Month: October 2015

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The Poem:

FIANUIS
 -by Kathleen Jamie
Well, friend, we’re here again,
        sauntering the last half-mile to the land’s frayed end
to find what’s laid on for us, strewn across the turf-
gull feathers, bleached shells,
                 a whole bull seal, bone-dry,
knackered from the rut
(we knock on his leathern head, but no-one’s home).

Change, change – that’s what the terns scream
                        down at their seaward rocks
fleet clouds and salt kiss –
everything else is provisional,
                        us and all our works.
I guess that’s why we like it here.
                  Listen a brief lull,
                          a rock pipit’s seed-small notes.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Autumn leaves are at their peak on a sunny day in the western Austrian city of Innsbruck Friday. Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

 

Students from the Brainshire Science School wear costumes as they participate in a Halloween parade in Paranaque city, metro Manila, Philippines, Friday. Romeo Ranoco/Reuters

A woman, her face covered in white, paints the tombstones at a cemetery in Casabermeja, southern Spain, Friday. Catholics will mark All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1 by visiting cemeteries and graves of relatives and friends. Jon Nazca/Reuters

Market Closes for October 30^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17663.54	-92.26   -0.52%
S&P 500	2085.72	-3.69   -0.18%
NASDAQ	5053.750	-20.524   -0.40%
TSX	13559.61	-232.27
		-1.68%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19083.10	+147.39
		+0.78%
HANG SENG	22640.04	-179.90
		-0.79%
SENSEX	26656.83	-181.31
		-0.68%
FTSE 100	6361.09	-34.71
		-0.54%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.543	1.550
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.306	2.320
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1439	2.1743
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9262	2.9621

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76516	0.75770
US $	1.30691	1.31978
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43670	0.69604
US $	1.09931	0.90966

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1148.60	1179.60
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	46.59	45.94

Market Commentary:

Regardless of current economic condition, it’s always best to remember that the stock market is a barometer and not a thermometer. –Yale Hirsch, 1923-

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks dropped the most in four weeks, paring the best monthly gain since April, as the nation’s largest lenders slumped and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. capped its worst-ever monthly performance.

     Health-care and financial services stocks led Canadian equities lower, as Valeant extended its October rout to 48 percent amid intense scrutiny over its business practices. The stock had been one of the best performers in Canada through the first half of the year and briefly became the biggest company in the country by market capitalization.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 262.71 points, or 1.9 percent, to 13,529.17 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest drop since Sept. 28. The decline trimmed the Canadian benchmark’s October advance to 1.7 percent, the worst performance among 24 developed-nation markets in that time, as a gauge of global equities capped its best month in four years.

     Valeant’s been the primary drag on the market. The embattled drugmaker sank 18 percent after it said Friday it will terminate its relationship with Philidor Rx Services, the closely-associated pharmacy that Valeant has used to distribute its products. The decision came after Bloomberg News reported Philidor altered doctors’ prescriptions to wring more reimbursements from U.S. health insurers.

     Energy and materials producers rallied more than 6.9 percent in October to lead gains after weighing most on the benchmark index for the first nine months of the year. Financial stocks pared a rally for the month to a 3.4 percent gain.

     Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank sank at least 2.3 percent to lead lenders lower. A gauge of U.S. banks slumped 1.9 percent, the most in a month, as lenders from Wells Fargo & Co. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. face a $120 billion total shortfall of long-term debt under a Federal Reserve proposal aimed at ensuring their failure wouldn’t hurt the broader financial system.

     Data Friday showed Canada’s economy grew for a third month in August, increasing 0.1 percent led by manufacturing. Oil and gas extraction and retailing measures also rose. The third quarter may be a high point in a recovery from falling commodity prices, which the Bank of Canada said last week will take around the middle of 2017 to complete.

     “After the lows earlier in the year and highs of the June and July rebound, it was back to reality for the Canadian economy in August,” said Andrew Grantham, an economist at CIBC World Markets in a note to clients. “Given the lingering effects of the oil price shock in some areas of the country, that reality appears to be one of very modest growth.”

     Canada’s central bank has cut interest rates twice this year, to 0.5 percent, to spur growth in a flagging economy amid oil’s price collapse. Governor Stephen Poloz cut his growth forecasts for the next two years on Oct. 21 as weak investment by energy companies will restrain growth.

     Bombardier Inc. yesterday reported a $4.9 billion loss in part due to writedowns related to its oft-delayed CSeries jetliner. The aerospace company’s quarterly loss was the third- largest in Canada since the third quarter of 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bombardier rebounded 3.7 percent.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks faded late in October’s final session, paring the strongest monthly gain since 2011 as weaker- than-estimated quarterly results weighed on financial and consumer staples shares.

     The pace of the October advance leveled off since stocks on Wednesday pushed to their highest since August, capping a robust rally in a more stoic fashion. Energy and raw-material companies — two of the strongest groups since September — added to their gains in the month’s final session, with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. rising after posting better-than-expected earnings.

     The S&P 500 declined 0.5 percent to 2,079.36 at 4 p.m. in New York, with the gauge up 8.3 percent this month. Stocks are also extended to five their longest streak of weekly advances this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 92.26 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,663.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.4 percent.

     “Recent Fed comments have been a little more hawkish, and we didn’t get further easing from the Bank of Japan,” said Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co LLC in New York. “It’s not like the market is falling out of bed, but when you combine that with how much we’ve been up lately, it gives us an excuse to pull back. We just had this huge rally — pulling back is normal and healthy.”

     Analysts project profits for S&P 500 members dropped 3.9 percent in the third quarter, improving from an estimated 6.1 percent decline a week ago, following better-than-forecast results from Chevron and Exxon Mobil. With about two-thirds of companies in the index finished with reporting this season, 75 percent have beaten profit projections, while only 44 percent have exceeded sales estimates.

     Genworth Financial Inc. lost 10 percent, the biggest drop in the S&P 500, after its profit missed analysts’ estimates. CVS Health Corp. sank as its outlook disappointed. LinkedIn Corp. jumped 11 percent as its revenue forecast topped projections, and AbbVie Inc. surged 10 percent after its earnings beat expectations. First Solar Inc., the biggest U.S. solar manufacturer, climbed 12 percent, the most in almost three months after third-quarter profit almost quadrupled.

     The S&P 500 has rebounded more than 11 percent from its August low, spurred by gains in energy and technology shares — the same groups that helped drag the index to its worst quarter since 2011. Both posted their strongest monthly increase in four years amid easing concern that weakness in China will spread.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 3.2 percent Friday to 15.07. The measure of market turbulence know as the VIX saw its steepest monthly retreat ever, down 39 percent, amid equities’ strong rebound from the weak third quarter.

     Central banks have dominated markets this month, with a weak U.S. jobs report jolting equities out of a summer swoon and sinking the dollar on speculation the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates pinned near zero into 2016. Persistent signs of weak global growth prompted the European Central Bank to hint at potential extra stimulus, while China unexpectedly cut its lending rate.

     Fed officials said this week that U.S. growth was moderate, and they will evaluate progress in the labor market and inflation readings when considering whether to raise rates at their next meeting in December. Traders have now shifted their bets on the likelihood of a December increase — pricing in a 50 percent chance of liftoff by year end, compared with as low as 30 percent last week.

     An earlier report today showed household spending rose less than forecast in September, with the smallest gain since January. Separate data showed wages and salaries rose in the third quarter at a faster pace, while another report showed consumer sentiment increased less than forecast in October as Americans viewed buying conditions as less favorable than they did earlier in the month.

     Five of the S&P 500’s 10 main industries fell today, with financial and consumer staples companies leading declines. Energy and utilities shares rose the most, with the energy group capping an 11 percent gain for the month, the most since October 2011.

     Financial companies in the benchmark gauge declined for the fourth time in five days. Genworth Financial, the insurer battered by losses on long-term care coverage, fell 10 percent after Chief Executive Officer Tom McInerney said there are limited options to simplify the company in the short term. KeyCorp led banks lower, falling 7.2 percent after agreeing to buy First Niagara Financial Group Inc. in a $4.1 billion cash- and-stock deal.

     The KBW Bank Index fell 1.9 percent, the most in a month. The largest U.S. banks would face a $120 billion total shortfall of long-term debt under a Federal Reserve proposal aimed at ensuring their failure wouldn’t hurt the broader financial system. Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. sank more than 1.7 percent.

     Consumer staples slid 1.1 percent. CVS, the biggest provider of prescription drugs in the U.S., fell 4.8 percent as 2016 guidance came in below consensus expectations. Colgate- Palmolive Co. lost 4.2 percent, the most since August, after reporting a quarterly profit that fell short of forecasts.

     The S&P 500 Technology Index slipped as Electronic Arts Inc. lost 5.3 percent, its biggest retreat in two months, even after the publisher of the Madden NFL video games delivered quarterly earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. Facebook Inc. declined 2.8 percent, the most in four weeks.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. tumbled 16 percent to its lowest since July 2013. The embattled drug maker failed to comfort investors after cutting ties with Philidor Rx Services, the closely-associated pharmacy Valeant has used to distribute its products and that’s under scrutiny for its business practices. Billionaire William Ackman also didn’t convince investors after spending four hours on a call Friday defending his outsize bet on Valeant.

     Geo Group Inc., a provider of correction, detention and community re-entry services, slipped 1.3 percent, paring a slide of as much as 4.2 percent, after a tweet from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton saying “we need to end private prisons.” Corrections Corp. of America lost as much as 6.2 percent before closing down 2.6 percent.

     Exxon Mobil and Chevron paced an advance among energy companies, with each rising more than 0.6 percent. Exxon’s profit beat estimates as soaring margins on processing oil into fuels blunted the impact of collapsing crude markets.

     Chevron was also boosted by its refining business, and said it’s cutting about 10 percent of its workforce while scaling back its long-term production target. Phillips 66, the largest U.S. refiner by market value, also exceeded analysts’ profit views, sending its shares up 3 percent to an all-time high.

     Expedia Inc. surged 7.3 percent to an all-time high, leading gains in consumer discretionary shares. The online travel site said it would realize more cost savings than originally projected from its $1.3 billion acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide Inc., and it also beat quarterly earnings estimates. TripAdvisor Inc. and Priceline Group Inc. added at least 2 percent.

     Utility companies gained as 10-year U.S. Treasury yields slipped 1.4 percent. Lower bond yields help the group’s dividend payout look more attractive to investors. The increase ended a five-day streak of declines for the index of power stocks, the longest since June.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

If a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his creatures,

there is no salvation for him.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

A person’s greatest virtue is his ability to correct his mistakes

and continually make a new person of himself.

                                            -Wang Yangming, 1472-1529

 

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:

From a recent Wall Street Journal article:

Far in Space, a Glance at How Earth May End
‘It reinforces the idea that we are in a much more hostile environment than we sometimes imagine,’ an astrophysicist says
Black holes have long been a source of intrigue for astronomers and science fiction writers, but what happens when a star wanders too close to one?

By 
GAUTAM NAIK

Astronomers have made the first direct discovery of a planet being ripped apart by the tremendous forces unleashed by a dying star, a possible glimpse into how the Earth will end its days.

The cosmic drama is occurring 570 light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. There, a sun-like star is reaching the end of its life and, in the process, annihilating its solar system. Specifically, the researchers discovered a small planet being vaporized by the star’s searing heat and ripped apart by its gravity.

“The planet is in its death throes,” said Andrew Vanderburg, Ph.D student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and lead author of the study. “Every second, it’s losing up to 10 million kilograms,” or 22 million pounds of material.

The discoveries were made using the planet-hunting space telescope Kepler, operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as ground-based telescopes. Details were published Thursday in the journal Nature.

When a sun-like star runs out of the hydrogen that fuels its nuclear fusion reaction, it swells into an object that is 100-200 times its original size. This “red giant” eventually collapses into a much smaller body known as a white dwarf—an object that possesses intense gravity.

 

In this artist’s conception, a dwarf planet disintegrates as it orbits a white dwarf star. Astronomers have discovered signs that a sun-like star has turned into a white dwarf, an object of such intense gravity that it can destroy its solar system. PHOTO: MARK A. GARLICK/HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS

The white dwarf star discovered by Mr. Vanderburg and his team, for example, is only a little bigger than earth. A teaspoon’s worth of it has a mass of nearly 15 tons.

Our sun will go through a similar process about five billion years from now, scientists say. Because of its nearness to the sun, there’s a chance that Earth will be engulfed by the red giant that forms.

Even if Earth survives the sun’s red giant phase, other forces will claim it. The subsequent white dwarf that is created could destabilize the orbits of planets—including Earth’s—and cause many of them to fall toward the white dwarf and disintegrate. That appears to be the scenario unfolding in Virgo.

“It’s a glimpse into the future of Earth,” said Carole Mundell, head of astrophysics at the University of Bath, England, who wasn’t involved in the Nature study. “It reinforces the idea that we are in a much more hostile environment than we sometimes imagine.”

Kepler searches for planets by looking for a telltale dip in brightness that occurs when an orbiting body crosses a star. In the summer of 2014, Kepler took measurements from 20,000 stars. When Mr. Vanderburg and his team studied the data, one signal jumped out at them: the transit of a body across a white dwarf that was dimming the star by 40%.

It was the first planetary object ever seen transiting a white dwarf. The team estimated that the planet was a mere 520,000 miles from the white dwarf and orbiting it every 4.5 hours. They also discovered other bodies in a similar orbit.

Significantly, the planet is surrounded by a vast cloud of dust and debris. This is the material being blasted off its surface by gravity and the heat of the nearby white dwarf. It is evidence that the planet is disintegrating.

Scientists have speculated that when this happens, dust from the crumbling planet will settle on the surface of the host star. Mr. Vanderburg and his colleagues now plan to analyze that dust and from it infer what the dying planet is made of.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A home-made airship, made by Shi Songbo, lifts off during a test flight in Ningling county of Shangqiu, Henan province, China. The 10-meter-long, 23-meter-high, two-seated air ship, which cost Shi 300,000 yuan ($47,187 USD) and took four months to make, performed eight successful trial flights.China Daily/Reuters

Mea’ling, a sphinx cat, peers out at the crowd adorned in her costume at the Fantasy Fest Pet Masquerade in Key West, Fla., Wednesday. Owned by Diana Benton, Mea’ling was one of more than 50 entries in the competition for animals and their owners. Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/Reuters

Market Closes for October 29^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17755.80	-23.72   -0.13%
S&P 500	2089.71	-0.64   -0.03%
NASDAQ	5074.273	-21.417   -0.42%
TSX	13788.68	-74.48
		-0.54%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18935.71	+32.69
		+0.17%
HANG SENG	22819.94	-136.63
		-0.60%
SENSEX	26838.14	-201.62
		-0.75%
FTSE 100	6395.80	-42.00
		-0.65%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.550	1.483
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.320	2.272
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1743	2.1009
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9621	2.8788

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75930	0.75770
US $	1.31700	1.31978
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.44590	0.69161
US $	1.09787	0.91085

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1148.60	1179.60
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	45.93	45.94

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks slumped, paring the best monthly gain since February, as Bombardier Inc. plunged after receiving a rescue from the Quebec government of as much as $1.3 billion and resource producers sank on the prospect of higher interest rates in America.

     While the Canadian benchmark has jumped 3.6 percent in October, that’s the second-worst performance among 24 developed- nation markets in that time, as a gauge of global equities heads for its best month in four years. The rally stalled Thursday after the Federal Reserve signaled it’s still prepared to raise interest rates this year if warranted. That bolstered the U.S. currency and sent commodities tumbling.

     In Canada, Bombardier led declines as the jet maker’s tardy and over-budget CSeries program will get an investment from Quebec in exchange for a 49.5 percent stake and as much as 200 million Bombardier shares, the Montreal-based company said Thursday. The company’s $4.9 billion net loss is the third-worst by a Canadian company since the third quarter of 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 71.28 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,791.88 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The index’s October gain would be its best month since February. It’s down 5.7 percent in 2015.

     Bombardier, the second worst-performing stock in the S&P/TSX this year with a 68 percent decline, dropped 15 percent for the biggest decline since Aug. 24. Materials producers fell 3.5 percent as a group as metals from copper to gold retreated.

     Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. lost 3 percent to lead raw-materials producers lower. The world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value cut its full-year profit forecast and shuttering reducing production in response to weaker demand from emerging markets.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. tumbled 3.7 percent after CVS Health Corp. said it would remove Valeant partner Philidor RX Services from its network of pharmacies after an audit of its practices.

     Barrick Gold Corp. added 1.6 percent to a two-week high after reporting better-than-estimated profit after the market close yesterday. Barrick’s lower costs and higher production helped to mitigate the impact of weak metals prices. Some 150 companies are scheduled to report earnings next week.

     Gold stocks have rallied 10 percent in October, on pace for the best performance since January as the prospect of an interest-rate increase from the Fed dimmed during the month amid slowing global economic growth and mixed U.S. data. Gold becomes a less attractive investment when rates rise as the metal doesn’t pay interest.

     Revived prospects for an increase in borrowing costs has stalled the best rally in global developed and developing markets since 2011. The odds the Fed, which left interest rates unchanged yesterday, will move on rates in December has now jumped to 50 percent from around 32 percent a week ago, based on futures prices.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — A rally in U.S. stocks stalled Thursday, after equities reached a two-month high, as investors weighed corporate earnings and prospects for higher interest rates this year.

     Technology shares fell, led by F5 Networks Inc. after its profit and sales outlook disappointed. NXP Semiconductors NV tumbled the most in five years after predicting a drop in sales, and Intel Corp. slid 2 percent. Delphi Automotive Plc sank 7.1 percent after cutting its revenue and earnings forecast. Allergan Plc. climbed 6 percent after confirming it’s in merger talks with Pfizer Inc., which fell 1.9 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was little changed at 2,089.41 at 4 p.m. in New York, near the highest level since Aug. 18. The gauge is up 8.8 percent in October, poised for its best month in four years, boosted by gains in commodity producers and technology shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.72 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,755.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4 percent, while the Russell 2000 Index slipped 1.1 percent following its best one-day gain this year.

     “It’s merely a re-evaluation of how people should be positioned given the Fed commentary yesterday,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los Angeles. “The door was left open for a rate hike in December, which is likely to lead to a much higher dollar. That won’t be a good read for anyone doing business internationally.”

     Fed officials yesterday forecast moderate growth, and dropped a reference to global risks in a policy statement following a two-day meeting. They also referred to their “next meeting” on Dec. 15-16 as they discussed the timing for raising interest rates. Traders are now pricing in a 50 percent chance of liftoff in December, compared with as low as 30 percent last week. Prior to the Fed meeting, March was the first month showing at least even odds for a rate increase.

     Data continues to be the Fed’s guide toward an eventual rate boost, and a report today showed the economy expanded at a slower pace in the third quarter as companies took advantage of gains in consumer and business spending to reduce bloated stockpiles. A separate measure showed contract signings to purchase previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in September by the most since the end of 2013, indicating the residential real estate market is cooling from its recent brisk pace.                        

     The S&P 500 has rebounded as much as 12 percent from an August low. The October rally has been spurred by advances in energy and raw-material shares, the same groups that helped drag the index to its worst quarter since 2011. Both are headed for their strongest monthly increase since 2011 amid easing concern that weakness in China will spread.

     “More people want to get into energy and get into the space, they just don’t know what the right time will be,” Adam Lustig, a managing director at Raymond James & Associates Inc. said by phone. “Not many think 2016 will be good for the space but they think 2017 will and we’re starting to see people initiate early.”

     Corporate earnings season remains an influence on investor sentiment, with a little less than half of the companies in the S&P 500 yet to report. Of those that have reported, 76 percent beat profit projections, while 56 percent missed sales estimates. Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Colgate- Palmolive Co. are among 21 companies scheduled to release results on Friday.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 2 percent Thursday to 14.61. The measure of market turbulence know as the VIX is on course for its steepest monthly retreat ever amid equities’ strong rebound from the weak third quarter. About 7  billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 5 percent below the three-month average.

     Five of the S&P 500’s 10 main industries declined today, with utilities, financial and technology shares down the most. Health-care advanced for a fifth day while energy companies climbed for a second straight session. Chipmakers dragged down the tech group, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index posting its biggest loss in almost two months. NXP Semiconductors lost nearly 20 percent after forecasting an unexpected decline in fourth-quarter revenue as customers pulled back on orders amid a slowing global economy and higher inventories of unsold chips. Avago Technologies Ltd. slid 5.5 percent.

     Earnings results took a toll on auto-parts suppliers. Delphi Automotive fell the most in four years after cutting it annual profit and sales forecasts to below analysts’ estimates as China’s vehicle market slows. The company got about 23 percent of sales last year from the Asia-Pacific region, up from 16 percent in 2010. BorgWarner Inc. lost 8.7 percent after reducing the high end of this year’s profit outlook.

     Financial shares in the benchmark retreated after rallying Wednesday the most in seven weeks. Invesco Ltd. dropped 2.5 percent after the owner of the PowerShares funds posted a profit that missed analysts’ estimates, and the firm had $6.3 billion in redemptions. Within the KBW Bank Index, New York Community Bancorp tumbled 12 percent, the most in six years, after agreeing to purchase Astoria Financial Corp. in a deal valued at about $2 billion. Astoria sank 7.7 percent.

     An S&P index of homebuilders had its worst drop in a month after the surprise slide in pending sales of previously owned homes. Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc. slumped more than 3.7 percent. Meritage Homes Corp. fell 9.7 percent as its fourth- quarter outlook disappointed.

     Allergan helped lead health-care higher amid its “preliminary friendly discussions” to merge with Pfizer. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. added 5.1 percent after posting a third- quarter loss that was smaller than analysts’ estimates as sales of its new combination drug for cystic fibrosis grew faster than expected.

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index erased an early climb, halting its longest rally in almost three months. Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. added 7.2 percent to a two-month high after raising its 2015 profit outlook and reinstating a stock buyback program.

     Energy companies advanced as they head toward an October increase of more than 10 percent, the biggest monthly rally since 2011. The climb since September has been bolstered by Newfield Exploration Co., Apache Corp. and Transocean Ltd., with each up at least 18 percent. Thursday’s gains were paced by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Valero Energy Corp., rising more than 3.1 percent.                      

     Among other companies moving on corporate news, Hanesbrands Inc. jumped 15 percent, its biggest since 2009. The clothing maker posted third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and raising its earnings forecast for the year, helped by increasing sales of activewear.

     Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. plunged 17 percent, the in eight years, after sales growth missed analysts’ estimates and the chicken-wing chain cut its profit forecast.

     GoPro Inc. plummeted 15 percent to the lowest since it debuted last year, after the maker of action cameras reported profit and sales that trailed estimates. The company said the smaller Hero4 Session model introduced in July didn’t sell as well as it expected in the third quarter and its September price cut hurt revenue.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

You can live with few clothes or with one meal a day, but that is not simplicity.

So be simple, don’t live in a complicated way, contradictory and so on, just be simple in inwardly.

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better.

                                            -Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

 

 

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:

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

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The Gateway Arch is lit with golden-colored lights just before sunrise Wednesday in St. Louis. The city is celebrating the moment when the final piece of the 630-foot-tall structure was put into place on Oct. 28, 1965. David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP

Artistes from Cirque du Soleil perform during a media preview of the production ‘Totem’ Tuesday in Singapore, where they will be performing until the end of the year. Wong Maye-E/AP

Market Closes for October 28^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17779.52	+198.09   +1.13%
S&P 500	2090.35	+24.46   +1.18%
NASDAQ	5095.691	+65.546   +1.30%
TSX	13863.16	+163.56
		+1.19%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18903.02	+125.98
		+0.67%
HANG SENG	22956.57	-186.16
		-0.80%
SENSEX	27039.76	-213.68
		-0.78%
FTSE 100	6437.80	+72.53
		+1.14%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.483	1.444
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.272	2.247
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1009	2.0564
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8788	2.8678

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75770	0.76003
US $	1.31978	1.31573
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.44088	0.69402
US $	1.09176	0.91595

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1179.60	1166.40
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	45.94	43.98

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, rebounding from the biggest two-day decline since September, as financial shares rallied and oil producers climbed after crude prices jumped the most in eight weeks.

     Crude surged as data showed inventories in the U.S. declined, fueling speculation that a supply glut may ease. Energy shares have been the worst performers in Canada’s resource-heavy stock market this year. Equities briefly pared gains Wednesday after the Federal Reserve’s signal that interest rates may rise as soon as December sent gold miners lower.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 163.56 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,863.16 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge fell 1.8 percent over the previous two days. The index is up 4.2 percent in October, on pace for the biggest monthly increase in two years. 

     The Federal Open Market Committee sees a “moderate” pace of growth for the U.S. economy, leaving themselves the option to tighten policy at their next meeting in December. The statement sent U.S. Treasuries lower, boosted the dollar and led to a rally in bank shares that lifted American equities to a two- month high.

     Financial services companies in Canada contributed the second-most to gains on Wednesday, rising 0.9 percent as a group. Energy shares had the biggest hand in the advance, with a 2.5 percent rally.

     Crescent Point Energy Corp. added 3.5 percent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 3.7 percent. U.S. crude climbed the most in eight weeks, rebounding from a two-month low in New York after industry data showed declines in crude stockpiles at the nation’s biggest storage hub.

     Canadian industrial stocks rallied 1.8 percent. Canadian National Railway Co. climbed 2.9 percent. Canadian National reported third-quarter earnings after the market close Tuesday, including revenue of C$3.22 billion, ahead of estimates for C$3.15 billion.

     Bombardier Inc. soared 11 percent after a Montreal newspaper reported Quebec’s government will provide financial assistance to the embattled maker of the CSeries jetliner.

     Goldcorp Inc. lost 3.3 percent and Eldorado Gold Corp. tumbled 4.2 percent as gold producers sank 1.9 percent, reversing earlier gains of as much as 3.8 percent. The S&P/TSX Gold Index pared its advance in October to 15 percent, still on track for its best performance since January. 

     The prospect of an interest-rate increase from the Fed dimmed during the month amid slowing global economic growth and mixed U.S. data. Gold becomes a less attractive investment when rates rise as the metal doesn’t pay interest.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks soared to a two-month high as commodity producers rallied and the Federal Reserve’s signal that it may raise interest rates as soon as December sent financial shares surging.

     Equities had advanced into the afternoon Fed statement, boosted by Apple Inc. following its better-than-expected results and by energy shares as oil surged the most in eight weeks. The indication that policy makers are still considering a rate increase this year briefly undercut the gains before banks jumped on the prospect of stronger profits.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.2 percent to 2,090.35 at 4 p.m. in New York, its highest since Aug. 18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 198.09 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,779.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 1.3 percent, while the Russell 2000 Index rallied 2.9 percent, its biggest gain this year. About 8.5 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 15 percent above the three-month average.

     “The impression the Fed left is that December is still on the table, they didn’t close the door to that,” said Russ Koesterich, a global chief investment strategist at BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager. “You’re going to see some change of positions here, the main takeaway is the Fed is managing their optionality and if we get a few good economic data points, then December is possible.”

     Bank of America Corp. surged 5.4 percent and the KBW Bank Index climbed the most in two months after the Fed’s comments. Energy shares advanced as crude added 6.3 percent, while Apple gained 4.1 percent, the most in eight weeks, after its results and forecast for record holiday sales.

     The economy is still expanding at a “moderate” pace, Fed officials said as they left interest rates unchanged, and they will consider tightening policy at their next meeting in December without making a commitment to act this year. Even with a slower pace of recent job gains, labor market indicators show slack has diminished since early this year, the Federal Open Market Committee said.

     The Fed removed a line from September’s statement saying that global economic and financial developments “may restrain economic activity somewhat,” saying only that the central bank is monitoring the international situation.

     Policy makers last month opted to not raise rates after China’s slowdown and its August currency devaluation added uncertainty to the global economic picture, sparking turmoil in financial markets. Markets have calmed this month, and a rate cut by China’s central bank last week helped the S&P 500 erase a loss for the year.

     The main U.S. equity gauge is poised for its best monthly gain in four years after rebounding almost 12 percent from an August low. Energy, raw-material and industrial shares have helped propel the October rally, the same groups that weighed heavily during the benchmark’s worst quarter since 2011 amid concern that weakness in China would spread. The index closed Wednesday less than 2 percent below its May record.

     Uneven data, including weaker-than-forecast new-home sales and consumer confidence reports this week, have held down expectations for higher borrowing costs this year. Following the Fed statement, traders priced in a 54 percent odds on a January rate increase, up from about 43 percent earlier today. The central bank has held the federal funds target rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008.

     Investors are also looking to corporate results to help measure the economy’s strength. Analysts project profits for S&P 500 members dropped 6.1 percent in the third quarter. Of those that have released results this season, about 75 percent have exceeded profit projections, while 55 percent missed sales estimates. Altria Group Inc., MasterCard Inc. and Starbucks Corp. are among 49 companies in the benchmark scheduled to report on Thursday.

     Apple’s gain today buoyed equities after the company said sales in the current quarter will top last year’s record. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook attributed the forecast to customers upgrading to the latest iPhone models, converts switching over from Android handsets and continued growth in China.

     Level 3 Communications Inc. rallied 9.3 percent, the most in more than a year to lead phone companies higher after the company’s quarterly profit topped analysts’ estimates. CenturyLink Inc. increased 1.7 percent.

     Akamai Technologies Inc. fell 17 percent, the steepest slide since 2011 after its fourth-quarter revenue outlook was short of analysts’ forecasts. At least three analysts subsequently cut their ratings on the shares. Twitter Inc. fell 1.5 percent, trimming an earlier 11 percent slide, after predicting weaker-than-estimated sales growth. In the U.S., the world’s largest advertising market, Twitter’s user count remained flat at 66 million last quarter.

     Hershey Co. lost 6.4 percent, the most in seven years and weighed on the S&P 500’s consumer staples group. Despite posting a third-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates, the candy maker’s full-year outlook was below forecasts.

     “There’s still a strong dollar weighing on sales for multinationals, and there’s still some feeling of cost cutting and share buybacks boosting the EPS over the last year,” said Jasper Lawler, London-based market analyst at CMC Markets Plc. “There’s only so much longer you can do that and after a while you have to roll on organic profitability which maybe isn’t there.”

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index declined 7.1 percent Wednesday to 14.33. The measure of market turbulence known as the VIX is on pace for its steepest monthly drop ever, after a record climb in August.

     Energy companies in the S&P 500 surged 2.2 percent, while financial companies added 2.4 percent, the strongest gain among the benchmark’s 10 main groups. Bank of America posted its biggest increase since December 2012, while Comerica Inc. climbed 5.1 percent, also the most since 2012.

     Oil jumped to lead energy higher as increasing U.S. refinery activity signaled the end of seasonal maintenance and higher crude demand. Chevron Corp. climbed 2.4 percent to halt a three-day slide, while Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp. added at least 4.3 percent.

     Among other companies moving on corporate news, American International Group Inc. rose 4.9 percent, its strongest advance in more than two years after Carl Icahn disclosed a stake in AIG and said it should split into three companies.

     Northrop Grumman Corp. increased 5.5 percent to a record after winning a Pentagon contract valued at as much as $80 billion to build the Air Force’s Long-Range Strike Bomber. Boeing Co. declined 0.4 percent, trimming an earlier 2.2 percent drop, after losing out in its bid for the bomber contract.

     Cabela’s Inc. soared 17 percent, the most in five years. Activist investor Elliott Associates disclosed an 11 percent stake in the company and said it may push for a shake-up or leveraged buyout.

     Diamond Foods Inc. rose 8.9 percent to its highest since 2012. Snyder’s-Lance Inc. agreed to buy the snack maker for about $1.27 billion to add Kettle potato chips and Emerald almonds to its offerings.

     Rite-Aid Corp. retreated 7 percent, after surging 43 percent Tuesday before an official announcement that Walgreen Boots Alliance Inc. will buy the drugstore chain in a deal valued at $17.2 billion, including debt. Walgreen lost 11 percent, the most since August 2014.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

 “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius

 

 

As ever,

 

Karen

 

“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”

Bertrand Russell

 

 

 

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:

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

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A woman stands in a field of fireweed, or Kochia scoparia, on a sunny autumn day at Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachi, north of Tokyo, Monday. Fireweed is a grass bush that takes on a bright red color in autumn. Thomas Peter/Reuters

A white Bengal tiger cub plays in her enclosure at a private zoo in Felsolajos, Hungary, Monday. The zoo’s two female cubs were born in May.Janos Bugany/MTI/AP

Market Closes for October 26^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17623.05	-23.65   -0.13%
S&P 500	2071.16	-3.99   -0.19%
NASDAQ	5034.703	+2.839   +0.06%
TSX	13789.79	-163.87
		-1.17%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18947.12	+121.82
		+0.65%
HANG SENG	23116.25	-35.69
		-0.15%
SENSEX	27361.96	-108.85
		-0.40%
FTSE 100	6417.02	-27.06
		-0.42%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.444	1.506
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.247	2.303
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0564	2.0866
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8678	2.9008

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76003	0.75942
US $	1.31573	1.31680
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.45447	0.68754
US $	1.10550	0.90457

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1166.40	1161.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	43.98	43.65

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in a month, retreating from a two-week high, as oil producers declined and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. resumed losses.

     Energy shares lost 2.4 percent as a group to lead Canadian equities lower as U.S. crude inventories have risen to the highest levels for the season in 85 years. West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery traded for 92 cents less than January, the widest spread — also known as contango – – since May.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, a gauge tracking a basket of commodities prices from oil to copper, slipped 0.6 percent for a fourth day of losses. Prices are on pace for a fourth straight month of losses.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 162.76 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,790.90 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has rallied 3.6 percent in October, on pace for the biggest monthly increase since February. 

     Commodities producers retreated, led by declines among oil stocks. Crescent Point Energy Corp. dropped 1.8 percent and Encana Corp. retreated 6.9 percent. WTI crude was down 62 cents to $43.98 a barrel in New York, failing to sustain a rally earlier this month to $50 a barrel amid surging U.S. inventories.

     Valeant lost 6.4 percent. The stock fell as much as 12 percent before briefly erasing those declines earlier in the day as Chief Executive Officer Michael Pearson shot back at critics in a conference call Monday morning, saying the drugmaker had behaved properly in its relationship with specialty pharmacy Philidor RX Services.

     “Our accounting with respect to the company’s Philidor arrangements is fully compliant with the law,” Pearson said in a statement released ahead of the call. “However, other issues have been raised publicly about Philidor’s business practices, and it is appropriate that they be fully reviewed.”

     Shares of Laval, Quebec-based Valeant plummeted 32 percent last week, the most since 1993, after short-seller Citron Research said Valeant is using Philidor to store inventory and record those transactions as sales. Valeant has denied the accusations, saying that sales are recorded only when the drugs are sent to patients. Philidor accounted for about 6 percent of Valeant’s revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30, Valeant said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

     Smaller peer Concordia Healthcare Corp. fell 5.4 percent today. Concordia and Valeant were the two best-performing stocks in the S&P/TSX through the first half of the year, fueled by aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategies.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — A rally in U.S. stocks stalled Monday, as investors assessed recent gains before the latest batch of earnings and a Federal Reserve meeting, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipping from a nine-week high.

     Technology and energy, two industries that have driven much of the benchmark’s gains as it heads toward its best month in four years, retreated today. Apple Inc. lost 3.2 percent to weigh on tech, as supplier Dialog Semiconductor Plc’s sales and outlook missed analysts’ estimates. Apple is Dialog’s biggest customer. Chevron Corp. fell 2.7 percent with crude oil sinking to a two-month low.

     The S&P 500 declined 0.2 percent to 2,071.03 at 4 p.m. in New York, after last week erasing its losses for the year.

     “Nobody is expecting the Fed to move, but everyone’s going to be looking at the language on whether they say they’re still on target for this year so the markets might be muted until then,” said Thomas Garcia, head of equity trading at Thornburg Investment Management Inc. in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said by phone. “There are some pretty big earnings this week so people will be watching what companies say about third quarter but also what they say about guidance.”

     Pfizer Inc., Ford Motor Co. and Apple Inc. are among more than 160 S&P 500 companies reporting earnings this week. Analysts project profits at the index’s members dropped 6.1 percent in the third quarter, with energy and materials companies showing the steepest decline.

     Two months after the first correction since 2011 broke a yearlong calm in U.S. equities, the S&P 500 is on the march again, bringing its gain from its August low to 11 percent, and within 3 percent of its all-time high set in May. Microsoft Corp., Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. surged on Friday, adding more than $80 billion in combined market value on strong earnings reports.

     The main U.S. stock gauge remains on the path toward its best month since 2011, led by commodities producers, industrials and technology shares, the very groups that fueled the August selloff amid worries that a slowdown in China would hamper a global economic expansion. Since then, concerns have ebbed as central banks signal their willingness to take action to head off risks to growth.

     Equities got an added boost Friday after China cut interest rates for the sixth time in a year. That came a day after the European Central Bank suggested it will bolster stimulus if needed. Investors will look to the Fed’s meeting this week for indications of the trajectory of U.S. interest rates. The probability of a rate increase this month is now only 6 percent, and about 36 percent for December. March is the first month for which traders price in at least even odds of a boost.

     As policy makers prepare to debate a rate move, a report today showed purchases of new homes slumped in September to a 10-month low and the prior two months were revised down. The larger-than-expected decline disrupted a trend of steady improvement this year in the industry

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

As ever,

 

Karen

 

 

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:

Tomorrow, October 24^th is United Nations Charter Day.  From The Book of Holidays Around the World:

Before World War II ended, people all over the world believed that there should be an international peacekeeping organization that could prevent future wars.  In October 1943, the foreign ministers of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States met in Moscow to discuss this goal.  In the next year other nations joined the deliberation, and on October 24, 1945, the United Nations was born.  One hundred and ninety-one nations now send representatives to the UN’s headquarters in New York City.

“…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women an of nations large and small, and….to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours..”

United Nations would be a good idea but the goal has proven still to be elusive.

Tomorrow is also FOOD DAY.  Check out the short documentary Food for Thought, Food for Life at foodforthoughtfilm.com. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A visitor to Sydney’s 19th annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibition poses for a friend’s camera whilst standing on the cast concrete sculpture ‘Open’ by American artist Peter Lundberg, Friday. Sydney’s coastal walk between Bondi and Tamarama has been transformed into a temporary sculpture park featuring over 100 sculptures from Australian and international artists, billed as the largest free sculpture exhibition in the world. Jason Reed/Reuters

Singapore volunteers perform the ‘Human Net’ choreographed by Spanish performance troupe La Fura dels Baus, suspended over the Singapore River, during the opening of the Singapore River Festival on Friday. Edgar Su/Reuters

Market Closes for October 23^rd, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17646.70	+157.54   +0.90%
S&P 500	2075.15	+22.64   +1.10%
NASDAQ	5031.863	+111.813   +2.27%
TSX	13953.66	+75.55
		+0.54%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18825.30	+389.43
		+2.11%
HANG SENG	23151.94	+306.57
		+1.34%
SENSEX	27470.81	+183.15
		+0.67%
FTSE 100	6444.08	+67.80
		+1.06%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.506	1.454
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.303	2.262
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0866	2.0263
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9008	2.8608

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75942	0.76368
US $	1.31680	1.30945
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.45068	0.68933
US $	1.10167	0.90772

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1161.25	1167.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	43.65	44.83

Market Commentary:

Canada

Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks joined a global equities rally sparked by optimism central-bank stimulus will jumpstart growth.

     The nation’s benchmark index rose to a two-week high, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. halted a four-day rout. Canada’s largest lenders contributed the most to gains, while materials producers also advanced.

     Central banks are reasserting dominance over the global financial markets, sparking demand for risk assets, as China’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rate a day after the European Central Bank signaled it will consider bolstering a bond-buying program before the end of the year. Canada’s central bank held rates steady this week.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 75.55 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,953.66 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge posted a 0.8 percent gain in the week. It’s extended an October rally to 4.9 percent, on pace for the biggest monthly increase since 2011. 

     China, Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S., is determined to meet its 2015 growth target of about 7 percent in the face of deflationary pressures, overcapacity and tepid global demand. The ECB said it will increase its bond purchases to stimulate growth if needed.

     Materials producers in the Canadian benchmark advanced 2.4 percent as a group, after the Chinese stimulus fueled bets that demand for resources will increase. Energy shares slid with the price of crude capping the biggest weekly loss since August in New York.

     Health-care shares surged 5.8 percent to trim the group’s biggest weekly loss on record to 31 percent. Laval, Quebec-based drugmaker Valeant rebounded 6 percent, snapping a four-day slump that wiped out 36 percent amid intense investor scrutiny over its pricing practices and relationships with specialty pharmacies. Concordia Healthcare Corp. rallied 22 percent as the smaller drugmaker surged 43 percent in two days to erase a weekly loss.

     Valeant said Thursday it will hold a conference call on Oct. 26 to discuss the claims against the company. Quebec’s Autorite des Marches Financiers said in an e-mailed statement Thursday allegations about the company are “worrisome” and it is checking to see if they ran afoul of any regulations. 

US

By Anna-Louise Jackson

     (Bloomberg) — Central-bank stimulus and strong earnings from the largest technology companies combined to give U.S. stocks their fourth straight weekly gain and propel the Standard & Poor’s 500 toward its best month since 2011.

     The S&P 500 has jumped 11 percent from its summer low, with the surge in October led by commodities producers and technology shares, the very groups that fueled the August selloff. The gains put U.S. equities back in the black for the first time since the correction, and left the benchmark index just 2.6 percent from its all-time high.

     “Stocks are back,” said Robert Pavlik, who helps oversee $9.1 billion as chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth. “We’re back on track as far as a cheap money, quantitative easing, risk-on trade is concerned.”

     The S&P 500 rallied 2.1 percent in the five days to 2,075.15, for a fourth weekly gain that is the longest streak of the year. The gauge closed at the highest since Aug. 19. The Nasdaq 100 Index surged 4.2 percent for its best week since July.

     Equities got a boost during the week from central banks. On Friday, the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates and banks’ reserve requirements to support a slowing economy. That announcement came a day after the European Central Bank signaled it will bolster stimulus if needed.

     Meanwhile, the earnings season suddenly came to life. More than 100 companies in the S&P 500 reported for the week, initially providing mixed messages until results from three tech giants late Thursday sparked a broad rally. Microsoft Corp., Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. added more than $80 billion in combined market value the next day as quarterly profit topped estimates. A group of tech stocks in the gauge surged 4.6 percent in the week to a 15-year high.

     The combination of earnings growth and central bank stimulus — two of the biggest supports for equities during the 6 and 1/2 year bull market — provided an accelerant to stocks in the midst of recovering from the first correction since 2011. All 10 of the major groups in the S&P 500 have rallied since Aug. 25, led by gains of more than 16 percent for technology and energy stocks.

     With the summer selloff fading away, volatility has also diminished. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index has tumbled more than 60 percent after spiking to the highest in almost four years during the S&P 500’s summer swoon. The volatility measure has been below 20 for 15 straight days. Prior to that, it traded above that level for 30 sessions, the longest such streak since January 2012.

     “There’s likely to be continued policy support from central banks around the world and the headwinds, particularly the slowdown in China’s growth, may be behind us. Investors can take some comfort in that,” said Brian Jacobsen, who helps oversee $250 billion as chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “On top of that, earnings that came out, particularly from the Holy Trinity of Big Tech, were great. There were a lot of things that lined up nicely for us this week.”

     Not everything went smoothly during the week. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. took the market on a wild ride Wednesday, plunging as much as 40 percent after a stock- commentary site run by short seller Andrew Left questioned the company’s sales practices. Valeant called the accusations “erroneous” and denied the report. Other health-care companies took a battering, with Endo International Plc and Tenet Healthcare Corp. falling more than 16 percent for the week.

     And while the S&P is up 8.1 percent in October, on track for the best month since 2011, it has yet to recoup all of its losses from August, let alone reach its record from May. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks is 10 percent below its 2015 peak. 

     There’s the possibility of further choppiness, which means it’s probably not “onward and upward from here,” according to Leo Grohowski of BNY Mellon Wealth Management in New York, especially with the Federal Reserve still debating the timing for higher interest rates.

     “It’s been sort of a relief rally, rather than an indication of renewed optimism,” said Grohowski, who helps manage more than $183 billion in client assets as chief investment officer of BNY Mellon Wealth Management. “My growing concern is the equity market participants here in the U.S. are still too complacent around December and there being a less than a 50-50 chance of a rate liftoff.”

     The Fed is scheduled to meet in the coming week and the probability of a boost to interest rates before January is 36 percent. Mixed economic data and volatile financial markets kept the Fed from tightening last month.

     U.S. economic reports were generally positive this week. Robust housing reports suggested U.S. growth may be getting support from the real-estate market. Meanwhile, jobless claims fell near the lowest level in four decades, though Americans’ expectations for the economy deteriorated to a 13-month low in October.

     On the whole, it was a “rewarding week” as the market returned to positive territory for the year, said Grohowski.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

 

Be magnificent!

The first condition of humaneness is a little humility and a little diffidence

about the correctness of one’s conduct and a little receptiveness.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

                                                                       -Epicetus, 55 AD-135

 

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:

During the Cuban Missile Crisis on this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced, in a televised speech, that U.S. spy planes had discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba that housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major U.S. cities, including Washington.

From A Countrywoman’s Notes, October:

Some people thrive best living in a community in  close association with others, playing, as it were, a part in an orchestra or as a member of a team.  Others are soloists and shine that way, though most of us live a family life.  The pattern is followed through in nature, too, with birds and animals.  Many species change their habits according to the season; often solitary or living in pairs in spring and summer, they form flocks before setting out on their migratory journeys.  Our swallows have gone but the red-wings and fieldfares, both related to the thrushes, are common winter visitors.  They are easy to recognize as they swirl in loose flocks across country lanes, often landing on the hedgerows to eat the hawthorn and other berries.  Watch them an you will see them take off into the fields to find grubs and worms.  They will stay in their flocks until breeding time comes round and they have moved north.  Our resident starlings are always rather gregarious but at this time of the year they will gather in thousands.  I sometimes wonder how the highest branches of our lime trees can bear their weight.  I do not usually like their habits but I do appreciate them when they descend on my lawn and remove the wireworms; better still when they do this in neighboring fields, where the wireworms devour the roots of grain and do much damage.  The starlings then are welcome in large numbers, though their noise can be deafening.  The finches form flocks in autumn and a charm of goldfinches feeding on  a patch of thistles is a lovely sight… -Rosemary Verey.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Late autumn colors in vineyards mark a change in the season in Soultz in the Alsace region of eastern France, Thursday. Jacky Naegelen/Reuters

French Republican guards take place ahead of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita visit to the Paris City Hall as part of his two-day state visit to France, in Paris, Thursday. Etienne Laurent/AP

Market Closes for October 22^nd, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17489.16	+320.55   +1.87%
S&P 500	2052.51	+33.57   +1.66%
NASDAQ	4920.051	+79.934   +1.65%
TSX	13878.11	+173.92
		+1.27%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18435.87	-118.41
		-0.64%
HANG SENG	22845.37	-143.85
		-0.63%
SENSEX	27287.66	-19.17
		-0.07%
FTSE 100	6376.28	+27.86
		+0.44%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.454	1.458
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.262	2.265
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0263	2.0670
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8608	2.9127

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76368	0.76122
US $	1.30945	1.31369
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.45400	0.68776
US $	1.11038	0.90059

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1167.00	1167.10
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	44.83	44.65

Market Commentary:

Canada

Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rebounded from the biggest drop in three weeks as better-than-forecast earnings and a jump in retail sales offset a continuing slide in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.

     The nation’s equities joined a global rally in riskier assets sparked by a signal from the European Central Bank that it is prepared to support growth. U.S. shares surged 1.7 percent to bring their gain from a summer swoon toward 10 percent. Rogers Communications Inc. and Teck Resources Ltd. advanced at least 5.1 percent Thursday after posting third-quarter earnings ahead of analysts’ estimates.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 173.92 points, or 1.3 percent, to 13,878.11 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, rebounding from the biggest drop since Sept. 28 Wednesday. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has risen 4.3 percent in October as it tries to recover from the worst quarter since 2011. 

     Data today showed Canadian retail sales rose faster than economists predicted in August, led by automobile and parts dealers. About 13 of 242 companies in the S&P/TSXhave reported earnings in the current period thus far, with more than 50 expected to disclose results through next week.

     Laval, Quebec-based drugmaker Valeant extended losses for a fourth day after Quebec’s Autorite des Marches Financiers said in an e-mailed statement allegations about the company are “worrisome” and it is checking to see if they ran afoul of any regulations. Valeant erased a fifth of its market value Wednesday after Citron Research published a report examining the drugmaker’s pricing practices. Smaller peer Concordia Healthcare Corp. rebounded from a May 2014 low Wednesday.

     Valeant slid 6.6 percent, recovering some losses in the final hours of trading. The stock’s decline for the week is on pace for a record 37 percent. Scrutiny of the company is intensifying after a Citron Research report Wednesday accused the company of inflating sales using the pharmacies. In the report, Citron, a stock commentary site published by short seller Andrew Left, claimed that Valeant had recorded fake sales to phony customers, using closely associated specialty pharmacies to help drive the business.

     Valeant called Citron’s accusations “erroneous” and denied the report. The company will hold an investor call Oct. 26 including Chief Executive Officer Michael Pearson and members of the board’s audit and risk committee, the company said.

     Valeant, briefly the largest stock in the S&P/TSX by market capitalization this year, along with Concordia had been the two best performers among Canadian equities after pursuing aggressive acquisition strategies in the first half of 2015.

     Valeant has since plummeted 58 percent from an Aug. 5 all- time high, amid increasing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers over the industry’s pricing models for prescription drugs. Valeant has been the subject of subpoenas from attorneys’ offices in Manhattan and Massachusetts seeking additional information.

     The rise and rapid fall in the shares of Valeant is eerily familiar to Canadian investors still smarting from the legacy of past market stalwarts BlackBerry Ltd. and Nortel Networks Corp. Both companies had previously ascended to the global stage while dominating the Canadian market, only to crumble when problems exposed them to harsh investor scrutiny.

     BlackBerry, previously known as Research In Motion, has not recovered since losing its dominance in the smartphone market while Nortel filed for Bankruptcy protection in 2009.

     Rogers gained 5.2 percent, extending a two-year high, after Canada’s largest wireless operator added more customers than projected in the third quarter. Sales grew to C$3.38 billion, compared with projections for C$3.32 billion.

     Rogers also owns Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, which snapped a 21-year playoff drought in October and are currently battling the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. The team’s recent success has driven the Jays’ value to about $1.5 billion, a 10-fold gain from when Rogers bought the team in 2000, according to new calculations from sports valuation experts.

US

By Anna-Louise Jackson and Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — Back to flat. Almost.

     Two months after the first correction since 2011 broke a yearlong calm in U.S. equities, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is jumping again, climbing as much as 1.8 percent Thursday to bring its gain from its lowest close in August to 10 percent. The benchmark gauge for American equities now sits at a level last seen on Aug. 19 and is 7 points below its Dec. 31, 2014 closing price, making its performance year-to-date just about flat.

     Slicing it differently: U.S shares have climbed back into the trading range they tumbled out of in August during a six-day selloff that wiped out $2 trillion in market value. Half of the S&P 500’s 10 major groups now are trading above their Aug. 19 closing levels, with energy stocks and consumer staples leading. While few investors are ready to sound the all clear, some see signs the worst is behind them, citing the market’s ability to go up even as corporate earnings fall flat.

     “There’s no fear that we’re going into recession, and a huge slowdown doesn’t seem to be coming to fruition. Now we can look at a slow-growth yet positive-trending economy,” said Bill Schultz, who oversees $1.2 billion as chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates Inc. in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “The question is now how much will earnings increase. The market is betting there’s a better chance of that now than in the past couple months.”

     The S&P 500 surged 1.7 percent to 2,052.51 at 4 p.m. in New York, sparked by a batch of better-than-estimated earnings from companies including McDonald’s Corp. and EBay Inc., bolstering optimism on the health of corporate America. Prospects that Europe will move to boost its economy provided a further lift as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers will investigate fresh stimulus measures.

     In addition to McDonald’s and EBay rising more than 8.1 percent, Dow Chemical Co. advanced 5.1 percent after its earnings topped forecasts, and Texas Instruments added 12 percent after better-than-estimated results.

     After the market closed, Google parent Alphabet Inc. reported better-than-projected earnings amid stronger ad sales and while keeping expenses under control. The shares rallied 8.5 percent in late trading. Amazon.com Inc. jumped 10 percent after hours as its quarterly sales topped analysts’ estimates, thanks to its growing cloud-computing division and a boost from its July Prime Day promotion.

     The rally is also an affirmation of sorts for Wall Street stock forecasters who clung to optimistic outlooks even as the S&P 500 slid more than 11 percent to 1,867.61 between Aug. 17 and Aug. 25. Getting to the median estimate of 21 strategists tracked by Bloomberg of 2,150 would’ve taken a 15 percent rally from August’s lows. Today it requires less than 5 percent.

     John Stoltzfus of Oppenheimer & Co. remained unchanged on his year-end price target of 2,311 during the selloff. He’s now the most bullish out of 21 people surveyed. RBC Capital Markets’ Jonathan Golub, whose forecast is 2,100, said in an interview today that his target now has some “upside” again.

     “It’s frankly happening more than I’d expected or hoped for and I may have not been bullish enough about the resiliency of this market,” Golub said by phone.

     The S&P 500 is on track for its fourth consecutive week of gains, the first time its done so since December 2014. Meanwhile, this month is setting up to be the market’s best October since 2011’s nearly 11 percent increase.

     Energy, technology and industrial stocks have led the post- selloff rally, with each group rising more than 12 percent since Aug. 25. Health-care is the only group of 10 that is lower now. The market has undergone a change in leadership, as the first seven months saw health-care and consumer discretionary stocks leading the charge with gains exceeding 11 percent, while energy sank 13 percent.

     The S&P 500 is rebounding from its worst quarter in four years after the index entered its a correction, with the rout sparked by China’s unexpected devaluation of the yuan on Aug. 11. At the time, concern mounted that the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy was worse than anticipated and would drag down global growth.

     Comments from the ECB’s Draghi are “definitely” supporting today’s gains, said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, which manages about $1 trillion in assets. “That’s what’s really driving this rally and today’s risk-on environment. Earnings expectations were very, very low and it’s been easy to beat those expectations and that’s also been contributing to this rally.”

     So powerful was the advance that stocks that fell on earnings news in early trading were surging by midday. Caterpillar Inc. lost as much as 2.7 percent after a premarket report showed sales fell the most in five years, only to erase the loss within the first 30 minutes of trading. The same was true for copper producer Freeport-McMoRan Inc., which also saw its earnings miss spur a 3.5 percent decline that was reversed within minutes of the market open.

     Meanwhile, volatility across global markets is dissipating after whipsawing stocks, bonds and commodities for two months. The Bank of America Merrill Lynch Market Risk Index is at its lowest level since August, while the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index of U.S. equity turbulence recently posted the longest streak of daily declines since 2009. The gauge known as the VIX fell 13 percent Thursday to 14.45, the lowest since Aug. 18 and on track for the biggest monthly drop ever.                          

     Investors are looking to corporate America for clues on the strength of the economy. Of those companies that have reported earnings so far, 45 percent have topped sales estimates and 72 percent have beaten profit projections. Third-quarter earnings are projected to fall 6.7 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     Mixed data in the U.S. and volatile financial markets kept the Federal Reserve from tightening last month and reduced expectations for an interest-rate increase this year. March is the first month for which traders are pricing in at least even odds of a liftoff. The probability of a boost before January is about 32 percent.

     A report today showed sales of previously owned homes rose in September to the second-highest level since February 2007, while separate data showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits hovers near the lowest in four decades.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

What is the world?  It is the earth below and the sky above and the air in space that connects them.

What is light?  It is fire below and the sun above – and the lightning that connects them.

What is education?  It is the teacher above and the disciple below – and the wisdom that connects them.

Taittiriya Upanishad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream.

                       -Vincent Van Gogh,  1853-1890

 

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:

I attended Barron’s investment conference on Monday and The Economist’s Annual Finance & Economics Forum on Tuesday, both taking place in NYC.  The focus this year at the Buttonwood (The Economist’s) conference was “The Valley Meets the Street” – what’s new and what’s coming in fintech.  It is really amazing, dazzling even.  The final event of the day was an Economist debate: This house believes millennials will stop using banks.  Both the Pro and the Con panels made very convincing arguments, so there is much to contemplate. 

Some catching up to do here, so I’ll tell you more about it in the next couple of days…

PHOTOS OF THE DAY Sergio Marchionne (c.) points at a Ferrari SF15-T parked in front of the New York Stock Exchange in honor of Ferrari’s IPO, Wednesday. The parent company, mass-market carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is selling Ferrari shares under the stock name RACE. Mark Lennihan/AP

A detail of the vaulting of the Sagrada Familia Basilica, designed by architect Antoni Gaudi, in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday. Barcelona’s breathtaking Basilica has begun its final phase of raising six immense towers that officials say will make it Europe’s tallest religious building. Manu Fernandez/AP

Market Closes for October 21^st, 2015

MarketIndex	Close	Change
DowJones	17168.61	-48.50  -0.28%
S&P 500	2018.94	-11.83  -0.58%
NASDAQ	4840.117	-40.854  -0.84%
TSX	13704.19	-137.73
		-1.00%

International Markets

MarketIndex	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18554.28	+347.13
		+1.91%
HANGSENG	22989.22	-86.39
		-0.37%
SENSEX	27287.66	-19.17
		-0.07%
FTSE 100	6348.42	+3.29
		+0.05%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND.10 Year Bond	1.458	1.538
CND.30 Year Bond	2.265	2.332
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.0263	2.0670
U.S.30 Year Bond	2.8655	2.9127

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76122	0.77024
US$	1.31369	1.29830
Euro Rate1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.48949	0.67137
US$	1.13385	0.88195

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London GoldFix	1167.10	1177.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	44.65	45.55

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Peter Henderson

     (Canadian Press) — TORONTO — The Toronto stock market dropped by triple digits and the loonie contracted sharply against the greenback after a pullback in commodity prices and a disappointing read on the economy from the Bank of Canada.

     The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX index ended the day down 137.73 points at 13,704.19, with the health-care subsector posting the biggest loss on the day, down 6.41 per cent.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals stock plunged 19.2 per cent to $154.21 on Wednesday after short-seller research firm Citron Research compared the Canadian pharmaceutical company to the collapsed energy giant Enron and accused it of creating a network of phantom pharmacies to fool auditors.

     The drug company denied the allegations.

     Valeant shares have fallen from a peak of $347.84 in August, with American political figures including Hillary Clinton turning their focus in the last month to price increases in the pharmaceutical industry.

     Kash Pashootan, portfolio manager at First Avenue Advisory in Ottawa, a Raymond James company, said investors can do all the research in the world but they can never really predict a company’s fortunes.

     “What you’re seeing is another reminder of why diversification is so important in any investing,” he said.

     In New York, the Dow Jones average of 30 stocks closed down 48.50 points at 17,168.61, while the broader S&P 500 index fell 11.83 points to 2,018.94 and the Nasdaq index dropped 40.85 points to 4,840.12.

     Pashootan said that ever since the American economy began to recover in 2010, North American equity markets have shown strong results.

     Now, he said, the market is changing as investors become more aware that those returns are unlikely to last.

     “After five years of phenomenal gains in the markets, especially the U.S. markets, it’s unrealistic to expect that for the next five years growth will come at the same magnitude,” he said.

     On the commodity markets, the December gold contract ended trading down $10.40 to US$1,167.10 an ounce, the December crude contract fell US$1.09 to US$45.20 a barrel and the November natural gas contract fell 7.2 cents to US$2.404 per thousand cubic feet.

     Pashootan said the oil market is still suffering from worldwide oversupply and that he foresees a rough time for oil company stocks as they continue to adjust to the lower oil price.

     Many oil companies have been protected by the long-term hedges they invest in as insurance against an oil price decline and many of those hedges are beginning to expire, he said.

     “Then they will really feel the impact of selling oil into a market at half the price of what they were used to selling it at,” Pashootan said.

     The loonie fell by 0.91 of a cent to 76.24 cents US.

     The Bank of Canada announced on Wednesday that it would keep its key overnight interest rate at 0.5 per cent.

     The bank said in its economic forecast that it will take several years for the Canadian economy to adjust to the impact of persistently low commodity prices.    

US

By Anna-Louise Jackson and Dani Burger

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined after Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. took health-care stocks on a wild ride, distracting investors from one of the busiest days for corporate earnings so far this season.

     Equities whipsawed between gains and losses after a short- seller takedown on Valeant sent the shares plunging, only to then rebound after the company disputed the report and CNBC said investor William Ackman added 2 million shares to his stake in the company. Mixed earnings reports from General Motors Co. to Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. gave few definitive signals on the health of the economy.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.6 percent to 2,018.94 at 4 p.m. in New York, the most in a week after earlier rising as much as 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 48.50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,168.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.8 percent as biotechnology shares slumped for a second day. About 6.8 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 8 percent below the three-month average.

     “We were looking for biotech and health-care as a form of leadership to stabilize the market and this news certainly doesn’t help,” said Andrew Burkly, head of institutional portfolio strategy at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. “That was the component we were missing on the rally and this sets that back.”

     The S&P 500 was unable to make any forward progress for a second session after reaching a two-month high. Equities have been recovering from a summer selloff and the benchmark’s first correction in four years, which was fed by anxiety over China’s slowdown and confusion on the Federal Reserve’s intentions toward interest rates. The S&P 500 is up 5.2 percent this month, rebounding from its worst quarter since 2011.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 6 percent Wednesday to 16.70. The measure of market turbulence known as the VIX pared its monthly drop to 32 percent, on track for its steepest since July.

     Investors are looking to corporate America for clues on the strength of the economy as the Fed considers raising interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. The probability of a Fed rate increase this year is about 32 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. March is the first month for which traders price in at least even odds of a boost.                       

     Some 46 S&P 500 companies are due to post results on Thursday, including Caterpillar Inc., Dow Chemical Co., 3M Co. and Amazon.com Inc. Of those that have reported so far, about 47 percent have outpaced sales estimates while 74 percent have beaten earnings targets. Profits are expected to fall 6.7 percent this quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     “Earnings reports have been more good than bad so far, but the real meat of earnings will be in the next two weeks,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los Angeles. “There’s not enough to draw from to make a broad conclusion yet.”

     Chipotle slid to a three-month low as its weaker-than- expected profit renewed concerns about escalating costs and slowing growth. Higher labor costs and marketing expenses squeezed profit at the Mexican-food chain last quarter.

     Chipotle’s decline dragged down other eatery stocks. The Bloomberg Limited-Service Restaurant Index fell 2.2 percent, while Jack in the Box Inc. and Papa Murphy’s Holding Inc. both lost more than 4.3 percent. Consumer discretionary stocks erased earlier automaker-led gains as Chipotle weighed and Harley- Davidson Inc. sank 2.5 percent to extend yesterday’s 14 percent tumble.

     Valeant slumped 19 percent, trimming an earlier 40 percent plunge, after a stock-commentary site run by a short seller accused the company of an Enron-like strategy of recording fake sales by using phony customers. Health-care stocks sank 0.9 percent, trimming most of an earlier 2.5 percent drop. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index declined 0.5 percent after falling as much as 3.5 percent.

     St. Jude Medical Inc. tumbled 8.9 percent, the most since 2012, after it reported third-quarter revenue that missed the consensus of analysts’ estimates and trimmed 2015 guidance. Endo International Plc fell 13 percent, its biggest decline since 2009.

     Yahoo! Inc. and EMC Corp. lost more than 5.2 percent to pace a slump among technology shares. Yahoo reported its biggest quarterly sales drop since 2009 and gave a fourth-quarter revenue forecast that missed analysts’ estimates. EMC’s results met analysts’ reduced estimates, while its shares were hurt in part by a 19 percent drop by VMware Inc., of which EMC owns 81 percent. VMware tumbled amid a weak gauge of future revenue.

     Energy and raw-materials fell more than 0.9 percent, the session’s worst performers among the S&P 500’s 10 major groups. Range Resources Corp. and Consol Energy Inc. decreased more than 6.5 percent as oil slid after a government report showed U.S. crude inventories grew by the most in six months. Alcoa Inc. lost 3.2 percent, and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. declined 2.4 percent before its earnings report tomorrow.

     GM had its best gain since 2012 after its quarterly profit was boosted by strong light-truck sales in the U.S. and stable operations in China. The company credited strong margins in North America and only a slight decline in China, where auto sales have struggled.

     Boeing Co. climbed 1.7 percent to the highest since Aug. 19. The company reassured investors that the aerospace market remains robust after raising its full-year profit forecast amid rising jetliner deliveries and a slowdown in 787 Dreamliner costs.

     The two acquisitions in the semiconductor industry helped the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index eke out a gain to its highest since July. KLA-Tencor Corp. rose 19 percent after Lam Research Corp said it would acquire the company in a $10.6 billion cash-and-stock deal. SanDisk Corp. added 2.1 percent and advanced for a sixth day after Western Digital Corp. agreed to pay about $19 billion for the storage maker.

     The pacts added to what was already a record year for chip deals — a total of $76 billion before Wednesday.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I hold that true education of the intellect can only come through a proper exercise

and training of the bodily organs, e.g., hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose, etc.

In other words an intelligent use of the bodily organs in a child provides

the best and quickest way of developing his intellect.

But unless the development of the mind and body goes hand in hand

with a corresponding awakening of the soul,

the former alone would prove to be  a poor lopsided affair.

By spiritual training I mean education of the heart.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.

                                           -Louis L’Amour, 1908-1988

 

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:

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A woman selling garlands of marigold flowers waits for customers at a wholesale flower market during Durga Puja festival in Kolkata, India. The garlands are in great demand as people seek to decorate temples and their homes during the festival that will be celebrated till October 22. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

A hot-air balloon is seen above tents during a tent cultural festival in Hefei, Anhui province, China, Saturday. Nearly 500 tents and about 1,000 people participated in the festival, local media reported. Stringer/Reuters

Market Closes for October 20^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17217.11	-13.43   -0.08%
S&P 500	2030.77	-2.89   -0.14%
NASDAQ	4880.973	-24.499   -0.50%
TSX	13841.92	+83.54
		+0.61%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18207.15	+75.92
		+0.42%
HANG SENG	22989.22	-86.39
		-0.37%
SENSEX	27306.83	-58.09
		-0.21%
FTSE 100	6345.13	-7.20
		-0.11%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.538	1.455
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.332	2.260
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0670	2.0228
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9127	2.8812

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.77024	0.76809
US $	1.29830	1.30192
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.47318	0.67881
US $	1.13469	0.88130

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1177.75	1175.40
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	45.55	45.89

Market Commentary:

Canada

Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose after voters gave Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party a surprise majority mandate following a tight three-way race. Construction companies, oil and gold producers rallied.

     Trudeau, the first son of a prime minister to be elected into the same office, defeated incumbent Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party with a decisive 184 of 338 seats in the House of Commons, ending almost a decade of Tory rule, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada. Most polls had expected the Liberals would win a minority government.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 115.38 points, or 0.8 percent, to 13,873.76 at 10:12 a.m. in Toronto. The S&P/TSX has risen 4.2 percent in October as it tries to recover from the worst quarter since 2011.

     “The election is one factor within many things going on,” said Patrick Blais, a fund manager at Manulife Asset Management Ltd. in Toronto. His firm manages about C$280 billion. “The election in itself is a positive as the market doesn’t appreciate uncertainty and now we have certainty with a majority government.”

     Trudeau’s surprise victory removes a layer of worry for investors in a year when Canadian equities and the dollar have struggled amid a plunge in commodity prices, expectations of the removal of U.S. stimulus and tepid global demand. The benchmark stock index has lagged global peers among developed markets this year with a 5.2 percent decline.

     “Given the downturn in oil prices, the new government will be careful not to disrupt or further hinder the industry,” Blais said. “It’s not the right time to enact stringent laws.”

     Energy producers gained 1.4 percent as 58 of 59 members of the S&P/TSX Energy Index advanced. Suncor Energy Inc. climbed 1.5 percent. Crude for November delivery, which expires Tuesday, added 1.1 percent to $46.39 a barrel in New York.

     Canopy Growth Corp. jumped as much as 21 percent to lead marijuana stocks higher. Trudeau had also pledged to legalize the substance among his policy promises during the campaign.

     Engineering companies SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Aecon Group Inc. rallied at least 3.3 percent in the wake of the vote as Trudeau successfully campaigned on a platform of increased infrastructure spending, said Andrew Pyle, fund manager at ScotiaMcLeod Inc. in Peterborough, Ontario. WSP Global Inc. climbed 2.8 percent.

     “A pro-growth government is good for the markets,” Pyle said in a phone interview. His team manages about C$300 million.

     If history is any guide, equities will trend higher under Trudeau’s incoming Liberal government.

     Stretching back to 1922 and the time of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Liberal prime ministers have posted stock returns three times higher than with Conservative leaders, according to monthly data to August 2015 compiled by Bloomberg from TMX Group Ltd., the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

US

By Jeremy Herron and Anna-Louise Jackson

     (Bloomberg) — The three-week rally in U.S. stocks sputtered for a second day and Treasuries fell, as mixed earnings and robust housing data did little to alter perceptions on the economy’s strength and the timing for higher interest rates.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped from a two-month high in choppy trading. The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed to a one-week high, reinforcing bond-market sensitivity to data as Federal Reserve officials give conflicting policy signals. Four-week bill rates surged as the government faces a debt crunch next month. Canadian stocks rose on speculation a new government will boost fiscal stimulus.

     “We’ve hit a bit of a soft patch,” said Matthew Kaufler, a portfolio manager with Federated Investors Inc. who oversees funds with about $2 billion assets. “It’s hard to parse out some of what’s going on from earnings. I don’t think there’s a groundswell or major shift happening in the market .”

     A surge in new-home construction signaled the residential real-estate market may underpin economic growth, though futures traders still give a 32 percent chance that rates will rise this year. A European Central Bank report fueled speculation officials won’t add to monetary stimulus in that region. Results from IBM Corp. to Travelers Cos., and deals involving SanDisk Corp. and Yum! Brands Inc. set the tone on U.S. equities market.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.1 percent at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge’s high for the session equaled its average price for the past 100 days, the first time it’s touched that level since August. 

     The index has climbed 7.8 percent since Sept. 29, as it rebounds from the worst quarterly performance since 2001. The gauge has advanced almost 9 percent from the nadir of its summer selloff, though gains have slowed in recent days as earnings season intensifies.

     International Business Machines Corp. declined 5.9 percent after lowering its full-year profit forecast as quarterly sales missed estimates. Harley-Davidson Inc. dropped the most in the S&P 500 after earnings fell short. A slump in biotechnology shares led the Nasdaq Composite Index lower by 0.5 percent.

     United Technologies Corp. surged after announcing a share repurchase program, while Travelers jumped on its results. Verizon Communications Inc. boosted phone stocks. Yum rose 1.9 percent after saying it will split its China business off into a separate publicly traded company. SanDisk surged on speculation it will be bought as soon as this week.

     In Canada, the S&P/TSX Index climbed 0.6 percent after Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party put an end to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decade-long rule. Trudeau campaigned on a plan that included running C$25 billion ($19 billion) in deficits for three years to stimulate the economy with infrastructure spending, while increasing taxes on top earners and cutting them for the middle class.

     The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose five basis points to 2.07 percent, the highest since the rate ended at 2.09 percent a week ago. Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo said last week that he doesn’t currently favor an interest rate hike in 2015 after several other officials said the central bank would still increase rates this year as long as the economy stays on track.

     “We’ve seen this difference of opinion at the Fed, and that discussion, which is taking place out in the market, has created a lot of uncertainty,” said Larry Milstein, managing director of government-debt trading at R.W. Pressprich & Co. in New York. “It means more uncertainty, which means more volatility.”

     The cost to the U.S. government to borrow money for four weeks spiked to about $500,000 from zero, as investors demand a premium for the risk that the government won’t be able to make good on the obligations if Congress does not raise the debt limit.

 

     European government bonds fell after the ECB lending data. Yields on 10-year French bonds rose seven basis points to 0.99 percent, while those on German bunds added six basis points to 0.63 percent.

     The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose less than 0.1 percent. The gauge fell earlier as officials from Australia to Europe signaled looser monetary policies are starting to work. The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.1344, ending three days of declines. 

     The single currency has gained almost 9 percent from a 12- year low of $1.0458 in March, when the ECB started implementing a QE program designed to revive inflation in the euro zone. The currency has advanced versus 15 of 16 major peers in the past three months.

     Canada’s dollar strengthened 0.3 percent to C$1.29820 to the dollar. Trudeau campaigned against Harper’s budget-restraint agenda, claiming the nation needs a return to deficit spending to combat economic woes triggered by an oil-price collapse.

     Oil dropped to a two-week low before a government report that’s projected to show an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7 percent to settle at $45.55 a barrel. Brent rose 10 cents to end the session at $48.71 in London.

     U.S. inventories probably climbed by 3.5 million barrels last week, following an increase of 7.6 million in the prior period, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts before an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday.

     U.S. natural gas futures rose 1.9 percent to $2.488 per million British thermal units, advancing for a second day on forecasts for unusually cold weather on the east coast that could boost demand for the heating fuel.

     Emerging-market stocks fell from a two-month high as investors weighed the prospects for a pullback in the monetary stimulus in developed nations that has helped prop up demand for riskier assets.

     The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 0.4 percent from the highest since Aug. 11, while most currencies gained. A Bloomberg gauge tracking 20 developing-nation currencies declined 0.2 percent, falling for a third day. Currencies in Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea each fell at least 0.8 percent against the dollar.

     The premium investors demand to own emerging-market debt over U.S. Treasuries narrowed three basis points to 392 basis points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

 

Be magnificent!

 

“We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough”. Helen Keller

 

As ever,

 

“Keep steadily before you the fact that all true success depends at last upon yourself”. Theodore T. Hunger

 

Karen

 

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:

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

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fallen leaves in autumn colors lie on roots in Munich, Germany, Monday. Matthias Schrader/AP

The Cotopaxi volcano spews ash and vapor, seen from Quito, Ecuador, Monday. Cotopaxi began showing renewed activity in April and its last major eruption was in 1877. Dolores Ochoa/AP

Market Closes for October 19^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17230.54	+14.57   +0.08%
S&P 500	2033.66	+0.55   +0.03%
NASDAQ	4905.473	+18.785   +0.38%
TSX	13758.38	-79.72
		-0.58%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18131.23	-160.57
		-0.88%
HANG SENG	23075.61	+8.24
		+0.04%
SENSEX	27364.92	+150.32
		+0.55%
FTSE 100	6352.33	-25.71
		-0.40%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.455	1.463
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.260	2.260
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0228	2.0316
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8812	2.8780

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76809	0.77764
US $	1.30192	1.29095
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.47385	0.67850
US $	1.13205	0.88335

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1175.40	1180.85
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	45.89	47.26

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Kate Garber and Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — A slide in commodities producers sent Canadian stocks lower in light trading as investors remained on tenterhooks ahead of the results of a hotly contested federal election with no clear front-runner among three parties.

     Voters went to the polls Monday in a tight election that may end the decade-long run of incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. Polls suggest the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau will win the most seats, though fall short of enough to form a majority government. The threat of the election producing no clear winner introduces a wild card to volatile currency and equity markets.

     “We’ll really wait to see tomorrow whether the results of the election have an impact,” said David Cockfield, fund manager at Northland Wealth Management in Toronto. His firm manages about C$325 million. “I have the impression that if it’s a Conservative minority or a Liberal minority government that not too much would change from a foreign investment standpoint.”

     In trading 24 percent below the 30-day average, the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 79.72 points, or 0.6 percent, to 13,758.38 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. With polls set to close at 9:30 p.m., investors focused on the slowest quarterly expansion in China’s economy since 2009, with commodities sliding on the prospect for a drop in demand. 

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., the fourth- biggest stock by weighting in the benchmark index, slid after saying it may spin off one line of drugs and in the future focus less on acquisitions that depend on buying old treatments and raising their prices.

     If no party wins a majority, the country may be headed for fraught negotiations to form a minority government. While some parties have collaborated, historically there’s never been a formal coalition in Canada and that’s unlikely to change. 

     Stretching back to 1922 and the time of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Liberal prime ministers have posted stock returns three times higher than with Conservative leaders, according to monthly data to August 2015 compiled by Bloomberg from TMX Group Ltd., the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

     The instability caused by the election is adding another layer of worry for investors in a year when Canadian equities and the dollar have struggled amid the commodity price plunge, expectations of the removal of U.S. stimulus and tepid global demand. The benchmark stock index has lagged global peers among developed markets this year with a 6 percent decline.

     “We suspect that a minority Liberal outcome, with informal support by the NDP party, is the scenario ’priced into’ markets given the movement in opinion polls in recent weeks,” said Mark Chandler, head of Canadian fixed income strategy at Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Capital Markets unit, in a note to clients. “Such an outcome should not have an unduly large market reaction.”

     The S&P/TSX has risen 3.4 percent in October as it tries to recover from the worst quarter since 2011. The gauge has alternated between gains and losses for five straight sessions.

US

By Jeremy Herron and Anna-Louise Jackson

     (Bloomberg) — While signs of weakness in the Chinese economy rekindled declines in commodities, U.S. stocks ended Monday little changed at an eight-week high as consumer companies advanced before a barrage of earnings reports.

     Crude oil extended last week’s drop on concern over the global glut, while copper slipped the most in three weeks as data showed China’s economy grew at the slowest pace since 2009 last quarter. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index eked out a third day of gains, with advances in Netflix Inc. to Tyson Foods Inc. offsetting a slump in raw material producers. The dollar strengthened versus the euro, while rates on short-term Treasury bills surged amid concern the U.S. Congress won’t reach a deal to raise or suspend the debt-ceiling.

     “There’s fear out there of missing the rally and that forces people into the market,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer who helps oversee $1.5 billion at Solaris Asset Management. “Right now, the focus is on earnings. Overall, earnings have been better than expected. There have been no big currency issues and no big impact from losing orders from the strength in the dollar.”

     While investors are switching their focus to company earnings following a three-week rally in global equities, the anxieties that fueled last quarter’s worst selloff in four years flared again Monday with the Chinese growth data, which stoked concern over weakening demand in the world’s biggest consumer of commodities and Asia’s largest economy. Morgan Stanley became the latest American bank to disappoint on earnings, with results due this week from about 100 other S&P 500 companies. U.S. lawmakers need to raise the government’s borrowing capacity by Nov. 3 to ensure it can meet daily expenses.

     The S&P 500 added less than 0.1 percent Monday to 2,033.66, extending a three-week climb that’s driven the gauge up 5.9 percent in October, following two months of declines.

     International Business Machines Corp. fell in after-hours U.S. trading after reporting revenue that fell short of analysts’ estimates. The stock was down almost 5 percent in New York.

     Meanwhile, SanDisk Corp. surged more than 7 percent after people familiar with the matter said the company is in advanced talks to sell itself to Western Digital Corp. This year to date has been the biggest ever for semiconductor company mergers and acquisitions. Firms in the $300 billion industry are facing rising costs and a shrinking customer base, encouraging them to get together to add scale.

     Energy and materials producers led losses during the normal trading day, sliding more than 0.7 percent. The two groups are suffering their biggest declines since September after leading the recent stock rebound. Commodity companies are the worst performers in the S&P 500 in 2015.

     Morgan Stanley followed Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in reporting profit that trailed analysts’ expectations, renewing concern over the earning power of financial companies. The stock slid 4.8 percent. 

     The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.3 percent to a two- month high, fueled by positive company earnings reports and gains in stock of Deutsche Bank AG. The German lender rose 3.7 percent on news that it’s undertaking the biggest management shakeup in more than a decade. Foodmaker Danone SA and Metro AG advanced after earnings.

     The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.3 percent amid losses in Japan. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong ended Monday little changed after the Chinese data, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks mainland Chinese stocks listed in the city, climbed 0.5 percent.

     Rates on Treasury bills due Nov. 12 surged to the highest level since March. Such debt is the most at risk of not being repaid should Congress fail to reach a debt-ceiling deal. The rate on the bill, which began trading in November 2014, rose to as high as 0.165 percent, from 0.0325 percent on Oct. 16, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data.

     U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew last week moved up by two days to Nov. 3 the date by which lawmakers must raise the nation’s borrowing capacity to ensure the government can meet daily expenses.

     In 2013, similar wrangling over the debt ceiling sent rates on bills that matured close to the deadline to a two-year high before a deal triggered a decline. An 11th-hour political agreement allowed President Barack Obama to sign legislation to suspend the debt ceiling and end a partial government shutdown – – on the very day Lew then said the government would exhaust its borrowing capacity.

     The rate on one-month bills reached the highest since October 2013, while yields on U.S. 10-year Treasuries slipped one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 2.03 percent, after falling five basis points last week.

     The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the greenback against 10 major counterparts, added 0.3 percent Monday as the euro slid for a third day.

     The single currency retreated against 12 of its 16 major peers as economists said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi may consider adding to monetary stimulus. The ECB meets on Thursday.

     The Canadian dollar weakened 0.8 percent in a second day of losses as citizens voted in a tight national election that opinion polls suggest will see Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party ejected from power. The Liberal Party is projected to secure the most seats in parliament, though short of the 170 required to form a majority government.

     The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.2 percent to add to its third straight weekly advance.

     Positive company earnings from India and gains in Turkish shares helped extend a rally that’s boosted riskier assets this month. Weaker commodity prices weighed on South African gold producers, while Russia’s ruble retreated with oil.

     The Brazilian real climbed 1.1 percent, posting the biggest gain among Latin American currencies, after President Dilma Rousseff reassured markets that Finance Minister Joaquim Levy will stay in his post because the government agrees with his policies.

     Gold futures dropped the most this month, sliding 0.9 percent to settle at $1,172.80 an ounce after a private report on Friday showed a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. consumer sentiment. The data helped revive speculation over the path of U.S. interest rates, with many Federal Reserve officials touting an increase this year, a possibility being discounted by traders. Silver fell 1.7 percent.

     Copper futures slid 1.5 percent to settle at $5,206 a metric ton, the biggest drop in three weeks, while aluminum, lead, nickel and zinc also fell.

     West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 2.9 percent to settle at $45.89 a barrel, its lowest close since Oct. 2, while Brent dropped 3.7 percent to end at $48.61 in London. The Chinese gross domestic product data along with figures showing Saudi Arabia’s commercial oil stockpiles rose to the highest level since 2002 in August unsettled traders already on edged amid signs of waning demand and global oversupply.

     Crude, wheat and metals helped drive the Bloomberg Commodity Index down 1.4 percent to its lowest level since Oct. 2. Wheat futures slumped a fourth day, losing 1.3 percent amid favorable growing weather in Ukraine, a top producer of the crop. The U.S. Plains and Midwest regions are also expected to see beneficial rain in the next two weeks.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

“In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.” Les Brown

 

Be magnificent!

 

 “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” Robert Byrne

 

As ever,

 

Karen

 

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