Month: August 2015

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

So passes Summer, still without one brief
Respite from labour, simply to enjoy;
Never that empty moment of relief
When every task is done, no urgent ploy.
Martha not Mary bustles to her chares
Living, not saying, her creative prayers…

       -Vita Sackville- West

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Supporters look at jockey Jonathan Bartoletti (c.) and his horse, Bened of the Lupa (Wolf), during a blessing ceremony in a church before the Palio race in Siena, Italy, Monday. Every year on July 2 and August 16, almost without fail since the mid-1600s, 10 riders compete bareback around Siena’s shell-shaped central square in a bid to win the Palio, a silk banner depicting the Madonna and child. The race was postponed to Aug. 17 due to rain. Fabio Muzzi/Reuters

Stevie Wonder performs a surprise, free, 5-song concert outside the D.C. Armory in Washington Monday. Wonder also planned free pop-up concerts later in Philadelphia and New York. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

A lobsterman motors through a channel as he leaves Cape Porpoise Harbor at sunrise Monday in Kennebunkport, Maine. Robert F. Bukaty/AP

Market Closes for August 17^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17545.18	+67.78   +0.39%
S&P 500	2102.44	+10.90   +0.52%
NASDAQ	5091.699	+43.464   +0.86%
TSX	14251.53	-26.35
		-0.18%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20620.26	+100.81
		+0.49%
HANG SENG	23814.65	-176.38
		-0.74%
SENSEX	27878.27	-189.04
		-0.67%
FTSE 100	6550.30	-0.44
		-0.01%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.372	1.391
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.078	2.086
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1678	2.1942
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8176	2.8392

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76429	0.76358
US $	1.30840	1.30962
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.44956	0.68987
US $	1.10788	0.90262

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1118.80	1118.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	41.87	42.68

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks resumed their slide, falling for the fourth time in five sessions, as crude prices traded at the lowest in more than six years and financial shares slumped.

     Energy producers paced a decline in equities as crude futures dropped 1.5 percent in New York amid an increase in U.S. drilling and the prospect OPEC production may rise to a record after sanctions on Iran are lifted. Concerns grew that demand for oil may slip as manufacturing in New York unexpectedly shrank and Japan’s economy contracted last quarter.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 26.35 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,251.53 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, paring a loss of as much as 0.7 percent in the final half hour of trading. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has fallen 2.6 percent this year.

     Commodities producers are the worst-performing industries in the S&P/TSX this year as crude has slumped more than 30 percent from this year’s June peak into a bear market and metals from copper to gold have declined amid concern global growth is slowing. Energy and raw-materials account for about 30 percent of the benchmark equity gauge.

     Trican Well Service Ltd. plunged 11 percent, extending a 2000 low, after plunging a record 32 percent Aug. 14. The company warned there’s a risk it won’t emerge from the oil slump. The stock has slumped 78 percent this year, the worst- performing stock in the S&P/TSX.

     Trican forecasts breaching a covenant with lenders by the end of September that may trigger its debt to become due on demand.

     Financial shares dropped 0.5 percent. Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal retreated at least 0.7 percent. The nation’s largest lenders are scheduled to report third-quarter earnings beginning Aug. 25.

US

By Callie Bost and Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, following last week’s gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, with homebuilders pacing the advance amid light volume before further clues from the Federal Reserve on the path for interest rates.

     The S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to 2,102.44 at 4 p.m. in New York, climbing above its average price for the past 100 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 67.78 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,545.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.9 percent. About 5.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 15 percent below the three-month average.

     “We kind of felt the tide turning last week on Wednesday’s reversal with managers getting long, not short,” said Rick Fier, director of equity trading at Conifer Securities LLC in New York. “Traders are positioned to the upside.”

     The S&P 500 advanced 0.7 percent last week, continuing to trade in the tightest range in nine decades. The benchmark gauge briefly erased its gain for the year on Aug. 12 amid China’s currency devaluation, coming within 10 points of the low end of the trading range before staging the biggest intraday turnaround in three years.

     U.S. stocks have shown resiliency characteristic of the 6 1/2-year bull market even as China’s move touched off financial turmoil that ravaged emerging-market currencies and deepened a rout in commodities from oil to copper.

     As concerns over China have eased, investors are refocusing attention on the strength of the U.S. economy and its implications for Fed interest-rate policy.                         

     Equities fell early Monday as a report showed manufacturing in the New York region slumped at the fastest pace since the depths of the last recession. Stocks reversed losses as separate data showed confidence among U.S. homebuilders climbed in August to the highest level in almost a decade, indicating the residential real-estate market is making strides.

     “It’s a quiet Monday and the market is fairly easy to move around right now,” said Michael Antonelli, an institutional equity sales trader and managing director at Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee. “We’re in this tug of war where we’ve reached a stalemate and we’re not going to break out until we see something from the Fed.”

     The Fed releases minutes from its July meeting on Aug. 19. Traders have raised their expectations for a September rate increase, with the probability rising to 46 percent from 40 percent Tuesday, according to futures trading data compiled by Bloomberg.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index increased 1.5 percent to 13.02, paring an earlier gain of 13 percent. The gauge known as the VIX slid 4.2 percent last week.                      

     Nine of 10 major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, with health-care and consumer-discretionary companies climbing the most. Energy shares had the only loss as a group as oil prices slid 1.5 percent. Chevron Corp. tumbled 2 percent.

     Homebuilder stocks in the S&P 500 climbed 2.1 percent as TopBuild Corp. and KB Home gained more than 3.1 percent. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment gauge rose to 61, the highest since November 2005, from 60 in the prior two months. Readings greater than 50 mean more respondents report good market conditions.

     Airlines also rallied, with the Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index reaching the highest level since May. Southwest Airlines Co. jumped 2.8 percent while American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. increased more than 1.8 percent.

     Tesla Motors Inc. climbed 4.9 percent. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas boosted his price target on Tesla to $465, 91 percent higher than its close Friday, citing potential rewards in shifting driving from humans to robots and sharing cars.

     Zulily Inc. soared 49 percent after Liberty Interactive Corp., owner of the QVC home-shopping service, agreed to buy the online retailer for $2.4 billion. Zulily, which operates daily flash sales of items ranging from maternity clothes to bibs and toys, is bringing a younger clientele and expertise in personalizing offers to the QVC network.

     Estee Lauder Cos. slid 6.8 percent for the worst performance in the S&P 500. The fragrance manufacturer posted fourth-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates.

     The results come as the earnings season nears its end. Out of 464 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, about 74 percent have beaten profit estimates, while almost half topped sales projections.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Find the Unique and possess the Whole.

This truly is our highest, most sublime privilege.

It is in the law of this unity that is, as long as we understand it,

our immutable force.  Its living principle is the force that resides in truth –

Truth is one.

 

Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

A promise made is a debt unpaid.

    -Robert W. Service, 1874-1958

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

V-J DAY AUGUST 14^TH, 1945

THE POEM

Last Love

Towards our end, as life runs out,
love is more troubled and more tender.
Fade not, fade not, departing light
of our last love, our farewell splendour.

Shadow overshadows half the sky;
far to the west the last rays wander.
Shine on, shine on, last light of day;
allow us still to watch and wonder.

What if our blood runs thinner, cooler?
This does not make the heart less tender.
Last love, last love, what can I call you?
Joy and despair, mortal surrender.

       -by Fyodor Tyutchev, 1851.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The Milky Way is seen in the night sky over rocks in the natural reserve area of Wadi Al-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales, in the desert of Al Fayoum Governorate, southwest of Cairo, Friday. Wadi Al-Hitan holds an impressive collection of fossils and bones, some of which date back more than 40 million years. The entire site resembles an open-air museum with marked trails that visitors can follow to admire the fossils and rock formations that extend over a vast area. Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

Members of the Devipujak tribe gather at a graveyard during the Diwaso festival in Ahmadabad, India, Friday. They decorate graves, mourn and offer gifts to deceased relatives during this annual festival. Ajit Solanki/AP

 

Married couple Kenji and Kristen Kawasaki (l.) join others as they re-enact the iconic 1945 Alfred Eisenstaedt kiss photo Friday in New York’s Times Square. Dozens of couples gathered to re-enact the famous kiss that celebrated the end of WWII. A 25-foot-high sculpture replica of the original kiss (top), entitled ‘Embracing Peace,’ is in Times Square until Sunday. Bebeto Matthews/AP

Market Closes for August 14^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17479.34	+71.09     +0.41%
S&P 500	2091.58	+8.19   +0.39%
NASDAQ	5048.234	+14.677   +0.29%
TSX	14284.60	+46.20
		+0.32%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20519.45	-76.10
		-0.37%
HANG SENG	23991.03	-27.77
		-0.12%
SENSEX	28067.31	+517.78
		+1.88%
FTSE 100	6550.74	-17.59
		-0.27%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.391	1.399
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.086	2.097
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1942	2.1871
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8392	2.8558

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76358	0.76572
US $	1.30962	1.30595
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.45536	0.68711
US $	1.11129	0.89986

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1118.25	1116.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	42.68	42.23

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, halting a three-day decline, as an advance in the nation’s largest lenders overcame losses among energy producers after crude capped the longest weekly slump since January.

     Royal Bank of Canada added 0.8 percent and Just Energy Group Inc. surged 9.2 perent to lead gains among financial- services and utilities stocks.

     Bombardier Inc. and Air Canada slumped after Canadian factory sales rose in June by less than half the advance forecast by economists. Faltering exports of non-energy goods have been a puzzle to the Bank of Canada, which cut interest rates a second time this year.

     Gold producers retreated, paring their increase for the week to 8.7 percent, the most since January. China unexpectedly updated its bullion positions for a second time after six years of silence. Energy stocks slipped to extend their weekly slide to 1 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 39.48 points to 14,277.88 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has fallen 0.2 percent this week.

     Commodities producers are the worst-performing industries in the S&P/TSX this year as crude slumped into a bear market and metals from copper to gold have declined amid concern global growth is slowing. Energy and raw-materials account for about 30 percent of the benchmark equity gauge.

     Trican Well Service Ltd. plunged a record 32 percent after warning there’s a risk it won’t emerge from the oil slump, even after agreeing to sell its Russian unit for $140 million. The stock has slumped 76 percent this year, the worst-performing stock in the S&P/TSX.

     Trican forecasts breaching a covenant with lenders by the end of September that may trigger its debt to become due on demand.

     Bombardier slumped 7.5 percent, extending a 1993 low, after the struggling aerospace manufacturer’s third-largest shareholder said Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare will need more time to reverse the company’s fortunes. Bombardier, the second-worst stock in the S&P/TSX this year, is down 67 percent in 2015.

US

By Callie Bost and Sofia Horta e Costa

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher for the week, as investors turned their attention to economic reports amid the Federal Reserve’s intention to raise interest rates.

     The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 2,091.54 at 4 p.m. in New York, giving it a gain of 0.7 percent for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 69.15 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,477.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.3 percent.

     “Economic data has been a bit better than expected and people are not worrying as much about China,” said Paul Zemsky, head of multi-asset strategies at Voya Investment Management LLC. “Those are helping, and the fact that the yuan has stabilized and hasn’t come crashing down has given a bid under the market.”

     Data today showed factory production rose more than economists forecast, indicating American manufacturing is regaining its footing after a slowdown. Improving U.S. demand will help cushion factories from weakening global markets, the stronger dollar and the slump in oil prices.

     Separate data showed wholesale prices in the U.S. climbed at a slower pace in July. Confidence among U.S. consumers eased for a second month in August as households braced for an increase in interest rates.

    Traders have raised their expectations for a September rate move by the Fed, amid the data and as concerns about the impact of China’s currency devaluation ease. The probability of a rate increase in September is 48 percent, up from 40 percent Tuesday, according to futures trading data compiled by Bloomberg.

     Even with predictions rates will rise next month, calm has blanketed the U.S. stock market. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, known as the VIX, is below its 12- month average. The gauge slipped 4.9 percent to 12.83 on Friday.

     U.S. stocks still trail most developed markets this year, with the S&P 500 holding in the tightest trading range since 1927. Just five mega-cap stocks — Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Netflix Inc. — are propping up the market, with combined gains in 2015 that actually exceed the entire S&P 500.

     As the earnings season winds down, about three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far beat profit estimates, while less than half topped sales projections. Analysts expect a 2.1 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, less than July 10 calls for a 6.4 percent decline.

     Nine of 10 major industries in the S&P 500 advanced, led by financial, industrial and utility companies. Energy shares slipped 0.2 percent.

     Among stocks moving on corporate news, Nordstrom Inc. rose 4.3 percent after its full-year profit forecast exceeded analysts’ estimates. J.C. Penney Co. jumped 5.6 percent after posting a second-quarter loss that was smaller than analysts estimated and saying the back-to-school shopping season was off to a “strong start.”

     Sysco Corp. rose 7.4 percent, the most since December 2013, after activist investor Nelson Peltz disclosed a 7.1 percent stake in the food distributor and said he may seek representation on the board.

     King Digital Entertainment Plc dropped 11 percent as the maker of the Candy Crush video games said bookings will drop in the third quarter.

     Applied Materials Inc. fell 2.4 percent as the largest maker of machinery used to build computer chips forecast fiscal fourth-quarter sales that trailed analysts’ estimates.

     El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. dropped 21 percent to a record low after the chain of chicken restaurants said sales this year would rise at the low end of its forecasted range.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.

I want the cultures of all the lands to blow about my house as freely as possible.

But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

                                    -Robert F. Kennedy, 1925-1968

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Some good news from around the World:

Norway: “Oslo built a “bee superhighway.”  To support the crop-critical pollinators, the capital city created feeding stations of marigolds and other flowers along an east-west pathway.  An online map shows where residents can participate by planting bee-appropriate flowers in gardens and on rooftops.   (In the US, meanwhile, more retailers are unilaterally dropping insecticides that use bee-killing neonicotinoids.) – from theSmithsonian.

Mauritius, Ghana and ZamBia:  Significant gains in education were made, putting these three nations atop the list of sub-Saharan countries on that score.  Mauritius has eliminated its gender gap in secondary education.   Ghana graduated 72,000 students last year – half in business, law, or social science.  Zambia, one of the world’s poorest countries, enacted free basic primary education in 2002, and has increased its number of universities.  –from World Economic Forum, Government of the United Kingdom.

The Netherlands: A court ruled on government greenhouse gas emissions, a global first.  The Hague District Court ordered the Dutch government to cut emissions at least 25 percent by 2020, calling current government policies inadequate.  Because much of the Netherlands is below sea level, rising seas due to climate change present a considerable incentive for action. –Mashable, Urgenda Foundation.

Peru: Greenhouses are boosting nutrition.  Harsh climate and poor soil make malnutrition a consistent problem for high-altitude Andean communities.  Now a number of nongovernmental organizations have partnered to help these communities build small greenhouses operated by community members trained to grow produce adhering to biointensive standards, including using natural pesticides and organic fertilizers. –Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development.

Worldwide: Spam e-mail is at a 12-year low.  In June, 49.7 percent of the messages scanned by security firm Symantec – there are billions – were considered junk e-mails.  People still get a lot, clearly, but this is the first time the number has dipped below half in more than a decade.  Action against “botnets” (networks of hijacked computers) is credited.  It also means cyber criminals are now seeking other avenues, allowed the firm.  The production of malware, for example, has increased. –Symantec, BBC.

Germany: The Berlin wall that was erected on this day, August 13^th, in 1961, no longer exists!

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Youth filling out job applications at Opportunity Fair and Forum at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., on Thursday, as part of the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative. The Initiative creates pathways for youth with untapped talent and potential to build skills, gain credentials and employment, and reclaim the American Dream. Peter Wynn Thompson/100,000 Opportunities Initiative/AP

A Cambodian woman binds rice seedlings as she collects them at a nursery on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday. Farmers transplant the seedlings in other rice paddies to grow rice. Heng Sinith/AP

Baker Eulogio Pillco bakes traditional bread using an oven made of clay in the town of Pisac, Cusco, Peru, Thursday. Mr. Pillco, who wears traditional Andean clothes, has been baking for 30 years, following in the footsteps of his father who taught him the craft. Pilar Olivares/Reuters

Market Closes for August 13^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17408.25	+5.74     +0.03
S&P 500	2083.94	-2.11     -0.10%
NASDAQ	5033.559	-10.829     -0.21%
TSX	14241.89	-97.64
		-0.68%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20595.55	+202.78
		+0.99%
HANG SENG	24018.80	+102.78
		+0.43%
SENSEX	27549.53	+37.27
		+0.14%
FTSE 100	6568.33	-2.86
		-0.04%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.399	1.394
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.097	2.093
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1871	2.1462
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8558	2.8366

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76572	0.77007
US $	1.30595	1.29859
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.45732	0.68619
US $	1.11590	0.89613

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1116.75	1119.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	42.23	43.30

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Crude’s slump to a six-year low sent Canadian stocks lower for a third day, with oil producers resuming a rout and gold miners tumbling.

     The slide in energy stocks overshadowed an easing of anxiety in global financial markets caused by China’s shock devaluing of its currency. An ebb in demand for haven assets such as gold sent the metal lower after a five-day rally and dropped shares of Canadian miners.

     Energy and raw-materials producers renewed slides that have made the two the worst-performing industries in the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index this year.

     The S&P/TSX fell 101.13 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,238.40 at 4 p.m. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has fallen 2.7 percent this year and is at a two-week low.

     West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 2.5 percent to $42.23, the lowest since March 2009, as U.S. crude inventories remained above the five-year average. Oil moved into a bear market in July.

     Encana Corp. lost 6.2 percent and Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. tumbled 10 percent to lead energy stocks lower. Trican Well Service Ltd. plunged 14 percent to a November 2000 low.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a basket of prices for raw materials including gold, natural gas and crude, slipped 0.4 percent, for a third straight drop. The index had fallen to a 13-year low last week, dragging down companies that comprise about one-third of Canada’s stock market. Prices have tumbled 13 percent this year.

     Goldcorp Inc. fell 4.5 percent and Barrick Gold Corp. decreased 4 percent as gold producers tumbled. Gold for December delivery lost 0.7 percent in New York. The S&P/TSX Gold Index had soared 20 percent in a five-day rally through Wednesday, the biggest gain since December 2008.

US

By Oliver Renick and Annelise Alexander

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks closed lower, after fluctuating throughout the day, as anxiety over China eased while investors focused on economic data and the pace of any Federal Reserve interest-rate increases.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ran out of steam after yesterday staging its biggest intraday recovery in three years. Stocks held in the tightest trading range since 1927, after China earlier this week roiled global markets with a shock currency devaluation. Labor and sales data today bolstered the case for higher interest rates as soon as next month.

     The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 2,083.46 at 4 p.m. in New York, after ranging between a 0.3 percent gain and falling as much as 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.74 points to 17,408.25, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.4 percent. About 6.2 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges today, 5 percent below the three-month average.

     “The markets overreacted, we saw the turnaround yesterday, and that’s all nice but the S&P is in a well-worn range and the range may continue to prevail,” said Julian Emanuel, executive director of U.S. equity and derivatives strategy at UBS Securities LLC in New York.

     The S&P 500 yesterday erased a 1.5 percent loss sparked by concerns China’s economy is faltering, reversing after it fell below 2,050. That’s toward the bottom end of a range its been stuck in all year, with the top being its May 21 record of 2,130. The gauge has advanced 1.2 percent in 2015, never closing more than 3.5 percent above or below where it started the year.                        

     Global markets have been jolted since Chinese policy makers on Tuesday unexpectedly devalued the yuan. The currency’s tumble slowed today after the People’s Bank of China said that there’s no basis for depreciation to persist and policy makers will step in to control large fluctuations.

     “The statement out of the Chinese authorities calmed fears regarding the prospect of these awful phrases like ‘currency wars,’” said Daniel Murray, London-based head of research at EFG Asset Management. “With concerns about China and Greece fading, the market can focus on fundamentals underlying the U.S. economy.”

     Data today showed sales at U.S. retailers rose in July on growing demand for everything from cars to clothing, and a decline the previous month was wiped away, signaling consumers are propelling growth in the world’s largest economy. The 0.6 percent advance matched the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

     “I don’t think it’s a market mover and I don’t think it will influence the Fed’s upcoming decision on raising interest rates, but I do think it’s a good number given that it shows some stability,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co., which oversees $110 billion.                           

     A separate report showed applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. are hovering close to a four-decade low, a sign of muted firings and steady progress in the labor market.

     Traders have raised their expectations for a September rate move by the Fed, amid the data and as concerns about the impact of China’s currency devaluation ease. The probability of a rate increase in September rose to 48 percent from 40 percent Tuesday, according to futures trading data compiled by Bloomberg. Odds were at 54 percent after the July jobs report last Friday.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 1 percent Thursday to 13.49. The gauge, known as the VIX, is up about 11 percent so far in August, recovering a third of July’s biggest monthly drop since February.

     Eight of the S&P 500’s 10 major groups declined today, led by a 1.4 percent drop in energy shares that followed a nearly 2 percent jump in the sector Wednesday. Consumer discretionary and financial companies rose.

     Consol Energy Inc. and Transocean Ltd. paced declines among the benchmark’s energy stocks, falling more than 6.5 percent. Crude oil slumped to a six-year low as a global glut and a rising dollar curbed investor demand for commodities. Energy shares led yesterday’s rebound, with Consol and Transocean rising more than 3.8 percent.

     Kohl’s Corp. dropped 8.8 percent to the lowest level since November after the retailer reported second-quarter sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates and said profits this year will be at the low end of its forecast.                     

     Shake Shack Inc. fell 16 percent, the most since its January trading debut, after pricing a secondary stock offering at $60 a share, below Wednesday’s close.

     Retailers were among the best performers in the equity benchmark following the report showing broad-based sales gains in July, and as Advance Auto Parts Inc. rallied 9.2 percent to a record on better-than-estimated quarterly profits. O’Reilly Automotive Inc. and AutoZone Inc. rose more than 2.4 percent. Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos Inc. added at least 1.8 percent.

     An S&P index of homebuilders rose 1.8 percent to a two- month high. PulteGroup Inc. gained 2.3 percent, and D.R. Horton Inc. reached its highest since February 2007, up 2.4 percent.

     Cisco Systems Inc. rose 2.9 percent, the most since February, as quarterly revenue beat estimates. News Corp. gained 7.6 percent, its biggest rise in more than a year, after saying it is nearing the conclusion of talks to sell its Amplify Inc. education unit, even as sales missed forecasts.

     Netflix Inc. climbed 2.7 percent. Pay-TV services recorded their biggest-ever quarterly drop in subscribers, losing 625,000 TV customers, according to a report from the research firm SNL Kagan. So-called cord cutters are dropping pay-TV packages that cost an average $87 a month in favor of online services from Netflix and Amazon.com Inc. priced at under $10.

     As the earnings season winds down, about three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far beat profit estimates, while almost half topped sales projections. Analysts expect a 2.1 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, less than July 10 calls for a 6.4 percent decline.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Never under any circumstances ask “how.”

When you use the word “how” you really want someone to tell you what to do,

some guide, some system, someone to lead you by the hand so that you lose your freedom,

your capacity to observe, your own activities, your own thoughts, your own way of life.

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.

                 -Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Tonight is the Night of the Shooting Stars!  Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and early tomorrow morning.  Ivan Semenius writes in The Globe & Mail today, ”Meteors are small particles of space dust that burn up when they plunge through Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds.  To the eye, they appear as fleeting streaks of light that dart across the sky.  During the Perseid shower, Earth passes through an entire stream of such particles all moving in the same direction….the shower’s official name stems from the fact that the meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which happens to lie in the direction of the approaching stream.” 

Supposedly we will have a great view tonight because of a favourable weather forecast and the absence of moonlight.

On this day 25 years ago, parts of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton were discovered jutting out of a cliff near Faith, South Dakota.  It can be viewed at the Field museum in Chicago.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Stars seen as streaks from a long camera exposure are seen behind a Stations of The Cross, in Ujue, northern Spain, Wednesday. The meteor shower is expected to peak Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Alvaro Barrientos/AP

A couple play in foam during the Sziget music festival on an island in the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday. Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

Market Closes for August 12^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17402.84	+0.07     —
S&P 500	2085.75	+1.68     +0.08%
NASDAQ	5044.387	+7.597     +0.15%
TSX	14333.87	-80.80
		-0.56%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20392.77	-327.98
		-1.58%
HANG SENG	23916.02	-582.19
		-2.38%
SENSEX	27512.26	-353.83
		-1.27%
FTSE 100	6571.19	-93.35
		-1.40%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.394	1.395
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.093	2.087
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1462	2.1409
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8366	2.8092

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.77007	0.76257
US $	1.29859	1.31135
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.44916	0.69006
US $	1.11595	0.89610

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1119.00	1108.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	43.30	43.08

Number of the day:  800 Billion

Capital (in US dollars) that has left China in the past year.  The large exodus is coupled with a steep drop in China’s stock markets that began mid-June and a continuing economic slowdown.

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell a second day amid continued concern that increased volatility from China will constrain global growth.

     Selling eased in afternoon trading as equities in the U.S. staged a rebound. Industrials and consumer shares slumped with banks in Toronto. Royal Bank of Canada, the nation’s largest lender, dropped 1 percent. Gold producers rallied for the biggest five-day gain since 2008 as the price of gold jumped.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 75.14 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,339.53 at 4 p.m., paring an earlier decline of as much as 1.6 percent. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has fallen 2 percent this year, making one of the worst-performing developed-nation markets.

     The S&P 500 erased a 1.5 percent decline, ending the session little-changed. Markets in Europe and developing nations tumbled amid concern that China’s economy is faltering and will hurt growth around the world. The nation is Canada’s second- largest trading partner after the U.S. and the world’s biggest commodities consumer.

     The MSCI All-Country World Index tracking both developed and developing markets declined 0.6 percent to a two-week low. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 2.7 percent, the biggest decline since October.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a basket of prices for raw materials including gold, natural gas and crude, slipped 0.3 percent. The index had fallen to a 13-year low last week, dragging down companies that comprise about one-third of Canada’s stock market. Prices have tumbled 13 percent this year.

     Commodities provided a haven for investors Wednesday, as Yamana Gold Inc. increased 9.1 percent and Barrick Gold Corp. rallied 4.9 percent as investors traded into the safety of gold. The metal is seen as a safe-haven investment in times of increased volatility.

     The S&P/TSX Gold Index surged 5.5 percent. The gauge has soared 20 percent in a five-day rally, the biggest gain since December 2008.

     Air Canada tumbled 6.4 percent after second-quarter revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates. The carrier predicted average fares will decline amid increased capacity. Industrials stocks dropped 1.4 percent as a group.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index erased a 1.5 percent loss sparked by concerns on China’s economy, as the gauge rose back above its average price during the past 200 days.

     Energy companies led the comeback as some of the market’s more beaten-down shares rallied. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. advanced more than 1.1 percent. Apple Inc. climbed 1.5 percent, reversing an earlier 3.4 percent drop, and Intel Corp. rose 1.7 percent to pace gains among technology companies. Financials fell, with Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. losing more than 1.4 percent.

     The S&P 500 advanced 0.1 percent to 2,086.05 at 4 p.m. in New York, erasing losses as it climbed back above its 200-day moving average. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped less than 1 point to 17,402.51, after dropping as much as 1.6 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2 percent, erasing a 1.8 percent slide. About 8.3 billion shares traded hands today, 27 percent above the three-month average.

     “It’s been like a spectator sport today,” said Tim Dreiling, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve of US Bank in Kansas City. The firm oversees about $127 billion. “It may have been buyers coming off technical triggers, but anytime over the last few years we get a disruption or tiny catalyst to take risk off the table, we get a hiccup and once the concerns abate throughout the trading day, capital comes in and gives some support.”

     The S&P 500 has closed below its 200-day moving average only two times in 2015, as the level once again halted declines in the average. The gauge has advanced 1.3 percent this year as it remains stuck in the tightest trading range since 1927. The last time the index erased an intraday decline of at least 1.5 percent was on May 23, 2012.                       

     The U.S. equity benchmark dropped the most in more than two weeks Tuesday as China devalued its currency, sparking worries that the world’s second-largest economy is faltering. The S&P 500 had the biggest reversal since last October’s selloff, erasing three-quarters of Monday’s gain — an advance that itself had wiped out the previous week’s decline.

     Investors are watching as rallies and retreats alternate with uncommon speed in a market that has gone virtually nowhere in seven months, even as the average daily swing widened almost 20 percent from a year ago.

     China’s unexpected currency move has bolstered speculation the Federal Reserve may have to delay raising interest rates. The threat of a slowdown in China could harm global growth, while lower commodity prices damp inflation. The probability of a rate increase in September slipped to 42 percent from 54 percent Monday, according to futures trading data compiled by Bloomberg.

     “It could have positive implications for the market because the Fed may be inclined to postpone raising rates, but I’m not sure how surprised they are by it,” said Gene Peroni, a fund manager at Advisors Asset Management Inc. in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. “Weakness in the Chinese economy didn’t come about over the weekend.”

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 1 percent Wednesday to 13.61, erasing an earlier jump of almost 19 percent. The gauge, known as the VIX, rose 10 percent last week after posting its biggest monthly drop since February.

     Six of the S&P 500’s 10  main groups rose today, led by energy, utilities and technology companies. Financial, consumer discretionary and phone companies fell.

     Consol Energy Inc., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Transocean Ltd. added more than 3.4 percent to help lead the energy rally. The group gained 1.9 percent after falling as much as 0.8 percent intraday, and has had daily swings of more than 1.5 percent in four of the last five sessions.

     Qorvo Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Intel rose at least 1.6 percent to bolster tech gains. Semiconductors in the S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent. Fidelity National Information Services Inc. increased 8.7 percent, the most in five years, after the provider of banking technology agreed to buy software maker SunGard Data Systems Inc. in a deal valued at $9.1 billion, including debt.

     Banks in the benchmark gauge retreated as the yield on 10- Year U.S. Treasuries earlier dropped to a three-month low. Lenders had surged in recent months amid expectations that a Fed rate increase will expand lending margins and boost profits.

     Citigroup Inc., Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase lost more than 1.2 percent. Charles Schwab Corp. SunTrust Banks Inc. decreased at least 2.3 percent. The KBW Bank Index had its worst two-day slide in six months, down 3.1 percent.

     Luxury goods makers Tiffany & Co. and Coach Inc. declined at least 4.1 percent to pace a retreat in consumer discretionary companies, amid concerns that China’s weakening economy could dent sales. Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. fell for the first time in six sessions, down 2.1 percent.

     Macy’s Inc. tumbled 5.1 percent, the most in a year. The retailer posted second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates after resorting to discounts to clear slow-selling inventory. Delays at West Coast ports caused a backlog of seasonal products in the second quarter, forcing Macy’s to cut prices to make way for new items.

     As the earnings season nears its end, about three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far beat profit estimates, while almost half topped sales projections. Analysts expect a 2.1 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, less than July 10 calls for a 6.4 percent decline.

     Investors will also watch economic reports this week, including U.S. retail sales and import-price data on Thursday, and industrial production and consumer sentiment on Friday. A report today from the Labor Department showed job openings decreased in June, while the pace of hiring increased to the strongest this year.
 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

To grow is to go beyond what you are today.

Stand up as yourself.  Do not imitate.

Do not pretend to have achieved your goal, and do not try to cut corners.

Just try to grow.

Swami Prajnanpad

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Good luck needs no explanation.

 -Shirley Temple Black, 1928-2014

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

ON this day in:
1934 – first federal prisoners land on Alcatraz.
1965 – Watts riots begin.
2014 – Robin Williams dies at 63 years of age.
1928 –  Virginia Woolf wrote this in her Diary:

At Charleston we had tea from bright blue cups under the pink light of the giant hollyhock.  We were all a little drugged with the country; a little bucolic I thought.  It was lovely enough – made me envious of its country peace; the trees all standing securely  – why did my eye catch the trees?  The look of things has a great power over me.  Even now, I have to watch myself instinctively ‘What’s the phrase for that?’  and try to make more and more vivid the roughness of the air current and the tremor of the rook’s wing slicing as if the air were full of ridges and ripples and roughnesses.  They rise and sink, up and down, as if the exercise rubbed and braced them like swimmers in rough water.  But what a little I can get down into my pen of what is so vivid to my eyes, and not only to my eyes; also to some nervous fibre, or fanlike membrane in my species.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Singers from Opera Australia, dressed in costumes, gather around a banquet table on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House during a promotional event celebrating the art company’s 60th birthday, Tuesday. The event also marked Opera Australia’s 2016 season launch. David Gray/Reuters

Dairy farmer Mike Gorton walks on his Lower Harebarrow farm in Macclesfield, north west England, Tuesday. British farmers warned they were facing financial ruin with falls in the price of milk forcing many out of work and spurring others to blockade distribution centers and walk cows through supermarkets. Farming unions from across the country were meeting in London to urge the government to provide more help for an industry that has seen a 25 percent year-on-year drop in the amount farmers are paid for milk. Andrew Yates/Reuters

Hot air balloons take off during the 19th FAI Hot Air Balloon European Championship in Debrecen, Hungary, Tuesday. Hundred and two contestants from twenty-three countries participate in the event until Aug. 18. Zsolt Czegledi/MTI/AP

A gardener waters plants as part of a floral display at the ‘Flowertime’ event on Brussels’ Grand Place, Belgium, Tuesday. The event, which will open to visitors between August 13 and 16, has an Italian baroque theme this year. Francois Lenoir/Reuters

Market Closes for August 11^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17402.84	-212.33   -1.21%
S&P 500	2084.07	-20.11   -0.96%
NASDAQ	5036.789	-65.010   -1.27%
TSX	14414.67	-51.72
		-0.36%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20720.75	-87.94
		-0.42%
HANG SENG	24498.21	-22.91
		-0.09%
SENSEX	27866.09	-235.63
		-0.84%
FTSE 100	6664.54	-71.68
		-1.06%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.395	1.475
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.087	2.143
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1409	2.2287
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8092	2.8960

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76257	0.76868
US $	1.31135	1.30093
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.44805	0.69059
US $	1.10424	0.90560

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1108.25	1097.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	43.08	44.96

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, a session after raw- materials producers had their strongest gains this year, as China’s currency devaluation prompted a selloff in commodities.

     Miners declined amid speculation that resources demand will slow amid signs of decelerating growth in China, the world’s biggest consumer of energy and metals. Equities pared declines in the final 90 minutes of trading, as a rout in energy producers eased even as crude settled at the lowest level in six years.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 51.72 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,414.67 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, trimming a drop of 1.4 percent. The gauge surged 1.1 percent Monday.

     China devalued the yuan by the most in two decades in an effort to support its exporters. The central bank cut its daily reference rate by 1.9 percent. China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a basket of prices for raw materials including gold, natural gas and crude, sank 1.6 percent a day after rising the most since February. The index had fallen to a 13-year low last week, dragging down companies that comprise about one-third of Canada’s stock market. Prices have tumbled 13 percent this year.

     Oil sank as OPEC raised output by 100,700 barrels a day to 31.5 million last month, the most since 2012, due to a recovery in Iranian production, exacerbating a supply glut. Oil has dropped more than 25 percent since this year’s peak in June.

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. sank 7.8 percent and Teck Resources Ltd. tumbled 6.9 percent as all six main metals on the London Metal Exchange retreated, led by aluminum and copper at six-year lows.

     B2Gold Corp. jumped 10 percent and Eldorado Gold Corp. increased 5.5 percent. Gold, which is often bought as an alternative to currencies, rose 0.3 percent in New York.

     Aecon Group Inc. jumped 9.3 percent, the most in almost four years, after posting a surprise profit in the second quarter and revenue that topped  analysts’ estimates.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slid, following equities’ biggest gain since May, as China’s currency devaluation sparked concern across global markets that the world’s second-largest economy is headed for a deeper slowdown.

     Companies that rely heavily on exports to China, including auto and luxury goods makers, retreated. General Motors Co. and Tiffany & Co. lost more than 2.1 percent. Apple Inc. sank 5.2 percent. Commodity producers from Freeport-McMoRan Inc. to Dow Chemical Co. fell at least 2.9 percent amid concerns about China’s growth. Google Inc. advanced 4.1 percent after saying it will reorganize into a holding company called Alphabet Inc.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 1 percent to 2,084.07 at 4 p.m. in New York, holding above its average price during the past 200 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 212.33 points, or 1.2 percent, to 17,402.84, its worst drop in a month. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 1.3 percent. About 7.1 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 9 percent above the three-month average.

     “The driving forces today continue to be macro-oriented with China the most important,” said Tom Wright, the New York- based director of equities at JMP Securities. “We spend a lot of time obsessing over Greece or Puerto Rico, but China is a much bigger economy and a much bigger problem to the global economy and devaluing the currency is shaking people up.”

     China devalued the yuan by 1.9 percent, the most in two decades, after data this month showed a plunge in exports, weaker-than-estimated manufacturing and a slowdown credit growth. The surprise move rippled through global markets, sparking selloffs in emerging-market currencies, commodities, and auto and luxury stocks with exposure to China.

     A rally in commodities from oil to copper helped the S&P 500 jump 1.3 percent Monday. Those trades largely reversed today on concern demand from China, the world’s biggest consumer of energy and metals, will slow and yuan weakness will erode the buying power of Chinese consumers. Similar worries about the country’s growth helped send the benchmark index down as much as 4 percent last month from its May record.

     Raw-material companies in the S&P 500 retreated 1.9 percent after the biggest year-to-date gain yesterday. Miner Freeport- McMoRan plunged 12 percent, the most since 2012 and eclipsing Monday’s 11 percent climb. Alcoa Inc. sank 6 percent after a 7.1 percent jump yesterday.

     Joy Global Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. lost at least 2.6 percent as industrial shares slid 1.2 percent. Caterpillar, one of the largest producers of mining trucks, may be hurt by weak demand following low mining-equipment shipments in the second quarter, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report. Railroads CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. fell more than 1.9 percent.                        

     Micron Technology Inc. paced a tumble among technology shares, losing 5 percent. Sales from China comprised 41 percent of the chipmaker’s fiscal 2014 revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple sank 5.2 percent, its biggest drop since January 2014 after yesterday marking its strongest gain in six months. Apple reported that 27 percent of its sales in the June-ended quarter came from China.

     Symantec Corp. decreased 6.9 percent to its lowest in more than a year after the security software maker agreed to sell its Veritas data-storage unit for $8 billion to Carlyle Group LP. Credit Suisse Holdings USA Inc. downgraded the shares to neutral from outperform, citing “destruction” of value from the tax liability on the deal relative to a previously proposed spinoff.

     Yum! Brands Inc. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. slumped at least 4.3 percent to pace a 1 percent slide in consumer discretionary shares. Yum derived 53 percent of its second-quarter revenue from China, while 59 percent of Wynn’s quarterly sales came from its operations in Macau, according to their reports.

     Auto-parts makers Delphi Automotive Plc and BorgWarner Inc. declined more than 3.7 percent, tracking GM’s biggest slide in a month as China auto sales slumped to a 17-month low.

     Banks in the S&P 500 had their worst day in a month as yields on U.S. 10-Year Treasuries dropped the most since July 6, and investors speculated that low interest rates will continue to hobble lenders’ earnings. Citigroup Inc. and Comerica Inc. fell more than 1.8 percent, while Bank of America Corp. slipped 1.4 percent.

     Energy shares pared a decline of as much as 2.3 percent to end little changed, despite West Texas Intermediate crude sinking to its lowest since March 2009. Consol Energy Inc. lost 3 percent and Chesapeake Energy Corp. fell 4.9 percent. Those losses were largely offset by gains of more than 2.1 percent for Valero Energy Corp. and Range Resources Corp, while Marathon Petroleum Corp. added 4.9 percent.

     A Bloomberg index of U.S. airlines gained 1.8 percent amid oil’s decline, and advanced for a second day. Spirit Airlines Inc., American Airlines Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. each added at least 1.6 percent.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index climbed 12 percent Tuesday to 13.71. The gauge, known as the VIX, rose 10 percent last week after posting its biggest monthly drop since February.

     The unexpected move by China’s policy makers bolstered speculation the Federal Reserve may have to delay raising rates, as the threat of a slowdown in China could harm global growth, while lower commodity prices damp inflation. The probability of a rate increase in September slipped to 44 percent from 54 percent Monday, according to futures trading data compiled by Bloomberg.

     U.S. economic data today showed worker productivity struggled to gain traction in the second quarter. Less efficiency limits how quickly the economy can grow without spurring inflation, adding another variable for policy makers to consider in deciding when to raise rates. A separate report showed inventories at wholesalers jumped the most since April 2014.

     Cisco Systems Inc. and News Corp. are among companies posting quarterly updates this week as earnings season nears its conclusion. Of the S&P 500 members that have already reported, 74 percent beat profit estimates and 48 percent topped sales projections. Analysts now project a more modest drop in second- quarter earnings, calling for a 2.1 percent fall instead of a 6.4 percent decline a month earlier.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Every day a man must solve the problem

of widening the field of his life and adjusting his burdens.

These are too complex and numerous for him to carry himself,

but he knows that by being methodical he can lighten the load.

When the burdens are too complicated and difficult to manage, he must understand the reason:

he has not found a system that will put everything in place and distribute the weight he carries more evenly.

the search for this system is actually the search for the whole, for synthesis;

it is our effort to create harmony, thanks to an interior adaptation,

in the heterogeneous complex of exterior material.

 

Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

                                          -Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in 1793, the Louvre Museum opened.
August 10^th, 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was created.
August 10, 1945, Japan surrenders.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fireworks explode over Marina Bay during Singapore’s Golden Jubilee celebrations Sunday. Singapore is marking 50 years of independence. An island of 5.5 million people that sits just north of the equator, what was once a post-colonial backwater at the time of independence from Malaysia in 1965 is now a global business hub whose economic and social model is the envy of nations around the world. Tan Shung Sin/Reuters

Doves fly over the Peace Statue in Nagasaki’s Peace Park during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the bombing of the city in Nagasaki, western Japan, Sunday. On August 9, 1945, the US dropped a second atomic bomb, which killed about 40,000 instantly. Toru Hanai/Reuters

Market Closes for August 10^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17615.17	+241.79     +1.39%
S&P 500	2104.18	+26.61     +1.28%
NASDAQ	5101.801	+58.526     +1.16%
TSX	14466.39	+163.69
		+1.14%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20808.69	+84.13
		+0.41%
HANG SENG	24521.12	-31.35
		-0.13%
SENSEX	28101.72	-134.67
		-0.48%
FTSE 100	6736.22	+17.73
		+0.26%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.475	1.424
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.143	2.093
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2287	2.1712
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8960	2.8260

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76868	0.76122
US $	1.30093	1.31369
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43321	0.69773
US $	1.10168	0.90770

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1097.00	1093.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	44.96	44.00

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — The best day for Canadian miners this year lifted the nation’s benchmark stock index after a two-day slide.

     Raw-materials producers surged the most since December as Canadian stocks snapped back from a 1.2 percent drop last week. Mining companies rallied 3.9 percent while oil producers advanced 2.2 percent, trimming annual slides for the worst performers in the nation’s benchmark index.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a basket of prices for raw materials including gold, natural gas and crude, soared 2.4 percent for its biggest gain since February. Oil and copper added at least 2.5 percent, while gold climbed 0.9 percent. The index had fallen to a 13-year low last week, dragging down companies that comprise about one-third of Canada’s stock market.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 163.69 points, or 1.1 percent, to 14,466.39 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest gain since July 29. The gauge has fallen 1.1 percent in 2015, one of only three developed markets in negative territory for the year among the 24 tracked by Bloomberg.

     A volatility index of S&P/TSX 60 options dropped 5.1 percent to 13.83 for a second straight decline. The measure had previously alternated gains and losses for 15 straight days across more than three weeks.

     China’s crude oil imports rose to a record in July, driven by small, private refineries amid low prices. China imported about 7.3 million barrels a day last month, or 30.71 million metric tons, ahead of the previous record in December. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer and Canada’s second- biggest trading partner after the U.S.

     Cameco Corp. gained 5.4 percent, the most since April, and NexGen Energy Ltd. rallied 7.6 percent as North American uranium producers climbed on renewed optimism Japan is poised to resume nuclear-power production.

     Telus Corp. dropped 1.5 percent, the most in three weeks, after Joe Natale resigned as chief executive officer, replaced by his predecessor Darren Entwistle.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks gained, with equities rising the most in three months, after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy Precision Castparts Corp. and commodities- related shares rallied.

     Precision Castparts, a maker of equipment for the aerospace and energy industries, jumped 19 percent on the $37.2 billion deal to pace industrials. Boeing Co. advanced 2.4 percent. Energy and raw-materials shares climbed more than 2.5 percent. Apple Inc. rose the most in six months, bouncing after its worst week since January. Google Inc. advanced in late trading after announcing a new holding structure.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.3 percent to 2,104.18 at 4 p.m. in New York, its biggest gain since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average halted its longest losing streak since 2011, adding 241.79 points, or 1.4 percent, to 17,615.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2 percent, and the Russell 2000 Index surged 1.3 percent, the most in a month.

     “China started it off with a 5 percent rally, there was another test of the S&P 200-day moving average, plus merger activity with Berkshire and PCP kind of gave the market an excuse to rally,” said Mark Kepner, an equity trader at Themis Trading LLC in Chatham, New Jersey.

     China’s stocks posted their biggest gain in a month amid speculation the government will accelerate mergers of state- owned enterprises to bolster economic growth. Investors also speculated China will act to prop up growth following a wider- than-expected drop in exports.

     Google rose 4.7 percent as of 5:01 p.m. after saying Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Two classes of shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG.

     The S&P 500 dropped 1.3 percent last week while the Dow posted its longest losing streak in four years, amid a slump in media and biotechnology shares and as Apple Inc. fell into a correction. The S&P 500 has trailed most developed-market gauges this year, while speculators’ appetite for stock-market volatility has reached a nine-year high. The gauge closed Monday 1.3 percent below its May record.

     Investors will watch economic reports this week, including U.S. retail sales data on Thursday, after a report Friday showed a broad-based gain in hiring. The jobs data boosted the chance of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September by four percentage points to 54 percent, according to futures trading data compiled by Bloomberg.                         

     Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a Bloomberg Television interview Monday that stubbornly low inflation in the U.S. won’t persist with the economy near full employment. The Fed is looking for signs that inflation will strengthen toward its 2 percent target before it starts to increase rates.

     Kraft Heinz Co. is among companies reporting earnings on Monday, with those from Macy’s Inc. and News Corp. due later this week.

     Most S&P 500 members have released results this season, of which 74 percent beat profit estimates and about half topped sales projections. Analysts now project a more modest drop in second-quarter earnings, calling for a 2.1 percent fall instead of a 6.4 percent decline a month earlier.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 8.7 percent Monday to 12.23. The gauge, known as the VIX, rose 10 percent last week after posting its biggest monthly drop since February.

     Nine of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups climbed today, with energy, raw-material and industrial shares rallying the most. Utilities lagged, following the sector’s best week in more than two months.                       

     A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. measure of the most-shorted stocks rallied 2.6 percent for its best day since February as many of last week’s biggest decliners reversed. Apple, which had entered a correction after plunging 13 percent from a high, rallied 3.6 percent Monday.

     The energy group posted its biggest jump in nearly seven months, with oil rebounding as China’s crude imports surged to a record on a monthly basis. Consol Energy Inc., Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. and Transocean Ltd. advanced at least 5.4 percent

     “Energy prices have been guiding us up or down for awhile and with energy names leading the way, nothing is really down,” said Thomas Garcia, the head of equity trading at Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Thornburg Investment Management Inc. “At this point investors want to get the rate hike done and move on, and with commodity prices moving up a little that’s a good thing, as they’ve gotten just decimated over the last year.”

     Shares of industrial companies gained 1.9 percent, the biggest jump in seven months. Joy Global Inc. added 8.4 percent, the most in more than three years, and Caterpillar Inc. climbed 3.7 percent as the group got a boost from Precision Castparts’ 19 percent climb and speculation on further stimulus in China.

     “One of the biggest fears in the marketplace is not so much the Fed, it’s the slowdown in China,” said Andrew Brenner, the head of international fixed income for National Alliance Capital Markets. “If all of a sudden people think the Chinese are going to have serious stimulus, that’s going to turn things around.”

     Materials companies also advanced the most this year, adding 2.5 percent as copper rose from a six-year low after torrential rains in Chile halted work at some of the world’s biggest mines. Miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. rallied 11 percent, the most in six years. Alcoa Inc. rose 7.1 percent, its best rise since October 2013. The Bloomberg Commodity Index jumped 2.4 percent, the biggest climb in six months.

     Texas Instruments Inc. gained 3.5 percent to the highest in more than a month after the shares were raised to outperform from neutral at Macquarie Research. Semiconductors in the benchmark index had their strongest gain in more than two months. Intel Corp. and Avago Technologies Ltd. climbed at least 2.6 percent.

     Dean Foods Co. shares lost 2.9 percent after the company declined to offer an explanation for the sudden resignation of its board chairman. Shares earlier fell nearly 18 percent before trimming their decline.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The phrase ‘to meditate’ does not only mean to examine, observe, reflect, question, weigh;

it also has in the Sanskrit, a more profound meaning, which is ‘to become’.

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The best revenge is massive success.

             -Frank Sinatra, 1915-1998

 

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in 1959, the first photo of Earth from space was transmitted  by the US satellite Explorer VI.  However, it would take years for the general public to see the pictures of Earth from space.  Stewart Brand, founder of Whole Earth Catalogue:  “In 1966, I conceived and sold buttons which read, ‘Why Haven’t We Seen A Photograph of the Whole Earth Yet?’   Legend has it that this accelerated NASA’s making good color photos from distant space….We saw the photograph of the Earth from space that we got from the Apollo program in 1969.  The first Earth Day was in 1970.  This is not an accident.  The ecology movement really took off once we had those photographs from space.”

So, it was amazing to pick up the Globe & Mail this morning and see the photo and headline “LOOKING ON THE DARK SIDE.”  A camera on a NASA satellite captured this rare image of the far side of the moon, illuminated by the Sun as it crossed between the spacecraft and Earth, from a  distance of 1.6 million kilometers.

Dark side of the moon revealed by Nasa camera a million miles from Earth – video

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Crowds watch during a mass launch at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in south west England on Friday. The largest hot air balloon festival in Europe takes place over four days and is in it’s 37th year. Toby Melville/Reuters

Volunteers carry milk churns as they help land artist Gerard Benoit a la Guillaume to form an art installation at the Chenau de Mayen in the resort of Leysin, Switzerland on Friday. More than 80 milk churns were placed between the Tour d’Ai and the Tour de Mayen summits at an altitude of 6,561 feet above sea level under the direction of the artist, to be photographed for his ongoing art project entitled ‘Milk churns without borders’. Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Market Closes for August 7th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17373.45	-46.30     -0.27%
S&P 500	2076.56	-7.00     -0.34%
NASDAQ	5043.543	-12.897     -0.26%
TSX	14292.77	-113.14
		-0.79%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20724.56	+60.12
		+0.29%
HANG SENG	24552.47	+117.19
		+0.73%
SENSEX	28236.39	-61.74
		-0.22%
FTSE 100	6718.49	-28.60
		-0.42%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.424	1.449
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.093	2.126
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1712	2.2178
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8260	2.8921

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76122	0.76265
US $	1.31369	1.31122
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43955	0.69466
US $	1.09581	0.91257

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1093.50	1089.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	44.00	44.66

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day despite better-than-forecast job gains, as energy producers tumbled with crude for a sixth weekly drop and financial shares retreated.

     Energy companies sank 1.8 percent as a group, while crude futures fell 1.8 percent in New York, pushing the weekly loss to 6.9 percent on speculation the global supply glut will be prolonged. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank declined at least 0.7 percent after also slipping Thursday.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 103.21 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,302.70 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has lost 1.2 percent this week and fallen 2.3 percent in 2015, one of only three developed markets in negative territory for the year among the 24 tracked by Bloomberg.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a basket of prices for raw materials including gold, natural gas and crude, was little changed near 13-year lows after a two-day slide. Energy and materials are the worst-performing industries in Canada this year and account for almost 30 percent of the benchmark Canadian equity gauge.

     The resource-dominated S&P/TSX had added 3.6 percent during a six-day rally that was the longest since April. The advance follows a seven-day rout of 5 percent that was the longest since 2011.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. slipped 0.1 percent, falling for a second day. The drug maker tracked back- to-back declines among U.S.-listed biotechnology and health-care shares.

     Canada gained 6,600 jobs during the month, leaving the nation’s unemployment rate unchanged at 6.8 percent, helped by increases in part-time and self-employed work. U.S. payrolls added 215,000 jobs in July, keeping the Federal Reserve on the path toward raising interest rates as soon as next month.

     Pengrowth Energy Corp. tumbled 15 percent to an all-time low, and Crescent Point Energy Corp. retreated 4.3 percent to lead energy shares lower. Great-West Lifeco Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp. lost at least 1.2 percent to help pace declines among financial-services companies.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Lu Wang

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its longest slide since 2011, amid declines in commodity producers while data showed continued progress in the labor market.

     Energy companies dropped as oil sank to a four-month low, while raw-materials fell the most in two weeks. Hershey Co. slid 2.7 percent after quarterly revenue missed estimates. American Express Co. rallied 6.3 percent as an activist fund was said to have amassed a stake in the company. Nvidia Corp. jumped 12 percent after predicting sales that may exceed some estimates.

     The Dow slipped 46.37 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,373.38 at 4 p.m. in New York, falling for a seventh day to a six-month low. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent to 2,077.57, above its average price during the past 200 days. The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 0.3 percent, while the Russell 2000 Index lost 0.7 percent, and briefly erased its gain for the year.

     “I’m not surprised to see the market down given the downward bias we’ve seen the last couple of days,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los Angeles. “If anything, the report slants the bias towards a September rate hike, given the strength of the jobs numbers.”

     Data today showed employers added 215,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent. The gain in payrolls followed a 231,000 advance in June that was bigger than previously estimated. While the report also showed a pickup in hours worked, average hourly earnings climbed a less- than-forecast 2.1 percent from a year earlier.     The Federal Reserve is assessing the strength of the U.S. recovery from an early year slowdown as policy makers debate whether the world’s largest economy can withstand the first rate rise since 2006. Traders were pricing in a 54 percent probability of the first increase next month.

     “There are probably still a fair number of investors that don’t quite believe the Fed is really going to raise rates,” said Bob Baur, chief global economist at Principal Global Investors in Des Moines, Iowa. The firm oversees $346.2 billion. “This report does nothing to deter the Fed from doing that in September.”

     Investors are also watching corporate earnings to gauge the economy’s health. Some 88 percent of S&P 500 members have released results this season, with three-quarters beating profit estimates and half topping sales projections. Analysts now forecast a more modest drop in second-quarter earnings, calling for a 2.1 percent fall instead of a 6.4 percent decline a month earlier.

     The S&P 500 dropped 1.3 percent this week amid declines among media and biotechnology shares. Commodity producers have also slumped and Apple Inc. fell into a correction. The benchmark measure is up 0.9 percent this year, trailing most developed-market gauges. The Dow fell 1.8 percent in the week, with Walt Disney Co. leading declines.

     While data showed the labor market chugged along at a pace policy makers want to see in order to raise rates, tepid gains in hourly earnings indicate little momentum in wage growth. A rout in commodities from industrial metals to oil continued on signs of a slowdown in China, while selling accelerated in shares of some of the bull market’s biggest winners from biotechnology to media.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 2.8 percent Friday to 13.39, after a 10 percent jump yesterday. The gauge, known as the VIX, was up 10 percent this week, after posting its biggest monthly drop since February. About 6.8 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 5 percent above the three-month average.

     Seven of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups fell today, with energy, materials and consumer staples sliding the most. Utilities rose for the 10th time in 11 sessions to a more than two-month high.

     Energy shares in the benchmark index lost 1.9 percent, with crude oil posting a sixth weekly decline as West Texas Intermediate hit its lowest since March. Consol Energy Inc. tumbled 8 percent to an 11-year low. EOG Resources Inc. and Marathon Oil Corp. dropped more than 5 percent.

     CF Industries Holdings Inc. decreased 6.4 percent, the most in more than three years, to lead raw-materials shares lower. CF yesterday agreed to acquire European and North American assets from OCI NV for about $8 billion. The company said the deal will create the world’s largest publicly traded producer of nitrogen fertilizer.

     Miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. slid for the sixth time in seven sessions, down 6.1 percent to its lowest since December 2008. Alcoa Inc. and DuPont Co. retreated more than 1.9 percent.

     Hershey weighed on the consumer-staples group amid its biggest decline in seven weeks. Supermarket chain Kroger Co. and Mondelez International Inc. fell at least 1.5 percent. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. slipped 2.1 percent, the most in more than two months.

 

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index sank 0.7 percent to a one- month low, after losing 4 percent Thursday. Biogen Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. slid more than 1.2 percent. The index trimmed an earlier drop of as much as 2.5 percent as Amgen Inc. erased a 1.9 percent slide to rally 1.7 percent, and Endo International Plc added 2.8 percent after falling 2.3 percent.

     Twitter Inc. dropped for a third day, down 1.8 percent to an all-time low. The shares are down 26 percent after the social-media company reported financial results last month.

     American Express jumped the most in four years after people with knowledge of the matter said ValueAct Capital Management has amassed a stake in the credit-card issuer and is considering pursuing shareholder-friendly changes. The Dow member’s gain helped offset some of the index’s slide to the lowest since February, with AmEx contributing 32 points in a positive direction.

 

Have  a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

In the song of the rushing torrent,

hold onto the joyful assurance:

I will become the sea.

And this is not a vain supposition;

it is absolute humility, because it is the truth.

Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.

                                    -Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, that instantly killed an estimated 66,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare.

Colonel Tibbetts, USAAF, drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and wrote later that day, August 6^th, 1945:

The problem after the release of the bomb is not to proceed forward but to turn away.  As soon as the weight had left the aeroplane I immediately went into this steep turn and we tried then to place distance between ourselves and the point of impact.  In this particular case that bomb took fifty-three seconds from the time it left the aeroplane until it exploded and this gave us adequate time of course to make the turn.  We had just made the turn and rolled out on level flight when it seemed like somebody had grabbed hold of my aeroplane and gave it a real hard shaking because this was the shock wave that had come up.  Now after we had been hit by a second shock wave not quite so strong as the first one I decided we’ll turn around and go back and take a look.  The day was clear when we dropped that bomb, it was a clear sunshiny day and the visibility was unrestricted.  As we came back around again facing the direction of Hiroshima we saw this cloud coming up.  The cloud by this time, now two minutes old, was up at our altitude.  We were 33,000 feet at this time and the cloud was up there and continuing to go right on up in a boiling fashion,, as if it was rolling and boiling.  The surface was nothing but a black boiling, like a barrel of tar.  Where before there had been a city with distinctive houses, buildings and everything that you could see from our altitude, now you couldn’t see anything except a black boiling debris down below.

Before the war, and especially before the Boer War, it was summer all the year round.  –George Orwell.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Children release lanterns into the Motoyasu river in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome Thursday to remember the atomic bomb victims on the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima in western Japan. Bells tolled and thousands bowed their heads in prayer. The anniversary highlighted rising tensions over Japan’s moves away from its pacifist constitution. Thomas Peter/Reuters

Local residents hold paper lanterns in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome during a procession Wednesday commemorating the victims of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, western Japan. On Thursday, Japan will mark the 70th anniversary of the attack on Hiroshima, when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, killing about 140,000 by the end of the year in a city of 350,000 residents. It was the world’s first nuclear attack. The Atomic Bomb Dome, or Genbaku Dome, was the only structure left standing in this district of the city and has been preserved as a peace memorial. Thomas Peter/Reuters

Market Closes for August 6^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17419.75	-120.72     -0.69%
S&P 500	2083.69	-16.15     -0.77%
NASDAQ	5056.441	-83.503     -1.62%
TSX	14406.91	-96.08
		-0.66%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20664.44	+50.38
		+0.24%
HANG SENG	24375.28	-138.88
		-0.57%
SENSEX	28298.13	+75.05
		+0.27%
FTSE 100	6747.09	-5.32
		-0.08%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.449	1.473
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.126	2.154
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2178	2.2699
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8921	2.9437

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76265	0.75883
US $	1.31122	1.31782
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43234	0.69816
US $	1.09237	0.91544

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1089.75	1085.10
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	44.66	45.15

Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant. –P.T. Barnum, 1810-1891

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, snapping the longest rally in four months, as the nation’s largest lenders declined for the second time in three days and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. retreated with U.S. health-care companies.

     Equities fell as Valeant, the largest company in the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index by market value, slumped 6 percent after four days of gains. The drug maker fell the most in a year, and joined a 2.1 percent slide among health-care stocks in the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index slumped 4 percent.

     The S&P/TSX fell 97.08 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,405.91 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has fallen 1.6 percent in 2015, one of only three developed markets in negative territory for the year among the the 24 tracked by Bloomberg.

     Energy and materials producers rebounded, erasing earlier losses despite further declines in oil prices. U.S.-listed energy companies gained as offshore driller Transocean Ltd. rallied after posting better-than-estimated profits. Energy and materials are the worst-performing industries in Canada this year and account for almost 30 percent of the benchmark Canadian equity gauge.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks a basket of prices for raw materials including gold, natural gas and crude, slipped 0.3 percent, after paring an earlier 0.6 percent decline.

     The resource-dominated S&P/TSX had added 3.6 percent during a six-day rally that was the longest since April. The advance follows a seven-day rout of 5 percent that was the longest since 2011.

     Bank of Nova Scotia sank 1.9 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank retreated 0.8 percent as financial services stocks declined 0.7 percent as a group.

     Barrick Gold Corp. rallied 3.8 percent to lead an advance among gold producers after intensifying efforts to strengthen its balance sheet.

     Trilogy Energy Corp. lost 1.3 percent, trimming an earlier drop of 16 percent after reporting a second-quarter loss Wednesday. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. tumbled 8.4 percent, the most since February 2012, after posting a second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates, dragged down by losses in the engineering and construction unit.

US

By Callie Bost

     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined for the fourth time in five sessions, as biotechnology shares tumbled while media companies sold off on disappointing results from Viacom Inc. and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index dropped 4 percent, snapping a five-day winning streak. Viacom and Fox slumped at least 6.4 percent after joining a parade of media companies reporting disappointing results. Keurig Green Mountain Inc. plunged 30 percent after cutting its sales and profit forecasts. Transocean Ltd and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. added at least 10 percent after posting better-than-estimated results.

     The S&P 500 lost 0.8 percent to 2,083.56 at 4 p.m. in New York, falling below its average prices during the past 50 and 100 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 120.72 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,419.75. The Dow fell for a sixth day, its longest losing streak since October. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 1.6 percent, the most in almost a month.

     “It’s like panic buying and panic selling,” said Walter Todd, who oversees about $1.1 billion as chief investment officer for Greenwood Capital Associates. “The reactions you’re seeing in the marketplace are just very violent for companies reporting earnings, sometimes to the upside, sometimes to the downside.”

     Media shares were battered for a second day, with quarterly earnings marked by shrinking U.S. ad sales and profits propped up by stock buybacks. Viacom, owner of MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, posted a third-quarter revenue decline that was wider than analysts had forecast.                      

     Walt Disney Co. slid another 1.8 percent after tumbling 11 percent Wednesday following its results. The shares marked their worst back-to-back drop in more than six years. The Bloomberg U.S. Media Index lost 2 percent for its biggest two-day decline since September 2011.

     Media stocks have been the darlings of the U.S. bull market that began 6 1/2 years ago. Since global equities bottomed in March 2009, the 15-member S&P 500 Media Industry Index had risen 464 percent, second only to automakers. Within the gauge, CBS and Tegna Inc. — up more than 15 fold over the period — are among companies with the 20 biggest gains.

     About 85 percent of S&P 500 members have released earnings figures, with three-quarters beating profit estimates and half topping sales projections. Analysts now call for a 2.8 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, shallower than July 10 estimates for a 6.4 percent fall.                       

     Along with corporate earnings, investors are also watching economic reports to gauge when the Fed will increase interest rates. A report today showed jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000, hovering near four-decade lows as employers hold on to more workers in response to increased demand following a slump in early 2015.

     Friday’s monthly payroll data will be parsed for indications on the likelihood of a September rate increase, with a particular interest in any signs of stronger wage growth. The government’s report is projected to show employers took on 225,000 workers last month, while the jobless rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.

     “If the number is above 225,000 and there are signs of wage pressure, then good news will certainly be met with a negative response,” said Chad Morganlander, a money manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in Florham Park, New Jersey.

     The S&P 500 snapped a three-day losing streak Wednesday amid better-than-expected earnings from technology companies. The gauge is coming off its best monthly gain since February, and closed Thursday 2.2 percent below its record set in May.                        

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 10 percent Thursday to 13.77. The gauge, known as the VIX, in July posted its biggest monthly drop since February, down more than 33 percent. About 7.8 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 21 percent above the three-month average.

     Eight of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups fell, with media shares pushing the consumer discretionary group down 1.3 percent, while biotechs dragged health-care 2.1 percent lower. Energy shares advanced 1.6 percent, despite oil’s retreat to its lowest in more than four months.

     Allergan Plc lost 5.1 percent, the most since October. The drug maker’s Actavis unit received a subpoena from the U.S. Justice Department seeking information on the marketing and prices of its generic drugs. Amgen Inc., Celgene Corp. and Biogen Inc. decreased at least 3.5 percent.

     Among consumer discretionary companies, Viacom plummeted 14 percent, the biggest drop in more than six years, sending shares to their lowest since December 2011. Fox sank 6.4 percent, paring an earlier 14 percent drop, to a two-year low. Time Warner Inc. slid 0.8 percent, nearly erasing an earlier 7 percent fall, after a 9 percent loss Wednesday following its results.  Chipmakers Qorvo Inc. and Skyworks Solutions Inc. sank more than 3.4 percent. Microsoft Corp. fell for the first time in four sessions, losing 2 percent.

     Tesla Motors Inc. slumped 8.9 percent, its largest retreat since September. Chief Executive Elon Musk dialed back his forecast for 2015 vehicle deliveries, saying that getting Tesla’s new sport utility vehicle’s middle-row seats just right is proving thornier than expected.

     Transocean Ltd. climbed 11 percent, the most since April to pace gains in energy. The world’s largest offshore rig owner posted earnings that exceeded expectations after cutting costs to confront declining demand for drillships. Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. rose for the first time in six days, up at least 1.2 percent to lead the Dow.                        

     Chesapeake Energy Corp. soared 17 percent, the biggest gain since October. The company is in discussions to sell more assets or stakes in oil fields as the prospect of a prolonged energy- market slump imperils cash flow.

     CF Industries Holdings Inc. rose 2.2 percent, after agreeing to acquire European and North American assets from OCI NV for about $8 billion. CF said the deal will create the world’s largest publicly traded producer of nitrogen fertilizer.

     Herbalife Ltd. climbed 17 percent to its highest in a year.  The nutrition company that’s battling hedge fund manager Bill Ackman had a second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, and it raised its forecast for the year, helped by sales gains in China.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

When a man possesses in his being the notion of God, that is the miracle of miracles.

Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith.

                                -Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The Poem:

AIR MAIL

 

On a hunt for a mailbox

I carried the letter through town.

In the great forest of stone and concrete

this lost butterfly fluttered.

 

The stamp’s flying carpet

the address’s reeling letters

 plus my sealed-in truth

now winging over the ocean.

 

The Atlantic’s crawling silver.

The cloudbanks.  The fishing boat

like a spat-out olive pit.

And the wakes’ pale scars.

 

Down here work goes slowly.

I often sneak peeks at the clock.

The tree-shadows are black figures

in the greedy silence.

 

The truth is there on the ground

but no one dares to take it.

The truth is out  on the street.

No one makes it their own.

 

By Tomas Transtromer

(Translated by Patty Crane from Swedish)

 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A costumed participant arrives at the Gamescom computer game fair in Cologne, Germany, Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands visitors will enjoy one of the world’s largest computer and video game events which lasts until Sunday. Martin Meissner/AP

The sun rises over the skyline in Toronto, Tuesday. Mark Blinch/Reuters

Market Closes for August 5, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17540.47	-10.22     -0.06%
S&P 500	2099.84	+6.52   +0.31%
NASDAQ	5139.945	+34.399   +0.67%
TSX	14502.99	+11.94
		+0.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20614.06	+93.70
		+0.46%
HANG SENG	24514.16	+108.04
		+0.44%
SENSEX	28223.08	+151.15
		+0.54%
FTSE 100	6752.41	+65.84
		+0.98%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.473	1.427
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.154	2.108
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2699	2.2213
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9437	2.108

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75883	0.75807
US $	1.31782	1.31914
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43673	0.69601
US $	1.09025	0.91722

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1085.10	1090.65
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	45.15	45.74

 Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks capped the longest rally in four months as an unexpected rebound in exports boosted optimism in the economy.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index eked out a sixth day of gains for the longest rally since April. While the gauge has added 3.6 percent during the recent run, the advance follows a seven-day rout of 5 percent that was the longest since 2011.

     Equities climbed as much as 0.9 percent Wednesday after data showed Canadian exports surged in June at the fastest pace in almost a decade, providing signs the economy may be rebounding from its downturn. Stocks pared gains as energy and materials producers continued a slump that has made them the worst-performing in Canada this year.

     “The export numbers caught a lot of people off-guard,” said Greg Taylor, a fund manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto. His firm manages about C$6.6 billion. “We will have to look for more of that. It’s hard to look at just one point in time.”

     The S&P/TSX added 11.94 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,502.99 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has fallen 0.9 percent in 2015, one of only three developed markets in negative territory for the year among the the 24 tracked by Bloomberg.

     Canadian exports surged 6.3 percent in June, the biggest gain since December 2006, snapping five straight months of declines, according to data from Statistics Canada.

     Lenders, which account for about one-third of the index, paced gains as Royal Bank of Canada climbed 0.9 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia added 0.5 percent.

     Materials producers fell the most, losing 1.4 percent. Tahoe Resources Inc. tumbled 6.1 percent after its chief executive officer stepped down for personal reasons. Barrick Gold Corp. sank 3.5 percent to a 1989 low. Semafo Inc. rose 2.9 percent after second-quarter earnings topped estimates.

     Energy producers slipped 0.8 percent, erasing earlier gains of as much as 1.9 percent. The Bloomberg Commodity Index declined 0.3 percent.

US

By Annelise Alexander and Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for the first time in four days, amid better-than-estimated earnings from technology companies while services-industry data indicated the economy is on track for faster growth.

     Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and First Solar Inc. jumped at least 6.4 percent after their profits exceeded analysts’ forecasts. Priceline Group Inc. added 5.2 percent as its earnings topped estimates. Apple Inc. climbed for the first time in six sessions. Walt Disney Co. slid 9.2 percent after its quarterly sales missed projections, and energy companies erased earlier gains along with oil.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,099.84. at 4 p.m. in New York, after slipping 0.7 percent over the previous three sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 10.22 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,540.47, under Disney’s 75-point drag. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.7 percent. About 7.2 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 11 percent above the three-month average.

     “The market has been under a little bit of pressure looking for a reason to go back up,” said John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York. “The market’s moving in the right direction. A slow, steady recovery is probably a good thing. The single most important factor affecting stock markets is what the Fed is doing.”

     Investors are watching economic reports to gauge when the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates, a decision it has forecast for this year. Data today showed service providers from restaurants to real estate agencies expanded in July at the strongest pace in a decade, putting the U.S. economy on track for faster growth. The share of services companies boosting employment was the highest since records began in 1997.                          

     A separate report Wednesday from ADP Research Institute said companies added fewer workers than expected to payrolls in July, casting doubt on whether labor-market gains can accelerate beyond this year’s current pace. The government’s monthly job report on Friday is projected to show employers took on 225,000 workers last month, while the jobless rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.

     Fed Governor Jerome Powell said there is more labor-market slack in the economy than the jobless rate indicates, during an interview on CNBC. He also said financial assets aren’t in bubble territory, and reiterated that a shallow path for rate increases would be appropriate.

     “We’re in a summer lull, having to digest the Fed apparently getting close to making its own moves, and it’s going to be easy with short-term sentiment to move this market around,” said Steve Bombardiere, an equity trader at Conifer Securities LLC in New York. “What you’d really like to see is the Fed saying the economy is strong and we’re going to raise rates but you’re not seeing that.”                        

     Investors are also weighing corporate earnings for hints on the economy’s health. Four out of five S&P 500 members have reported results this season, with about three-quarters beating profit estimates and half topping sales projections. Analysts now call for a 2.8 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, shallower than July 10 estimates for a 6.4 percent fall.

     Equities pared earlier gains as energy companies declined and raw-material shares trimmed their advance. Chesapeake Energy Corp. tumbled 12 percent following a 4.5 percent jump today. Oil fell to a four-month low, after rallying 2 percent, amid signs of ample crude stockpiles. Miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. lost 1 percent, reversing a 7.5 percent climb that came amid its plan to cut back on oil and gas investments.

     “Commodities, mostly oil, have turned around from being up earlier today,” said Mark Kepner, an equity trader at Chatham, New Jersey-based Themis Trading LLC. “The combination of some of the growth issues out of China and the strength of the dollar as we’re getting closer to a rate hike has been causing this overall weakness in commodities.”                          

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 3.8 percent Wednesday to 12.51. The gauge, known as the VIX, in July posted its biggest monthly drop since February, down more than 33 percent.

     Seven of the S&P 500’s 10 main industries advanced today, with technology and consumer-staples shares rising the most, while energy and consumer-discretionary companies retreated.

     Gains in First Solar and Cognizant led the strongest rise in the tech group in almost three weeks. First Solar jumped the most since March 2014, while Cognizant had its best increase since November. Motorola Solutions Inc. advanced 6.3 percent to a four-month high after quarterly profit topped estimates, and the communications-equipment maker is receiving a $1 billion investment from private-equity firm Silver Lake.                       

     Activision Blizzard Inc. soared 12 percent to a record as sales and profit beat analysts’ estimates on the strength of video-game franchises such as Call of Duty and Skylanders.

     Fellow video-game maker Electronic Arts Inc. added 4.7 percent, also to an all-time high. Sony Corp., EA and Microsoft Corp. predict the releases of potential blockbusters such as Star Wars Battlefront, Halo 5 and FIFA 2016 will fuel holiday sales of games and consoles.

     H&R Block Inc. rose the most since March 2013 after receiving regulatory approval to sell its bank unit BofI Federal Bank, a deal that would end Federal Reserve oversight and capital restrictions. The shares surged 8.9 percent to a record.

     Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s 2.4 percent increase, the biggest since January, paced a rise among consumer staples. Mondelez International Inc., Kellogg Co. and PepsiCo Inc. each gained at least 1.4 percent.

     Walt Disney weighed on the consumer discretionary group, as well as other media companies, falling the most in more than six years after posting quarterly sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates and cutting its forecast for cable-TV profit.

     Time-Warner Inc. slid 9 percent, the most in a year, as the media company kept its full-year profit forecast unchanged after earnings topped analysts’ estimates by a wide margin last quarter. The Bloomberg U.S. Media Index lost 5 percent, its biggest drop in four years.

     Genworth Financial Inc. tumbled after the insurer that has been selling units to rebuild capital said it will probably not get rid of its entire life and annuity operation. Shares dropped 20 percent, the most since November and extended the decline for the year to 34 percent.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Never say, o Lord, I am a miserable sinner.  Who will help you?

It is you who must help the universe.

Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

Carolann

 

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

                                                             -Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Tel: 778.430.5808

(C): 250.881.0801

Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895

Fax: 778.430.5828

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

What a fabulous weekend we just spent in Vancouver.…when we arrived on Saturday morning, the streets downtown were buzzing with people.  Many visitors had descended on the city to take part in the gay pride parade which took place on Sunday – one of the largest in the world.  Taylor Swift was in town to perform Saturday night.  The last of the fireworks in English Bay Saturday night too (Canada won!).

We walked the seawall to Stanley Park –  it’s amazing how the area from the Harbour Air sea terminal to the beginning of Stanley Park has been transformed in the past decade with restaurants, seating benches for sea-gazing, marinas….Thank you Lord Stanley for the foresight to create Stanley Park – it is so wonderful to walk through on a brilliant summer’s day.

One of the highlights of the weekend was attending the 2015 Araxi Long Table dinner last night which was held at Bard on the Beach in Vanier Park.  There were 250 people dining together outside  at one long communal table set up outside on the lawn overlooking Vancouver’s West End and downtown.  The four course dinner was designed by all of Toptable Groups five executive chefs from Araxi, West, Blue Water Café, Cin Cin, with wine pairings selected by Araxi’s wine director, Samantha Rahn.  The food was amazing and the way the evening went off flawlessly truly remarkable.  There is going to be another Araxi long table dinner on August 17^th at North Arm Farm in Pemberton, north of Whistler.   If you can get there, I can highly recommend it; in fact I’m sure the outdoor setting in Pemberton will best Vanier Park; the food  and wines were fantastic and the service was also fantastic and it was wonderful to meet and speak with so many new faces and interesting people.  Needless to say, it is worth every cent and effort – it was truly a spectacular summer evening event.  I’m already looking forward to next year’s Long Table evening.  I came home with a copy of Araxi’s cook book, which I so look forward to mastering.

 

On Aug. 4, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany while the United States proclaimed its neutrality.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A girl cools off under a fountain during hot weather on Sechselaeutenplatz Square in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday. Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

Passersby take photos of a rainbow at sunset in Beijing, Monday. Beijing has pledged to continue to improve air quality as part of its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which the city was awarded on Friday. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Market Closes for August 4, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17550.69	-47.51     -0.27%
S&P 500	2093.32	-4.72   -0.22%
NASDAQ	5105.546	-9.836   -0.19%
TSX	14491.05	+22.61
		+0.16%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20520.36	-27.75
		-0.14%
HANG SENG	24406.12	-5.30
		-0.2%
SENSEX	28071.93	-115.13
		-0.41%
FTSE 100	6686.57	-2.05
		-0.03%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.427	1.441
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.108	2.126
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2213	2.1890
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.108	2.9116

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75807	0.76436
US $	1.31914	1.30828
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43685	0.69597
US $	1.08922	0.91809

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1090.65	1098.40
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	45.74	47.30

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, after posting the best weekly advance since April, as a rise in consumer shares overshadowed a drop in commodities producers.

     Martinrea International Inc. and Dollarama Inc. gained at least 2.8 percent to lead consumer-discretionary shares higher. Brookfield Property Partners LP climbed a record 5.6 percent after it said it was in the process of selling assets. Energy producers tumbled after crude sank on Monday to a six-month low while Canadian equity markets were shut for a holiday.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 22.61 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,491.05 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The S&P/TSX rallied 2 percent last week to trim its slide in July to 0.6 percent.

     Miners and energy producers slumped around the world on Monday as Brent oil dipped below $50 for the first time since January and the Bloomberg Commodity Index slipped to a 13-year low. Crude rebounded Tuesday as the rout in commodities paused.

     That wasn’t enough to spare resource producers in Canada from catch-up selling. Energy shares slid 0.6 percent. Yamana Gold Inc. fell 8.5 percent and Iamgold Corp. retreated 7.5 percent as raw-materials producers declined 0.9 percent as a group.

     Raw-materials and energy companies are the worst performers in the S&P/TSX this year, down at least 14 percent, amid a rout in commodities prices that has driven oil into a bear market and gold to a five-year low.

     Saputo Inc. climbed 4.9 percent, the most in five years, after reporting fiscal first-quarter earnings in line with estimates and said it will be able to navigate any regulatory changes that result from a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. 

US

By Emma O’Brien and Adam Haigh

     (Bloomberg) — The dollar held gains at a four-month high after a Federal Reserve official stoked speculation interest rates will be raised next month. Japanese index futures climbed amid the yen’s retreat, while oil solidified its rebound.

     The greenback was steady at 124.34 yen by 8:04 a.m. in Tokyo as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index held at its highest closing level since March 17. Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures rose 0.2 percent, while contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed after Apple Inc. drove stock losses Tuesday. U.S. oil gained following Brent’s 0.9 percent rebound back toward $50 a barrel. Copper fell. New Zealand’s dollar was near a two-week low after jobs data and a slump in dairy prices.

     Treasuries retreated from their highest levels in two months after Fed Bank of Atlanta chief Dennis Lockhart said it would take significant deterioration in economic data to convince him that a rate hike in September should be put off.

Oil’s rebound steadied commodity markets, quelling losses among energy and mining stocks ahead of a swag of services industry data from China to Japan and the U.S. Thailand is projected to keep borrowing costs on hold at a review Wednesday.

     “The U.S. dollar will continue to rise and remain strong,” Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners Ltd. in Wellington, which manages about $7.2 billion, said by phone. “We’ve got more cautious on China of late. The real growth rate is a little bit below what’s being reported. We’re quite cautious on emerging markets across the board. It looks like it’ll get worse before it gets better.”

     Lockhart told the Wall Street Journal there is “a high bar right now to not acting, speaking for myself.” While talking up the economy’s recovery from a first-quarter slump, the central banker acknowledged the downward pressure on inflation exercised by the drop in oil prices. Much anticipated monthly payrolls data is due later this week as the Fed mulls whether to raise rates for the first time since 2006.

     The comments saw traders boost bets on a September increase, with the probability of a hike at the Fed’s next meeting at 48 percent, based on the assumption that the effective Fed funds rate will average 0.375 percent after the first increase. That compared with the 38 percent chance priced in earlier on Tuesday.

     “Lockhart is both a centrist and a 2015 voter on the FOMC, making this assertion important,” Raiko Shareef, a markets strategist in Wellington at Bank of New Zealand Ltd., wrote in a client note, referring to the Fed Open Market Committee which sets policy. “It changes the burden of proof -– data no longer has to improve materially for the Fed to move in September. It simply has to avoid worsening.” 

     Bloomberg’s dollar gauge was up 0.1 percent in a third day of gains. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes climbed seven basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 2.22 percent Tuesday after three days of declines.

     Nikkei 225 futures were bid for 20,500 in the Osaka pre- market, from 20,450 in Japan Tuesday, while yen-denominated contracts traded in Chicago were little changed at 20,515 after rising 0.1 percent in the previous session. A private gauge of Japan’s services sector is due Wednesday, ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy review later this week.

     Futures on indexes elsewhere in Asia were mixed, with contracts on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index down 0.3 percent in most recent trading, while Kospi index futures in Seoul were little changed. Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Hang Seng China Enterprises gauges increased 0.4 percent. Contracts on the FTSE China A50 Index, which tracks the biggest mainland shares, dropped 0.1 percent in Singapore as futures on the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index jumped 6 percent.

    Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. rallied Tuesday after a 3.7 percent climb in the Shanghai Composite Index. Chinese equities climbed for only the second time in eight days last session after local authorities imposed restrictions on short selling, their latest salvo in a bid to stem gyrations in the stock market. Some brokerages halted their short-selling businesses entirely.

     The kiwi dropped as much as 0.2 percent in a sixth straight day of losses, after touching its weakest level since July 20 last session.

     Prices for whole milk powder fell to the lowest in at least seven years at a global auction Tuesday, and December powder futures traded in Wellington slid 6 percent early Wednesday. New Zealand, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, also saw smaller- than-expected growth in employment last quarter, government data showed.

     Some sense of calm returned to commodities markets following their slump to a 13-year low on Monday.

     West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.3 percent to $45.86 a barrel following last session’s 1.3 percent bounce. WTI and Brent both slid more than 4 percent on Monday after Iran indicated it could bolster crude output as early as a week after international sanctions against it are lifted. Concern over a global supply glut has sent oil down 14 percent this year.

     Copper futures for September delivery on the Comex lost 0.4 percent to $2.3515 a pound after rallying 0.7 percent Tuesday, its first increase in four days. The Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex rose 0.6 percent to 102.5656 Tuesday, snapping three days of losses. The measure has tumbled 17 percent this year amid signs of slowing momentum in China, the world’s biggest metals consumer.

     Gold was little changed at $1,087.35 an ounce after erasing losses of as much as 0.5 percent last session.

     Apple slid below its 200-day moving average for the first time since 2013 on Monday, and the stock is down more than 10 percent from its February high, meeting the common definition of a correction. The highest volume of shares since January were traded Tuesday. Apple has been falling since reporting disappointing iPhone sales in late July, stoking concern over whether the company can keep making must-have products.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

This glorious soul we must believe in.  Out of that will come power.

Whatever you think, that you will be.  If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be;

if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be;

if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be.  This teaches us not to think ourselves as weak, but as strong,

omnipotent, omniscient.  No matter that I have not expressed it yet, it is in me.

All knowledge is in me, all power, all purity, and all freedom.  Why cannot I express this knowledge?

Because I do not believe in it.  Let me believe in it, and it must and will come out.

This is what the idea of the Impersonal teaches.

Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

Carolann

Too much rest is rust.

 -Walter Scott, 1771-1832

 

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

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7