since June.

     Energy shares in the S&P 500 are up 6.8 percent over the past four sessions, the most since December, and the group is now up 0.7 percent for the year. The industry tumbled 20 percent from a June high through the end of the year as crude entered a bear market.

     Denbury Resources Inc. soared 11 percent, following a 12 percent rally on Monday. Oil and gas explorer EOG Resources Inc. rose 4.1 percent, and energy services company Schlumberger Ltd. added 2.9 percent.

     Caterpillar Inc. climbed 3.8 percent, its best gain since Nov. 21 and the biggest advance in the Dow. The company fell 6.6 percent last week after the company blamed lower oil prices in cutting its 2015 profit outlook.

     U.S. equities followed European stocks higher earlier in the day after Greece retreated from a plan to ask the euro area to write down debt. That eased concern that the nation would defy its creditors.

     “The biggest concern has been Greece and what will happen there and that’s being taken off the table in the short term,” Rick Fier, director of equity trading at Conifer Securities LLC in New York, said in an interview. “The past few days seems rotational, people are trying to catch a bounce by moving into energy stocks and selling winners like biotech and health care to create cash.”

     All 10 groups in the S&P 500 advanced, led by energy shares. Phone, raw-materials, consumer-discretionary and financial companies rallied more than 1.6 percent.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 11 percent to 17.33. The gauge, known as the VIX, is down 17 percent in the past two sessions after a 26 percent jump last week.

     The Dow Jones Transportation Index climbed 1.5 percent, as railroads Norfolk Southern Corp., CSX Corp. and Union Pacific Corp. jumped more than 2.3 percent. Those gains offset declines in airlines, which fell amid the prospect of rising fuel costs.

     Banks rallied, with Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc.

and JPMorgan Chase & Co. each rising at least 2.3 percent. The worst-performing stock in the KBW Bank Index, Huntington Bancshares Inc., still rose 1 percent.

     KB Home, Toll Brothers Inc. and PulteGroup Inc. carried the homebuilders higher, each rising at least 2.6 percent.

     Office Depot Inc. jumped 22 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the company is in advanced merger talks with Staples Inc. Staples added 11 percent.

     Eaton Corp., a maker of circuit breakers and large truck transmissions, soared 8.4 percent, the most since 2009, after reporting earnings that beat analysts’ estimates on strong U.S. housing demand and truck sales.

     Ford Motor and General Motors climbed after January data showed the two led automakers with the biggest U.S. sales. GM rose 2.6 percent after an 18 percent sales increase, and Ford added 2.5 percent as it reported a 16 percent gain in light- vehicle sales.

     Arch Coal Inc. added 16 percent after reporting a narrower fourth-quarter loss compared to a year ago after raising output at lower-cost mines. The company also suspended its 1-cent quarterly dividend to preserve liquidity, Chief Financial Officer John T. Drexler said in a statement.

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index lost 0.5 percent for the third straight loss. The index is down 2.9 percent from an all- time high on Jan. 26.

     Luminex Corp. fell 13 percent drop after the company predicted first-quarter and yearly revenue below analysts’ estimates. Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. declined 5.8 percent after Deutsche Bank analyst Alethia Young said the company’s diabetes data don’t appear as strong as similar drugs.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Buddha

 

As ever,

 

Karen

 

“The starting point of all achievement is desire.” Napoleon Hill

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in…1887,

Punxsutawney, Pa., held its first Groundhog Day festival.

In addition to Groundhog Day, the first days of February also mark several other ancient festivals and feast days, such as Candlemas                   and Imbole, all having to do with light, fire, and the coming of spring. 

SPRINGTIME SPLENDOUR

Springtime splendor, springtime sweet,
how soon will it be?
If there’s no shadow at your feet,
it may come suddenly
Springtime splendor, springtime true,
may be on its way
But if all the sky is blue,
winter ’s here to stay.

                         -Don Halley

On this day in 1922, 

The James Joyce novel “Ulysses” was published in Paris on the author’s 40th birthday.

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. –James Joyce.
 
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Groundhog Club handler Ron Ploucha, (r.), holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, as Jeff Lundy, (l.), reads Phil’s weather proclamation of six-more weeks of winter during the 129th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday. Gene J. Puskar/AP

A detail of the Salisbury Magna Carta one of the four original surviving Magna Carta manuscripts that have been brought together by the British Library for the first time, on display at the library during a media preview in London, Monday. The event marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which established the timeless principle that no individual, even a monarch, is above the law. Alastair Grant/AP

 

Market Closes for February 2^nd, 2015    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17361.04	+196.09
		+1.14%
S&P 500	2020.85	+25.86   +1.30%
NASDAQ	4676.691	+41.451   +0.89%
TSX	14901.42	+227.94
		+1.55%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17558.04	-116.35
		-0.66%
HANG SENG	24484.74	-22.31
		-0.09%
SENSEX	29122.27	-60.68
		-0.21%
FTSE 100	6782.55	+33.15
		+0.49%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.236	1.258
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.830	1.840
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.6659	1.6525
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2497	2.2281

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.79548	0.78621
US $	1.25711	1.27192
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42525	0.70163
US $	1.13376	0.88202

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1272.50	1260.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	49.57	48.24

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a third day, to a two-month high, as energy producers extended a rally with the price of crude oil and banks rebounded from a steep drop on Friday.

     Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. soared 20 percent, as energy shares jumped to a one-month high. National Bank of Canada rose 1.8 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia climbed 1.6 percent after financial stocks fell 2 percent on Friday. Bombardier Inc. gained 1.4 percent after Chorus Aviation Inc. signed a firm purchase agreement to buy 13 aircraft.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 226.99 points, or 1.6 percent, to 14,900.47 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark equity gauge advanced 0.3 percent in January.

     Canadian Oil Sands has rallied 46 percent in the past two sessions, pacing gains among energy producers. The group climbed 3.7 percent, the most in the S&P/TSX. Nine of 10 industries advanced on trading volume 2.9 percent below the 30-day average.

     Imperial Oil Ltd., the producer majority owned by Exxon Mobil Corp., added 4.5 percent after the company said it will push ahead with its multi-billion-dollar expansion plans even after the months-long slump in oil.

     Canadian Western Bank, which focuses on businesses in the country’s oil region, surged 7.9 percent, the most since February 2009.

     Crude oil rose to a one-month high as gasoline climbed with a U.S. refinery strike entering a second day. The strike by oil workers at plants accounting for 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity continued Monday in the biggest walkout since 1980.

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. added 6.3 percent as the price of copper for three-month delivery in London added 0.1 percent to settle at $5,500 a metric ton. The metal tumbled 13 percent in January, the biggest drop in three years.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index extending gains in the final 30 minutes of trading, as energy shares rallied after the price of crude oil advanced to a one-month high.

     The S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent to 2,020.85 at 4 p.m. in New York. Buying accelerated after the gauge climbed above its average price for the past 100 days as oil extended gains. The index earlier fell to its lowest level since Dec. 17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 196.09 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,361.04. About 7.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 12 percent more than the three-month average.

     “The price of oil went up, boosting oil and energy stocks, which contributed to the market gain this afternoon and pulled up other sectors too,” Walter “Bucky” Hellwig, who helps manage $17 billion at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama, said in a phone interview. “If you had to lay the strength at the feet of one item, it’s the fact that oil prices didn’t collapse and in fact moved higher.”

     Oil rose to a one-month high on speculation some investors bought contracts to close out bearish bets amid a falling rig count. Gasoline climbed as a refinery strike entered a second day. Crude has fallen more than 50 percent since a June high amid a global supply glut.

     Energy shares in the S&P 500 led gains, surging 3 percent for the biggest advance in two weeks. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. jumped at least 2.5 percent. Phone shares added 2.4 percent as a group, with Verizon Communications Inc. climbing 2.8 percent, the most since Feb. 20, 2014.

     The S&P 500 fell 2.8 percent last week, extending the worst monthly loss in a year, as weaker-than-forecast economic growth outweighed a rally in energy shares and the highest consumer confidence reading in 11 years, amid continuing concern in Europe over the new Greek government’s challenge to an austerity program. The index lost 3.1 percent for the month, the worst performance since January 2014.

     Data Monday showed factories expanded in January at the weakest pace in a year as orders cooled, a sign weakness in overseas markets is restraining U.S. manufacturing. The Institute for Supply Management’s index dropped to 53.5 from 55.1 in December, the report from the Tempe, Arizona-based group showed Monday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 74 economists called for a decline to 54.5. Readings greater than 50 signal growth.

     The plunge in oil prices is limiting sales at manufacturers such as Caterpillar Inc. while slower growth from Europe to China and the strengthening dollar represent another hurdle for American exports.

     A separate report Monday consumer spending fell in December as households took a breather from the break-neck pace of buying that characterized the fourth quarter.                        

     Data last week showed the U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace than forecast in the fourth quarter as cooling business investment, a slump in government outlays and a widening trade gap took some of the luster off the biggest gain in consumer spending in almost nine years.

     The Federal Reserve upgraded its assessment of the U.S.economy in a Jan. 28 statement, and noted labor market conditions have improved further, “with strong job gains and a lower unemployment rate.”

     That view suggests the Fed remains on track for a mid-year interest rate hike, and Friday’s January nonfarm payrolls report may further solidify that view. Economists forecast 232,000 jobs were added last month, compared with 252,000 in December.

     Nine S&P 500 members reported financial results on Monday. About 78 percent of the companies that posted earnings this season have beaten analyst estimates, while 55 percent have topped sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.                         

     “The bottom line is it all comes down to company earnings and growth is on the positive side,” Karyn Cavanaugh, the New York-based senior market strategist at Voya Investment Management LLC, said by phone. Voya oversees $215 billion. “There are a lot of worries out there and the market gets a bit wobbly, but earnings guide the way.”

     All of the 10 main industries in the S&P 500 advanced at least 0.4 percent, while all but one of the 30 stocks in the Dow average advanced. Financial and industrial shares in the broader gauge jumped more than 1.5 percent.

     Exxon Mobil advanced after reporting a steep drop in fourth-quarter profit on lower prices and declining production as the rout in oil ushered in an era of frugality for an industry that reaped $3.2 trillion in sales last year.

     Denbury Resources Inc. added 12 percent for the biggest gain in the S&P 500, while Chesapeake Energy Corp. climbed 7 percent.

     First Solar Inc. and SunEdison Inc. jumped at least 6.7 percent. President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget calls for continued tax breaks for wind and solar energy.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Nature if forever giving us chance after chance at what we call rebirth and death,

and we, in our folly, in our fear of death, fail to understand that which represents a new journey,

a new page on which to write, and thus to believe in a new beginning for ourselves…

The truth is that my body has come to existence, and that it will cease to exist.  I am eternal.

 

Rev. Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari

 

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

We die only once, and for such a long time.

                                -Moliere, 1622-1673

 

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