Month: February 2017

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  TODAY IS MARDI GRAS

And so ends Carnival for Christians around the world.  Carnival derives from the Italian, carnevale, going back ultimately to Medieval Latin carnelevamen, “raising flesh” from Latin caro, carnis, “flesh”, and levare, “to raise.”  To “raise flesh” is to abstain from meat which is the regime that Lent strictly entails.  It is the great fast that begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, and extends to Easter.  The fast of 36 days was introduced in the 4^th century, but it did not become fixed at 40 days until the early 7^th century, thus corresponding with Christ’s fast in the wilderness. –from Brewar’s.

**On this day in 1964, just under three years after breaking the 700 mark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks through 800 for the first time, closing at 800.14.**

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, spews lava as it erupts on the southern island of Sicily, Italy, on Tuesday.Antonio Parrinello/Reuters

Costumed revelers, in protective helmets, throw oranges during Carnival in the northern Italian Piedmont town of Ivrea on Tuesday. The traditional orange-throwing battle has its roots in the middle of the 19th century. Luca Bruno/AP
Market Closes for February 28^th, 2017

MarketIndex	Close	Change
DowJones	20812.24	-25.20  -0.12%
S&P 500	2363.64	-6.11  -0.26%
NASDAQ	5825.438	-36.461  -0.62%
TSX	15399.24	-64.26
		-0.42%

International Markets

MarketIndex	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19118.99	+11.52
		+0.06%
HANGSENG	23740.73	-184.32
		-0.77%
SENSEX	28743.32	-69.56
		-0.24%
FTSE 100*	7263.44	+10.44
		+0.14%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND.10 Year Bond		1.635		1.647
CND.30 Year Bond		2.342		2.364
U.S.   10 Year Bond		2.3899		2.3650
U.S.30 Year Bond		2.9952		2.9833

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75135	0.75882
US$	1.33093	1.31783
Euro Rate1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40729	0.71058
US$	1.05737	0.94574

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London GoldFix	1255.60	1257.20
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	54.01	54.05

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Linda Nguyen
     (Canadian Press) — TORONTO — Mixed earnings results from some of Canada’s biggest companies dominated a quiet trading day Tuesday, as the Toronto Stock Exchange pulled back for a fifth straight session in a row.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell a moderate 64.27 points at 15,399.24, as health-care stocks led decliners amid a weak earnings release by drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
The Quebec-based company warned that revenues and profits will drop more than analysts had anticipated for this year.
Shares in Valeant lost 85 per cent of its value last year after it came under scrutiny for a strategy of acquiring drug companies and imposing dramatic price increases. It also faces a series of shareholder lawsuits and criminal fraud investigations by U.S. authorities.  Valeant (TSX:VRX) shares plunged 13.9 per cent, or $3.05, to $18.89 on Tuesday.
In other corporate news, two of Canada’s largest financial institutions reported better than expected results.
The Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) reported net income of $1.49 billion, up 39 per cent from a year ago. Its shares rose 2.24 per cent, or $2.21, to $100.79.
Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) had $2.01 billion of net income during the first quarter, up 10 per cent compared to the same period last year. Its shares declined 2.79 per cent, or $2.21, to $77.04. Four out of the five major Canadian banks have reported strong results so far this quarter. TD Bank (TSX:TD) is the last of the group and is scheduled to release earnings on Thursday. On Wall Street, major New York indices were barely changed ahead of a highly-anticipated speech Tuesday night in front of Congress by U.S. President Donald Trump. Colum McKinley, a vice-president of Canadian equities at CIBC Asset Management, said investors are hoping to “get another look” at what might be coming down the road from the new commander-in-chief.  “Potentially, we’ll hear more about taxation plans, the fiscal stimulus program, whether or not there will be a repatriation of capital, cash sitting offshore and whether that is used to finance bigger infrastructure spending,” he said.
     “And potentially we’ll have more information about how the U.S. budget will unfold. For Canada, one area that we’re watching for is more news on the border taxation issue and what that could mean for Canadian companies.”  McKinley said stock markets will react according to how much is touched on in the speech, and whether there will be any concrete details announced. “There is the chance that we receive no greater clarity than we have today,” he said.  If markets react to the downside, McKinley said it could be a positive buying opportunity because economic indicators show growing strength, particularly in the U.S.
     The Canadian dollar declined 0.67 of a U.S. cent to 75.30 cents US, the currency’s lowest close since Feb. 7.  Commodities were mixed as the April crude contract retracted four cents at US$54.01 per barrel and April natural gas added eight cents at US$2.77 per mmBTU. 
     April gold gave up $4.90 at US$1,253.90 an ounce and May copper was up two cents at US$2.71 a pound.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell as investors awaited details on specific policy plans from U.S. President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress.
     The S&P 500 Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,363.64 at 4 p.m. in New York as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25 points to 20,812, ending a 12-day streak that marked its longest rally since 1987.
* Consumer discretionary stocks down 0.7% for biggest loss in market
* Industrial and telecommunications shares down at least 0.4%
* Traders are seeking answers from Trump tonight on how he plans to bring the fundamental changes he has promised to U.S. health- care policy, the tax system, defense spending and immigration
* With the earnings season drawing to a close, about three- quarters of S&P 500 members that have reported so far beat profit estimates and a little over half exceeded sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* While the reflation trade is still intact, stocks look stretched in the short term, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist James Barty wrote in a note; S&P 500 closed on Monday about 6 points above its year-end average strategist consensus level of 2,364
* ECONOMY:
** The U.S. economy grew in the fourth quarter at an unrevised 1.9% pace, as slower investment by businesses and state and local agencies offset stronger household purchases
** Core PCE — which is tied to consumer spending and strips out food and energy costs — climbed at a 1.2% annualized pace, compared with a previously reported 1.3 percent
** Chicago Business Activity at 57.4 after 50.3 the prior month
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Tuesday: Envision Healthcare (EVHC), AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC), Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), LogMeIn (LOGM), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), TESARO (TSRO), ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (ACAD), salesforce.com (CRM)
** Pre-market Wednesday: Dollar Tree (DLTR), Lowe’s Cos (LOW), Best Buy (BBY)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2% at the close, trimming intraday declines on Monday as construction companies rallied on Trump’s comments about “big” spending on infrastructure

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.
I want the cultures of all the lands to blow about my house as freely as possible.
But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Just remember the world is not a playground but a schoolroom.
Life is not a holiday but an education.
                                              -Barbara Jordan, 1936-1996

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Birthday: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet

Longfellow, the second of eight children, was born in Portland, Maine, and it is the wilderness and the sea that supplies his poetry, like Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, and The Courtship of Miles Standish, with their images and meaning.  He wrote poems as a young man during his years at Bowdoin College and then turned to academic writing and translation as a professor of modern languages at Harvard.   His store of languages included French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish, and some Finnish.

In 1854, at the age of 47, a skilled lecturer known for his courtesy to his students, he left academia and pursued his literary ambitions with remarkable publishing success.

In July 1861, his wife Fanny’s dress caught fire while she was using sealing wax.  She ran to Longfellow whose efforts to beat out the flames left him critically burned; Fanny died hours later.  The scars on Longfellow’s face made shaving impossible and from then on, he was the bearded man with the mane of white.

He finished his last poem, The Bells of San Blas, on March 15, 1882.  He died nine days later on March 24, 1882.

The Bells of San Blas

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

What say the Bells of San Blas 
To the ships that southward pass 
        From the harbor of Mazatlan? 
To them it is nothing more 
Than the sound of surf on the shore,— 
        Nothing more to master or man. 

But to me, a dreamer of dreams, 
To whom what is and what seems 
        Are often one and the same,— 
The Bells of San Blas to me 
Have a strange, wild melody, 
        And are something more than a name. 

For bells are the voice of the church; 
They have tones that touch and search 
        The hearts of young and old; 
One sound to all, yet each 
Lends a meaning to their speech, 
        And the meaning is manifold. 

They are a voice of the Past, 
Of an age that is fading fast, 
        Of a power austere and grand; 
When the flag of Spain unfurled 
Its folds o’er this western world, 
        And the Priest was lord of the land. 

The chapel that once looked down 
On the little seaport town 
        Has crumbled into the dust; 
And on oaken beams below 
The bells swing to and fro, 
        And are green with mould and rust. 

“Is, then, the old faith dead,” 
They say, “and in its stead 
       Is some new faith proclaimed, 
That we are forced to remain 
Naked to sun and rain, 
        Unsheltered and ashamed? 

“Once in our tower aloof 
We rang over wall and roof 
        Our warnings and our complaints; 
And round about us there 
The white doves filled the air, 
       Like the white souls of the saints. 

“The saints! Ah, have they grown 
Forgetful of their own? 
        Are they asleep, or dead, 
That open to the sky 
Their ruined Missions lie, 
        No longer tenanted? 

“Oh, bring us back once more 
The vanished days of yore, 
        When the world with faith was filled; 
Bring back the fervid zeal, 
The hearts of fire and steel, 
        The hands that believe and build. 

“Then from our tower again 
We will send over land and main 
        Our voices of command, 
Like exiled kings who return 
To their thrones, and the people learn 
        That the Priest is lord of the land!” 

O Bells of San Blas, in vain 
Ye call back the Past again! 
        The Past is deaf to your prayer; 
Out of the shadows of night 
The world rolls into light; 
       It is daybreak everywhere.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People walk through the Dark Hedges, a tunnel-like avenue of intertwined beech trees planted in the 18th-century, in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, on Monday. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Men parade through the village of Stein, Switzerland, during the traditional Swiss carnival ‘Bloch’ on Monday. The ‘Bloch’ is an adorned tree log that symbolizes a gift to workers. It is dragged through villages in the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in eastern Switzerland. Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone/AP

A dog catches a ball on Whiterocks beach at sunset in Portrush, Northern Ireland, on Monday. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Market Closes for February 27^th, 2017

MarketIndex	Close	Change
DowJones	20837.44	+15.68  +0.08%
S&P 500	2369.75	+2.41  +0.10%
NASDAQ	5861.898	+16.592  +0.28%
TSX	15463.51	-69.95
		-0.45%

International Markets

MarketIndex	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19107.47	-176.07
		-0.91%
HANGSENG	23925.05	-40.65
		-0.17%
SENSEX	28812.88	-80.09
		-0.28%
FTSE 100*	7253.00	+9.30
		+0.13%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND.10 Year Bond		1.647		1.607
CND.30 Year Bond		2.364		2.328
U.S.   10 Year Bond		2.3650		2.3152
U.S.30 Year Bond		2.9833		2.9526

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75882	0.76299
US$	1.31783	1.31063
Euro Rate1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.39511	0.71679
US$	1.05863	0.94461

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London GoldFix	1257.20	1253.65
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	54.05	53.49

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, with the key benchmark gauge hitting a three-week low, as investors pared bets ahead of a major speech by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Bank of Canada’s decision on interest rates this week.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 0.5 percent to 15,463.51 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, extending declines for a fourth straight session after reaching a record high last week. Gold miners tumbled, leading a 3.6 percent slump among materials producers, while health-care and energy companies advanced.
     Trump is scheduled to address the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, when he’s expected to propose major defense-spending increases and big cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, State Department and other federal agencies, according to a person familiar with the plan. Stocks have rallied across the globe amid optimism that Trump’s pro-growth agenda will help strengthen the world’s largest economy.
     In Canada, the central bank is expected to keep its monetary policy unchanged Wednesday.
     In other movers:
     * Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. climbed 3.3 percent. The drug company said it hired about 250 sales people at its Salix gastrointestinal-disorder unit in the past three months, scaling up the staff by almost 40 percent.
     * Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. slipped 5.8 percent as the company said Chief Financial Officer Steeve Thibeault plans to retire in May.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced Monday to record highs as investors awaited a speech tomorrow by U.S. President Donald Trump that’s expected to provide more details on his policies.
     The S&P 500 Index added 0.1 percent to 2,369.73 at 4 p.m. in New York while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 16 points to 20,837.44. The 30-member index has climbed for 12 straight sessions, the longest streak since 1987, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
* Energy shares higher, up 0.9% with oil up 0.4%
* “Safety” stocks from staples, utility and phone shares all down at least 0.5% in reversal from last week
* The U.S. president is expected to lay out his plans for tax and health-care reform and infrastructure spending before a joint session of Congress Tuesday
** Trump will propose boosting defense spending by $54 billion in his first budget plan and offset that by an equal amount cut from the rest of the government’s discretionary budget, according to administration officials
* This week’s economic releases include gross domestic product and personal spending tomorrow
* Strategists expect the S&P 500 to end the year at 2,364, according to the average of 19 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
* With more than 90% of S&P 500 firms having reported earnings so far, about three-quarters have beat profit estimates and about half have exceeded sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nine companies are reporting results today
* VIX up 5.4% to above 12 for the first time in more than a month
* ECONOMY:
** Orders for U.S. durable goods rebounded in January, a sign companies remained upbeat at the start of the year
** Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in January
** Dallas Fed manufacturing activity at 24.5 vs 22.1 in the prior month
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Monday: Tenet Healthcare (THC), Workday (WDAY), Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ), Exelixis (EXEL), Priceline Group (PCLN), Albemarle (ALB), EOG Resources (EOG), Frontier Communications (FTR)
** Pre-market Tuesday: Medicines (MDCO), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX), Platform Specialty Products (PAH), NRG Energy (NRG), AutoZone (AZO), Target (TGT)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1% at the close, paring an earlier drop of as much as 0.4%

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Never under any circumstances ask “how.”
When you  use the word “how” you really want someone to tell you what to do,
some guide, some system, someone to lead you by the hand so that you lose your freedom,
our capacity to observe, your own activities, your own thoughts, your own way of life.
Krishnamurti

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.
                                                                                        -Vernon Law, b. 1930

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Birthdays: Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, b. 1955
                George Harrison, musician, b. 1943

RESILIENT WINDMILLS
Windmills located in Nashtifan, Iran, are believed to have been created between AD 500 and 900 and are still operational today.  Check out National Geographic’s video about the history of these structures at http://bit.ly/natgeowindmills.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl rides Unee BB during the FEI World Cup Dressage Freestyle event at the Gothenburg Horse Show in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Friday. Thomas Johansson/TT News Agency/Reuters

Women ride their horses on a small road between fields as the sun sets in Oberursel, Germany, on Friday. Michael Probst/AP

An Oscar statue stands outside the Dolby Theatre as preparations continue for the 89th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on Thursday. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
Market Closes for February 24^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20821.76	+11.44   +0.05%
S&P 500	2364.95	+1.14   +0.05%
NASDAQ	5845.305	+9.798   +0.17%
TSX	15540.63	-240.58
		-1.52%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19283.54	-87.92
		-0.45%
HANG SENG	23965.70	-149.16
		-0.62%
SENSEX	28892.97	+28.26
		+0.10%
FTSE 100*	7243.70	-27.67
		-0.38%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.607		1.670
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.328		2.395
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.3152		2.3738
U.S. 30 Year Bond		2.9526		3.0127

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76299	0.76321
US $	1.31063	1.31025
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38386	0.72261
US $	1.05587	0.94708

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1253.65	1247.90
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.49	54.10

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks plunged the most in five months as earnings and dividend disappointments among gold companies, along with weakening oil prices and trepidation over President Donald Trump’s border tax proposals, erased two-thirds of this year’s rally.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 1.7 percent to 15,521.39 at 2:36 p.m. in New York. All 11 major industry groups were lower, led by energy shares, whose decline extended their 2017 loss past 7 percent. Car components maker Magna International slipped 5.4 percent after saying protectionism and U.S. measures that impede free trade may have a material adverse effect on its operations.
     Gold stocks were among the weakest on the S&P TSX, with Torex Gold Resources falling almost 10 percent after being downgraded to hold at Toronto Dominion. Eldorado Gold decreased 8.7 percent following an unexpected fourth-quarter loss. Nevsun Resources, which cut its dividend by 75 percent to 1 cent, slid 8.6 percent after earlier plunging 22 percent.
     Canadian consumer prices surged in January on the back of rising gasoline prices and new carbon levies, bringing inflation to the highest in more than two years. The consumer price index advanced 2.1 percent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported Friday from Ottawa, up from 1.5 percent in December. Economists had estimated a gain of 1.6 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey.
     All but one company in the 22-member consumer discretionary index declined, including Linamar Corp and Hudson’s Bay Co., which lost at least 3.5 percent each.
     Health-care shares also declined as the five-share group fell across the board. Losses in ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International weighed on the group as each erased at least 2.5 percent.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities advanced amid gains in utilities and phone stocks and a last-minute surge that saw the Dow Jones adding 77 points in the final hour of trading.
     The S&P 500 index added 0.2 percent to turn positive after spending the day in the red, ending at a record 2,367.34 at 4 p.m. The Dow Industrials average gained 0.2 percent, ending higher for an 11th straight day, the longest rally since January 1992.
* Phone and utility shares up at least 0.7% as the two gain more than any other industry group this week
* Nine of 11 groups ended higher, after all started in the red
* Financial companies weighed on market with 0.8% decline
* Energy shares down 0.9% as crude oil declines
* About 6.7 billion shares traded hands, same as year-to-date average
* VIX down 2% to 11.5, lowest in a week
* U.S. equity funds saw net inflows of $3 billion in the week to Feb. 22, with inflows in three of the past four weeks, according to a note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists, citing data from EPFR Global
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Friday: none
** Monday: AES Corp (AES), TEGNA (TGNA), American Tower (AMT), Platform Specialty Products (PAH), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A), Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc (ZLTQ), EOG Resources (EOG), Albemarle Corp (ALB), Exelixis (EXEL), SBA Communications (SBAC), Priceline Group (PCLN), ONEOK (OKE), ONEOK Partners (OKS), Hertz Global (HTZ), Workday (WDAY)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.8% at the close in its biggest drop in more than three weeks, as all industry groups declined

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

To grow is to go beyond what you are today.
Stand up as yourself.  Do not imitate.
Do not pretend to have achieved your goal, and do not try to cut corners.
Just try to grow.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Be a yardstick of quality.  Some people aren’t used to an environment
where excellence is expected.
                                                              -Steve Jobs, 1955- 2011

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
Go to article »
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Gale force winds blow back the waves at Church Rock on Broad Haven Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Britain, Thursday. Rebecca Naden/Reuters

Students stand among plum blossom at a campus in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, China on Thursday. China Daily/Reuters
Market Closes for February 23^rd, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20810.32	+34.72   +0.17%
S&P 500	2362.38	-0.44   -0.02%
NASDAQ	5835.508	-25.118   -0.43%
TSX	15782.16	-48.06
		-0.30%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19371.46	-8.41
		-0.04%
HANG SENG	24114.86	-87.10
		-0.36%
SENSEX	28892.97	+28.26
		+0.10%
FTSE 100*	7271.37	-30.88
		-0.42%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.670		1.716
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.395		2.427
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.3738		2.4129
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0127		3.0319

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76321	0.75973
US $	1.31025	1.31626
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38603	0.72148
US $	1.05784	0.94532

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1247.90	1236.65
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	54.10	53.29

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day, with the key benchmark gauge hovering near an all-time high as fertilizer and metal producers slumped. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce rose after beating analysts’ earnings estimates.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 0.3 percent to 15,781.20 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after reaching a record high Tuesday. Industrial and materials companies fell more than 1 percent, offsetting gains in real estate consumer staple shares.
     Fertilizer shares fell after urea prices dropped. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. declined 3.2 percent while Agrium Inc. lost 2.6 percent.
     Copper producers retreated along with the metal’s prices as First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. sank more than 3.5 percent.
     CIBC, the first Canadian bank to report quarterly results, advanced 1 percent. The lender beat analysts’ estimates after posting higher first-quarter profit led by gains in capital markets and raised its quarterly dividend 2.4 percent to C$1.27 a share.
     The country’s eight largest lenders are expected to increase per-share operating profit by an average of 7 percent from a year earlier, according to Scotia Capital analyst Sumit Malhotra. Royal Bank of Canada is scheduled to post results Friday, with the remaining lenders reporting next week.
     In other movers:
     * Maple Leaf Foods Inc., one of Canada’s largest meat processors, jumped 5.2 percent as optimism over its purchase of a U.S. producer of vegetarian foods offset disappointing earnings.
     * Halogen Software Inc. rallied 22 percent after agreeing to be bought by Saba for about C$293 million.
     * HudBay Minerals Inc. slumped 6.4 percent after reporting an unexpected quarterly loss.
US
By Joe Deaux
     (Bloomberg) — Doting words from President Donald Trump about Caterpillar Inc.’s bulldozers and U.S. Steel Corp.’s pipeline prospects couldn’t save the two companies from a slump in material stocks Thursday.
     Shares of the Peoria, Illinois-based machinery maker posted the biggest decline in five months while the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker lost as much as 10 percent and ended down 7.9 percent. A report emerged Thursday that a jammed congressional to-do list could push a massive U.S. infrastructure bill back to 2018, delaying new demand for raw materials and construction equipment.
     Trump has touted a $1 trillion infrastructure spending package over 10 years that would invest in roads, bridges and airports, as well as Buy America policies that would boost domestic companies that sell metals and machinery. Copper has risen more than 10 percent since Trump was elected on bets of improving demand helped by the president’s spending pledge.
     At a White House meeting with industry executives on Thursday, Trump said, “I love Caterpillar,” and indicated he might go out and drive one of the company’s machines soon. He then told U.S. Steel Chief Executive Officer Mario Longhi that he will be putting domestic producers of the metal “heavy” into the pipeline business and that projects like Keystone XL and Dakota Access would need to use American-made steel.
     While Trump’s public comments and Twitter postings over the past month have moved the share prices of aircraft manufacturers to drug makers, they failed to abate Thursday’s selloff. Caterpillar is still up 45 percent in the past year and 13 percent since the election, while U.S. Steel more than quadrupled in the past year and is also up 78 percent since the election, helped by an increase in demand and a slew of successful trade cases against foreign steel products.
     Repealing and replacing Obamacare, tax reform, the budget and the Supreme Court vacancy could push Trump’s infrastructure bill to 2018, Axios reported, citing Republicans it didn’t name.
     Metals from aluminum to zinc and iron ore also fell.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The phrase “to meditate” does not only mean to examine, observe, reflect, question, weigh;
it also has, in the Sanskrit, a more profound meaning, which is “to become.”
Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
                                                                                   -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, 1893-1986

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Birthday: Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet b. February 22, 1892.

FIRST FIG
   -by Edna St. Vincent Mallay
My candle burns at both ends;
   It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –
   It gives a lovely light.

SECOND FIG
Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A cat stands on the beach as a man walks by the sea in the southern coastal city of Larnaca on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Wednesday. Petros Karadjias/AP

A worker poses with Pablo Picasso’s ‘Plant de tomates’ ahead of an upcoming sale at Sotheby’s auction house in London, Britain on Wednesday. Peter Nicholls/Reuters.

Visitors wear headsets as they experience a virtual reality tour depicting Jerusalem as it was two millennia ago, at a visitors center near some of the world’s most sacred sites holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, in Jerusalem’s Old City on Tuesday. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Market Closes for February 22^nd, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20775.60	+32.60   +0.16%
S&P 500	2362.82	-2.56   -0.11%
NASDAQ	5860.625	-5.324   -0.09%
TSX	15830.22	-92.15
		-0.58%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19379.87	-1.57
		-0.01%
HANG SENG	24201.96	+238.33
		+0.99%
SENSEX	28864.71	+103.12
		+0.36%
FTSE 100*	7302.25	+27.42
		+0.38%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.716		1.722
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.427		2.426
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4129		2.4290
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0319		3.0407

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75973	0.76100
US $	1.31626	1.31405
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38905	0.71992
US $	1.05531	0.94759

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1236.65	1233.20
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.29	54.06

Market Commentary:
NUMBER OF THE DAY
$350 million

The drop in Verizon’s purchase-price for Yahoo from the previous offering of $4.83 billion in a new deal announced Tuesday. Verizon chose to push ahead with the deal in a bet that the chance to expand into digital advertising trumps the risk of further fallout from massive data breaches at Yahoo.

Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
     (Bloomberg) — Canada S&P/TSX Composite falls 0.4% to 15,864.75 at 1:35pm. Materials, energy, real estate falls, while industrials, health-care sector advance.

Advancers:

  * Radient Technologies (RTI CN) +11%; 3-day gain >20%; estimated to report earnings on Feb. 28
  * Cornerstone Capital (CGP CN) +9.4%; Reverses Feb. 21 loss of 8.6%
  * WesternZagros (WZR CN) +8.3%; 1.4x 3-month avg volume; Feb. 21, Rosneft Trading signs deal to buy crude from Kurdistan
  * Select Sands (SNS CN) +7.9%; Rises after 6-day loss
  * Spin Master (TOY CN) +7.3%; Feb. 21, got U.S. and Chinese patents covering Hatchimals technology

Decliners:

  * Katanga Mining (KAT CN) -18%; Confirms no corporate developments
* Fortune Minerals (FT CN) -13%; Falls after 2-day gain; filed amended and restated financial statements
  * Paladin Energy (PDN CN) -12%; Touched 100-DMA of C$0.12
  * Belo Sun (BSX CN) -10%; Gets temporary 180-day injunction for Volta Grande

US

Daily Factoid

On this day in 1973, the New York Stock Exchange launches its first-ever nationwide TV advertising campaign to encourage Americans to buy stocks. U.S. stocks go on to decline 14.7% in 1973 and another 26.5% in 1974.

By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday as investors assessed minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting for insight on the outlook for interest rates and as the price of oil declined.
     The S&P 500 Index dropped 0.1 percent to 2,362.82 at 4 p.m., as the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 32.6 points to 20,775.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost less than 0.1 percent.
* Six of 11 groups higher
* Energy stocks weighed on market, falling 1.6%, as oil lost 0.9% for first decline in four sessions
* Utility stocks were the biggest winner on the day, up 0.4%, as the 10-Year Treasury yield fell to 2.41% from 2.43%
* VIX up for second day, inching toward 12
* So far in the U.S. earnings season, quarterly profit for S&P 500 companies are up 5.4%, the strongest growth since the third quarter of 2014, according to Bloomberg data
* BofAML clients were net sellers of U.S. equities last week for the first time since the week prior to the U.S. election in early November, bank strategists including Jill Carey Hall wrote in a note
** Buybacks by corporate clients slowed to a six-week low, and year-to-date are tracking the lowest of any comparable period since 2013, they wrote
* EARNINGS
** After-market Wednesday: Realty Income (O), SM Energy (SM), Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), Rice Energy (RICE), Tesla (TSLA), ARRIS International (ARRS), US Silica Holdings (SLCA), HP (HPQ), Public Storage (PSA), Fitbit (FIT), Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), L Brands (LB), Clovis Oncology (CLVS), Range Resources (RRC), Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (PLKI), Square (SQ)
** Pre-market Thursday: Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM), LKQ (LKQ), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Hormel Foods (HRL), Iron Mountain (IRM), Patterson Cos (PDCO), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT), Kohl’s (KSS), Apache (APA)

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

In the song of the rushing torrent,
hold onto the joyful assurance:
I will become the sea.
And this is not a vain supposition;
it is absolute humility, because it is the truth.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

One loses so many laughs by not laughing at oneself.
–Sara Jeanette Duncan, 1861-1922

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1916- Battle of Verdun: Over 1 million men killed, France.
1925- New Yorker magazine debuts.
On Feb. 21, 1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address a rally in New York City; he was 39.
Points of Progress:
WORLDWIDE:
The fight against extreme poverty reached a new level in December, as the World Bank’s International Development Association committed a record $75 billion in loans, accessible by low-income countries between July 2017 and June 2020.  Describing it as “a pivotal step in the movement to end extreme poverty,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said it could “transform the development trajectory of the world’s poorest countries.”  The funds will come from a mix of government and private-sector donation, alongside $25 billion worth of debt issued by the World Bank. –The World Bank, Bloomberg.
Saw the movie Lion on the weekend – great film.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sunlight streams between skyscrapers as the sunrise paints the sky behind downtown on Tuesday in Houston. Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle/AP

A woman pushes a pram as she walks over a frozen lake during sun down at the Pajulahti sports center near Lahti, Finland. Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Michael Paul adjusts his telescope connected to a laptop computer on Scout Key, Florida on Monday. Paul is among 600 amateur and professional astronomers participating in the 33rd annual Winter Star Party where the region’s southern location, paired with minimal nighttime artificial lighting, create optimum conditions for viewing of the Southern Cross and other southern constellations. Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/Reuters
Market Closes for February 21^st, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20743.00	+118.95   +0.58%
S&P 500	2365.38	+14.22   +0.60%
NASDAQ	5865.949	+27.371   +0.47%
TSX	15922.37	+83.74
		+0.53%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19381.44	+130.36
		+0.68%
HANG SENG	23963.63	-182.45
		-0.76%
SENSEX	28761.59	+100.01
		+0.35%
FTSE 100*	7274.83	-25.03
		-0.34%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.722		1.709
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.426		2.409
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4290		2.4182
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0407		3.0247

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76100	0.76374
US $	1.31405	1.30935
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38536	0.72183
US $	1.05427	0.94852

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1233.20	1241.95
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	54.06	53.40

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Joseph Ciolli
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the ninth time in 10 days, led by gains in consumer discretionary and health-care shares as Restaurant Brands International Inc. agreed to purchase Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 0.5 percent to 15,913.14 at 11:08 a.m. in Toronto. The gauge is on pace to close at a record high for the sixth time in the past seven sessions. The index finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market and posted its seventh straight monthly increase in January. It’s increased 3.4 percent this month.
     Tim Hortons owner Restaurant Brands surged 7.1 percent, headed for its biggest single-day increase since February 2015. The company agreed to buy Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. for about $1.8 billion, adding a fried-chicken chain to its lineup of burgers and doughnuts. The cash offer of $79 a share represents a 19 percent premium to Popeyes’ closing price on Friday.
     In other moves:
* MEG Energy Corp., Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. and Baytex Energy Corp. climbed more than 3.6 percent as crude oil rose 2 percent, the most in almost three weeks
* Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. added at least 3.7 percent as a Bloomberg index of commodities rose 0.1 percent
     (Canadian Press) — Some of the most active companies traded Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
     ^Toronto Stock Exchange (up 83.74 points to 15,922.37)@:
     Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX:NDM). Miner. Down 80 cents, or 26.94 per cent, to $2.17 on 11.3 million shares.
     ECN Capital Corp. (TSX:ECN). Financial Services. Up 45 cents, or 14.11 per cent, to $3.64 on 9.7 million shares.
     Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC). Financial Services. Up 12 cents, or 0.48 per cent, to $24.95 on 7 million shares.
     Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX:YRI). Miner. Down 13 cents, or 3.22 per cent, to $3.91 on 6.7 million shares.
     Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN). Miner. Up 17 cents, or 3.5 per cent, to $5.03 on 6.5 million shares. Katanga Mining Limited. (TSX:KAT). Miner. Up 11 cents, or 22.92 per cent, to 59 cents on 6.4 million shares.
     ^Companies reporting major news@:
     Restaurant Brands International Inc. (TSX:QSR). Fast-food restaurants. Up $4.98, or 7.05 per cent, to $75.65 on 736,696 shares. The parent company of Tim Hortons and Burger King is making a move to add fried chicken with an offer to buy Popeyes in a friendly deal. Restaurant Brands International said Tuesday it will pay US$1.8 billion for the Louisiana-style fried chicken chain. That translates to US$79 per share in Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc., which trades on the Nasdaq composite
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced following a three-day weekend as climbing oil prices boosted energy companies.
     The S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to a record 2,365.38 at 4:13 p.m. The benchmark index gained 0.2 percent on Friday, helped in part by merger and acquisition activity. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 119 points to 20,743 Tuesday, and the Russell 2000 Index advanced 0.8 percent.
* Every sector higher as real estate companies and utilities pare losses to become the biggest winners in the market after 10-year yields fell to 2.43% from as high as 2.46% earlier in the day
* Energy companies up 0.7% as crude oil climbs to $54 a barrel amid a higher price outlook from Citigroup
* Consumer staples shares up 1% on gains of at least 4% in JM Smucker and Mondelez after Kraft withdrew offer for Unilever
* The U.S. dollar surged after Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker indicated he would support a rate increase next month
* VIX inches higher to 11.6
* So far in U.S. earnings season, quarterly profit for S&P 500 companies are up 5.7 percent year-over-year, according to Bloomberg data
* ECONOMY:
** Flash manufacturing PMI index falls to 54.3 from 55 in Jan.; year ago 51.3
* EARNINGS:
**  After-market Tuesday: Extra Space Storage (EXR), Newfield Exploration (NFX), Newmont Mining (NEM), Whiting Petroleum (WLL), Concho Resources (CXO), XPO Logistics (XPO), Macquarie Infrastructure (MIC), Verisk Analytics (VRSK), American Water Works (AWK), FirstEnergy (FE), First Solar (FSLR), Eversource Energy (ES), Edison International (EIX)
** Pre-market Wednesday: Welltower (HCN), NiSource (NI), Host Hotels & Resorts (HST), Sanchez Energy (SN), DISH Network (DISH), Conduent (CNDT), Southern Co (SO), TJX Cos (TJX)
Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The universal power that manifests itself in the universal law
is at one with our true power.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Keep your face always toward the sunshine  – and shadows will fall behind you.
                                                                  -Walt Whitman,  1819-1892

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

This poem is from “The Traveler’s Vade Mecum,” a new anthology of poetry.  The anthology takes its title from a 19^th-century compendium of 8,466 numbered sentences designed to help travelers compose shorter telegrams; to use this system, the sender and the receiver of the telegram would each have a copy of the book and would communicate such useful messages as “I am onboard a steamer ship bound for Paris” by writing “45 Paris,” or ominous ones like “A sad accident has happened” merely with “461.”  The anthology’s editor, the poet and novelist Helen Klein Ross, chose some of these sentences and assigned them to poets to use as titles.  The result is a wide-ranging, pleasurable overview of many different approaches in American poetry today. –Matthew Zapruder, NY Times.

Poem:
There Was a Great Want of Civility
                           by Julie Suarez

All night in the trees, the whispering, a great disorder, not the way leaves talk among themselves during the day, not the rustle of squirrels and birds among them, but a tossing, shiftless shadow weight of darkness, leaf to leaf.

I dared not close my eyes for fear it would have its way with me

How could anyone sleep?
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Macaws groom each other at Le Cornelle Animal Park in Valbrembo, Italy, on Friday. Antonio Calanni/AP

Athletes compete in the women’s 4 X 6km relay biathlon at the IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, on Friday. Leonhard Foeger/Reuters
Market Closes for February 17^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20624.05	+4.28   +0.02%
S&P 500	2351.16	+3.94   +0.17%
NASDAQ	5838.578	+23.678   +0.41%
TSX	15838.63	-25.54
		-0.16%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19234.62	-112.91
		-0.58%
HANG SENG	24033.74	-73.96
		-0.31%
SENSEX	28468.75	+167.48
		+0.59%
FTSE 100*	7299.96	+22.04
		+0.30%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.709		1.745
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.409		2.438
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4182		2.4467
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0247		3.0495

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76374	0.76508
US $	1.30935	1.30705
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38987	0.71949
US $	1.06150	0.94206

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1241.95	1240.55
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.40	53.36

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
$600 million
The losses for the Catalyst Hedged Futures Strategy mutual fund in the week ended Thursday. The firm’s bearish bets in the options market were undone by the S&P 500’s latest run to fresh records.
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks are poised to end the longest streak in more than 11 months, as raw-material and energy stocks declined with health-care stocks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 0.2 percent to 15,833.52 at 11:26 a.m. in Toronto after rising 3 percent over an eight- day advance. The index finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market and posted its seventh straight monthly increase in January. It’s increased 3 percent so far in February.
     Seven of 11 sectors in the benchmark gauge declined, with consumer discretionary shares leading the gainers. Phone stocks added 0.2 percent and real estate companies were little changed.
     Aimia Inc. fell more than any company in the composite index, slipping from a 52-week high after projecting 2017 gross billings for its core business would be “broadly stable” at C$2.1 billion as it divests a section of its business.
By David Hodges
     (Canadian Press) — TORONTO — The five-day streak of record highs for Canada’s main stock index came to an end Friday while U.S. markets continued hitting new peaks ahead of a holiday weekend for traders on both sides of the border.
     In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index lost 25.54 points at 15,838.63 after a positive session Thursday that marked an eight consecutive day of advances.
     Real estate stocks racked up some of the biggest gains on the TSX, while materials, gold and base metals dragged down the index.
     On Wall Street, stock indices inched ahead to record highs Friday, albeit barely, after a late afternoon push erased losses earlier in the day.
     The Dow Jones industrial average added 4.28 points to 20,624.05 and the Nasdaq composite advanced 23.68 points at 5,838.58. The S&P 500 gained 3.94 points at 2351.16, capping the fourth straight week of gains for the index, its longest such streak since July.
     “Certainly ‘Trumpenomics’ is one of the dominant market themes on the minds of investors today,” said Todd Mattina, a strategist and chief economist at Mackenzie Investments.
     “It really represents a waiting game to get more clarity about the types of policies that Donald Trump will implement in the coming weeks,” he added, describing the U.S. leader’s economic package as a complex mix of helpful and hurtful policies.
     “On the positive side of the ledger you’ve got tax reform, you’ve got deregulation. But on the unhelpful side you have increased economic policy uncertainty.”
     Trump’s performance at a news conference Thursday, filled with jaw-dropping moments in which he aired feelings of personal grievance and referenced the political upside of war, “just reinforced that significant, very elevated degree of uncertainty on economic policy going forward,” Mattina added.
     While Trump remains a dominant market theme, Mattina said overseas considerations also weigh heavily.
     “Other important factors are increased political risk in Europe,” he said, pointing to France’s upcoming presidential election and concerns about the increasing odds of a win for Marine Le Pen, president of the National Front.
     Like Trump, the leader of the far-right party has made her anti-immigrant and anti-European stance clear.
     “There’s also Brexit-related concerns as the U.K. heads toward its so-called ‘cliff edge’ negotiations with the European Union at the end of March,” Mattina said.
     In commodities, the April crude oil contract added three cents at US$53.78 per barrel, while the March contract for natural gas lost two cents at US$2.834 per mmBTU.
     The April gold contract dropped $2.50 to US$1,239.10 an ounce and March copper fell 1.15 cents to US$2.707 per pound.
     The Canadian dollar fell 0.11 of a U.S. cent at 76.34 cents US.
     Stock markets in Toronto and New York will be closed Monday, with the United States marking Presidents Day and Canadians off for various provincial holidays, including Family Day in Ontario.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S stocks advanced Friday to all-time highs after a report on deal activity between T-Mobile Inc. and SoftBank Group Corp. and a speech by President Donald Trump at a Boeing Co. factory in South Carolina.
     The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to 2,351.16 at 4 p.m., reversing earlier losses of as much as 0.3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 49 points in the wake of the President’s event, in which he renewed his promise to rebuild the military and suggested that a larger purchase of Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet may be in the offing. The gauge later jumped 18 points in the final minute of trading.
      T-Mobile US Inc. rose as much as 5.3 percent following a report that SoftBank Group Corp. would be willing to give up control of Sprint Corp. in a potential merger of the two mobile- phone carriers.
* SoftBank shares added 3.2%
* Boeing added 1.1% for the seventh straight session of gains
* Financial stocks little changed after dropping as much as 0.9% in early trading
* Energy stocks and materials down as Bloomberg Commodity Index drops 0.4%
* Equity funds globally saw $17.7 billion in net investment inflows in the week to Feb. 15, the most in nine weeks, according to a Bank of America-Merrill Lynch
* VIX ends 2.3% lower to 11.5
* ECONOMY:
** Conference Board leading economic index rose to 125.5 in Jan. vs 124.7 prior month
* EARNINGS:
** Monday: Community Health Systems (CYH)
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1% at the close.
** Erased a drop of as much as 0.6%, boosted by a 13% surge in Unilever after Kraft Heinz Co. said the consumer-goods peer rejected its merger approach.
** Miners and energy shares tracked declines in metal and oil prices

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Even at the gate of death, in the greatest danger,
in the thick of the battlefield,
at the bottom of the ocean, on the tops of the highest mountains,
in the thickest of the forest, tell yourself,
”I am He, I am He.”
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.
                                                                   -Judy Garland, 1922-1969

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 16, 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt.

Practice the pause.
Pause before judging.
Pause before assuming.
Pause before accusing.
Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things
you’ll later regret.
            -Lori Deschene

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Wildfires threaten a suburb of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island on Wednesday evening. Mark Hannah/Reuters

A baby gorilla relaxes on her mother, Kibara, at the zoo in Leipzig, Germany, on Thursday. She was born on Dec. 4 and just named Kianga.Jens Meyer/AP
Market Closes for February 16^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20619.77	+7.91   +0.04%
S&P 500	2347.22	-2.03   -0.09%
NASDAQ	5814.902	-4.538   -0.08%
TSX	15864.17	+19.22
		+0.12%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19347.53	-90.45
		-0.47%
HANG SENG	24107.70	+112.83
		+0.47%
SENSEX	28301.27	+145.71
		+0.52%
FTSE 100*	7277.92	-24.49
		-0.34%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.745		1.786
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.438		2.462
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4467		2.4986
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0495		3.0826

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76508	0.76498
US $	1.30705	1.30723
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.39508	0.71680
US $	1.06735	0.93690

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1240.55	1224.40
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.36	53.11

Market Commentary:
NUMBER OF THE DAY
$53.85

The strike price of options forgone by Bank of America executives. Top executives were sitting on the right to buy 400,000 shares of the bank’s stock at that price, a perk handed out by its board a decade ago, but the stock options expired worthless on Wednesday. [Bank of America shares closed at $24.50/sh on Wednesday].
Canada
By Joseph Ciolli
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for an eighth straight day, the longest streak in more than 11 months, as raw-material and utility shares climbed, offsetting losses in health-care companies.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.1 percent to 15,864.17. in Toronto. The gauge is on pace to close at a record high for the fifth straight day. The index finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market and posted its seventh straight monthly increase in January. It’s increased 3.1 percent so far in February.
     Bombardier Inc. slipped 3.1 percent after a quarterly earnings report that saw the company’s adjusted loss of 7 cents a share exceeding the 3 cent shortfall predicted by analysts. The company also reaffirmed its forecast that revenue will increase by a low-single-digit percentage in 2017, stemming two years of declines. Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B). Aerospace, rail equipment. Down eight cents, or 3.10 per cent, to $2.50 on 13.9 million shares. The Quebec-based company reported 2016 year-end losses of US$981 million, down from US$5.34 billion in 2015. Full-year revenue for 2016 was US$16.34 billion down from US$18.17 billion in 2015.
     In other moves:
* Pembina Pipeline Corp., PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. and Keyera Corp. climbed more than 1.7 percent.
* Barrick Gold Corp., New Gold Inc. and Goldcorp Inc. added at least 4.2 percent even as a Bloomberg index of commodities lost 0.4 percent
     Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. (TSX:PNE). Oil and gas. Down two cents, or 2.41 per cent, to 81 cents on 6.8 million shares.
     Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B). Miner. Down $1.54, or 5.25 per cent, to $27.78 on 6.7 million shares.
     Encana Corp. (TSX:ECA). Oil and gas. Down 41 cents, or 2.46 per cent, to $16.29 on 6.6 million shares.
     B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Up two cents, or 0.45 per cent, to $4.43 on 6.32 million shares.
     ^Companies reporting major news@:
     Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Oil and gas. Down 49 cents, or 0.88 per cent, to $55.43 on 2.2 million shares. The company says the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has approved its proposed takeover of Spectra Energy Corp. in what will be the largest foreign takeover by a Canadian company. The all-stock deal, which valued Spectra at $37 billion when it was announced last September, still requires approval under the Canadian Competition Act.
     Quebecor Inc. (TSX:QBR.B). Media, telecommunications. Down 63 cents, or 1.61 per cent, to $38.41 on 504,064 shares. Pierre Karl Peladeau is returning to his job as the president and CEO. Peladeau, whose family founded the company, stepped down from the top job in 2013 and began a short-lived political career.  
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell from record levels as financial and energy companies slumped and tech stocks pared earlier gains.
     The S&P 500 Index lost less than 0.1 percent to 2,347.22 at 4 p.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 7.9 points to 20,619.77. The benchmark index gained 0.5 percent on Wednesday for the seventh straight advance — the longest streak of gains since September 2013.         
* Energy shares down 1.4% for second loss this week as oil heads for the narrowest trading range in 13 years
* Utility and phone stocks up at least 0.4%
* Real estate shares up 0.4% biggest gain in market as the 10- year Treasury yield falls below 2.45%
* Tech companies end 0.2% higher as Cisco climbs 2.4% following 2Q earnings beat
* VIX fell 1.8% to 11.8
* Volume second-highest of past 2 weeks with 6.9 billion shares traded hands — slowed trading during Trump’s press conference
* The S&P 500 erased 0.4% in a matter of minutes mid-morning after a $3.4 billion fund that specializes in options trading told CNBC that it had exited a short position in calls on futures
* Profits for S&P 500 companies climbed an annual 5.3% so far in the fourth-quarter reporting season, data compiled by Bloomberg show, the highest growth rate since the third quarter of 2014
** S&P 500’s price-to-forward earnings ratio is at its highest since 2002
* The six largest U.S. banks may see annual profit jump by an average of 14% if President Donald Trump delivers on his promise to cut corporate taxes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* Overall, the Trump Trade is approaching bull market dimensions in only three months, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 19% since election night lows
* ECONOMY
** Philly Fed: Current activity index soared to 43.3, the highest since January 1984, from 23.6
** Builders started work on more U.S. homes than forecast in January after an upward revision to starts in the prior month, a sign construction was on a steady path entering 2017
** Initial claims rose 5k in the first full week of February to 239k, after logging double-digit declines in each of the past two weeks
* EARNINGS
** After-market Thursday: Republic Services (RSG), Digital Realty Trust (DLR), Consolidated Edison (ED), DaVita (DVA), Flowserve (FLS), Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP)
** Pre-market Friday: Moody’s (MCO), Spectra Energy (SE), Fluor (FLR), Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), Deere & Co (DE), VF (VFC), JM Smucker (SJM), Campbell Soup (CPB)

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

When you look at that unchanging Existence
from the outside, you call it God;
and when you look at it from the inside,
you call it yourself.  It is but one.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

I’ve learned that only through focus can you do world-class things,
no matter how capable you are.  -William H. Gates, b. 1955

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 
Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

If I am right it will be a slow business for our people to reach rational views, assuming that we are allowed to work peacefully to that end.  But as I grow older I grow calm.  If I feel what are perhaps an old man’s apprehensions, that competition from new races will cut deeper than working men’s disputes and will test whether we can hang together and fight; if I fear that we are running through the world’s resources at a pace that we cannot keep; I do not lose my hopes.  I do not pin my dreams for the future to my country or even to my race.  I think it probable that civilization somehow will last as long as I care to look ahead – perhaps with smaller numbers, but perhaps also bred to greatness and splendor by science.  I think it not improbable that man, like the grub that prepares a chamber for the winged thing it never has seen but is to be – that man may have cosmic destinies that he does not understand.  And so beyond the vision of battling races and an impoverished earth I catch a dreaming glimpse of peace.
   The other day my dream was pictured to my mind.  I was walking homeward on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Treasury, and as I looked beyond Sherman’s statue to the west the sky was aflame with scarlet and crimson from the setting sun.  But, like the note of downfall in Wagner’s opera, below the skyline there came from little globes the pallid discord of the electric lights.  And I thought to myself the Götterdämmerung will end, and from those globes clustered like evil eggs will come the new masters of the sky.  It is like the time in which we live.  But then I remembered the faith that I partly have expressed, faith in a universe not measured by our fears, a universe that has thought and more than thought inside of it, and as I gazed, after the sunset and above the electric lights, there shone the stars. –Mr. Justice Holme’s speech at the Harvard Law School dinner, New York, February 15^th, 1913.

1965    Canada’s new maple leaf flag was unfurled in ceremonies in Ottawa.

 

On Feb. 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, killing 260 crew members and escalating tensions with Spain.
Go to article »

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man walks his dogs as the sun rises on a field in Eschborn, Germany, on Wednesday. Michael Probst/AP

A woman stops to check her phone as the sun strikes a wall behind her in New York on Tuesday. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Rumor, a German shepherd, poses for photos Wednesday after winning Best in Show at the 141st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York. Julie Jacobson/AP
Market Closes for February 15^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20611.86	+107.45   +0.52%
S&P 500	2349.18	+11.60   +0.50%
NASDAQ	5819.441	+36.869   +0.64%
TSX	15837.06	+51.03
		+0.32%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19437.98	+199.00
		+1.03%
HANG SENG	23994.87	+291.86
		+1.23%
SENSEX	28155.56	-183.75
		-0.65%
FTSE 100*	7302.41	+33.85
		+0.47%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.786		1.767
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.462		2.433
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4986		2.4698
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0826		3.0584

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76498	0.76476
US $	1.30723	1.30760
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38593	0.72154
US $	1.06020	0.94322

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1224.40	1230.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.11	53.20

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a seventh day, with the benchmark index reaching yet another record high amid the longest rally since March. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.4 percent to 15,844.95 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. Ten of 11 main industries advanced as banks, telecom and health-care shares climbed at least 0.8 percent. Economic data was mixed today, with home sales in January falling to the second-lowest level since 2015 while manufacturing sales rose more than economists forecast. 
TIO Networks Corp. rallied 5.1 percent. PayPal Holdings Inc. said it will buy the Canadian bill payment company in a cash deal worth about $233 million. 
Teck Resources Ltd. dropped 10 percent even after posting profit that beat expectations. Shares of Canada’s largest diversified miner are up 9.2 percent this year. On a conference call, the company said it favors debt reduction over dividends, but will look at the payout policy in April or June.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed for a seventh straight session as rallying financial shares added momentum to an advance that sent seven of 11 sectors higher on the day, capping the longest streak of gains since September 2013.
     The S&P 500 Index added 0.5 percent to a record 2,349 at 4 p.m., as investors assessed economic data that included January inflation numbers that climbed faster than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.5 percent to 20,611.86. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.66 percent to 5,819.44.
* Financial stocks climbed 1.2% as the 10-Year Treasury yield jumped to 2.5%
* Utility and real estate stocks were the worst-performing groups, each slipping at least 0.3%
* About 7.1 billion shares traded hands, the heaviest volume since Feb. 1
* VIX added 11.5% after jumping above 11.8 as contracts expiring today gained at 9:10 a.m.
* Procter & Gamble Co. rose 3.7% after Trian Fund Management revealed a new stake
* Defensive sectors including health-care shares also gained ground, a signal that the stock market rally is broadening, said Stephane Barbier de la Serre, a strategist at Makor Capital Markets in Geneva
* According to a note from JPMorgan’s technical analyst
Jason Hunter, the rally in U.S. stocks has entered an “acceleration phase,” with broad sector participation
* ECONOMY
**  January consumer prices rose 2.5% YoY, compared with an expected 2.4%, and were ahead 0.6% MoM, compared with an estimated 0.3%
** January retail sales also increased more than forecast, suggesting consumers are positioned to buttress economic growth
** Wednesday’s data lifted the odds for a Fed rate increase in March to 40 percent from 30 percent two days ago
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Wednesday: CBS (CBS), Cimarex Energy (XEC), TripAdvisor (TRIP), Williams Cos (WMB), CF Industries Holdings (CF), Marathon Oil (MRO),Avis Budget Group (CAR), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Kraft Heinz (KHC), NetApp (NTAP), Stericycle (SRCL), Varex Imaging (VREX), Applied Materials (AMAT), Chemours (CC), Equinix (EQIX), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Marriott International (MAR)
** Pre-market Thursday: Waste Management (WM), Tempur Sealy International (TPX), Laboratory Corp of America Holdings (LH), MGM Resorts (MGM), SCANA (SCG), Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN), PG&E (PCG), Cabela’s (CAB), GNC Holdings (GNC), Charter Communications (CHTR),Duke Energy (DUK), Zoetis (ZTS), Ameren (AEE)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.3% at the close; lenders led gains, with Credit Agricole SA up the most after reporting higher profit at its LCL consumer-banking division

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

In all religions of the world you will find it claimed that there is unity within us.
Being one with divinity, there cannot be any further progress in that sense.
Knowledge means finding this unity.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life
as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
                                                         -Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915

 

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

From The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time, by David H. Lowenherz, Crown Publishers, NY:
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera:
Diego, Nothing compares to your hands, nothing like the green-gold of your eyes.  My body is filled with you for days and days.  You are the mirror or the night, the violent flash of lightening.  The dampness of the earth.  The hollow of you armpits is my shelter.  My fingertips touch your blood.  All my joy is to feel life spring from your flower-fountain that mine keeps to fill all the paths of my nerves which are yours.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) – Twentieth-century painter.  Frida’s unique style can be best described as a cross between Mexican folk art and Surrealism.  At the age of eighteen, she was involved in a bizarre traffic accident that left her so injured that she endured thirty-five operations throughout the rest of her short life.  It was during her painful recovery that she began to teach herself to paint.  Photographer Tina Modotti reintroduced Frida to the Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886-1957), whom she had superficially known since her school days, and the two soon became inseparable.  Married in 1929, then briefly separated ten years later, they remarried in 1941.  Frida died shortly after her forty-seventh birthday in 1954.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A couple kiss their daughter at Love park on Valentine’s Day in Lima, Peru, on Tuesday. Valentine’s Day originated as a western Christian liturgical feast day honoring one or more early saints named Valentinus. The day first became associated with romantic love in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. Martin Mejia/AP

Finnish dinosaur heavy metal band Hevisaurus pose for photographers on Golden Jubilee Bridge at Royal Festival Hall in London on Tuesday. The group are performing as part of the ‘Imagine Children’s Festival,’ which this year features musical artists and authors from the Nordic region. Matt Dunham/AP

Aftin, a miniature poodle, wins the non-sporting group competition at the 141st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York on Monday.Stephanie Keith/Reuters
Market Closes for February 14^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20504.41	+92.25   +0.45%
S&P 500	2337.58	+9.33   +0.40%
NASDAQ	5782.574	+18.618   +0.32%
TSX	15786.03	+29.45
		+0.19%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19238.98	-220.17
		-1.13%
HANG SENG	23703.01	-7.97
		-0.03%
SENSEX	28339.31	-12.31
		-0.04%
FTSE 100*	7268.56	-10.36
		-0.14%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.767		1.695
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.433		2.368
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4698		2.4073
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0584		3.0048

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76476	0.76414
US $	1.30760	1.30866
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.38310	0.72302
US $	1.05774	0.94541

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1230.75	1228.30
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.20	53.86

Market Commentary:
NUMBER OF THE DAY
$133.29

The all-time closing high hit by Apple shares Monday, as investors bet that the 10th-anniversary iPhone expected later this year will build on renewed momentum at the world’s most valuable company after its worst stumble in years.
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, with the benchmark index extending a record high, as a rally in health-care shares helped offset losses in utilities.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 15,786.03 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after five straight days of advances lifted the gauge to fresh highs Monday. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. led health-care shares to a 3.3 percent gain, the most among the 11 main industry groups. Utility shares fell the most as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stressed the need for more interest-rate increases in a testimony before Congress, reducing the allure of equity income relative to fixed income.
     Yellen, in her first appearance before Congress since President Donald Trump was sworn in, said more interest-rate increases will be appropriate if the economy meets the central bank’s outlook of gradually rising inflation and tightening labor markets. At the same time, trade tension between Canada and the U.S. has eased after Trump pledged publicly to only “tweak” Canada’s side of the North American Free Trade Agreement and ease the flow of goods along the northern border.
     Valeant surged 6.4 percent. The company will cover 60 percent of any settlement with shareholders who have sued the company and investor Bill Ackman, accusing them of using nonpublic information during an attempted takeover of Allergan Plc. Valeant and Ackman will also split the first $10 million of legal costs evenly, Valeant said.
     Cameco Corp. jumped 5.2 percent. The uranium company was upgraded to outperform from market perform by BMO analyst Edward Sterck.
     Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. plunged 22 percent. The company’s pebble deposit is not commercially viable, Kerrisdale Capital said in a report, adding that Pebble would need so much upfront investment that it would “destroy value.” The market enthusiasm over benefits of the Trump administration for the project overlooks the ineradicable threat of veto from either the Alaskan government or future Democratic White House, Kerrisdale said.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks reversed early losses to extend a rally into a sixth day as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress more interest-rate hikes would be appropriate if the U.S. economy stays on course.
     The S&P 500 Index added 0.4 percent to 2,338, a record high, at 4 p.m. The benchmark is up 1.8 percent over the six-day period, the longest advance since Dec. 9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 92 points to 20,504.
* Financial shares up 1.2%; bank stocks in S&P 500 29% since election
* Real estate, utility and telecommunications down at least 0.1% as the 10-year Treasury weakens for a fourth session, trading at 2.472%
* VIX drops to 10.8
* Momentum in S&P 500 stocks heating up, with 15% of companies in the index trading above a 14-day RSI level of 70, considered overbought by technical analysts
** That’s the highest level of overbought shares since Dec. 13
* Attention shifted to Yellen’s first appearance before Congress since Trump was sworn in, as investors looked for insight on whether the Fed will accelerate monetary tightening
* ECONOMY:
** U.S. wholesale prices jumped in January by 0.6%, the most since September 2012, led by higher costs of gasoline and indicating inflation is beginning to stir
** Small-business optimism continues to run hot, boosted by the new administration’s pledge to revoke two regulations for every new one issued
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Tuesday: American International Group (AIG), Express Scripts Holding (ESRX), Agilent Technologies (A), LendingClub (LC), Diamondback Energy (FANG), Devon Energy (DVN)
** Pre-market Wednesday: Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT), Huntsman (HUN), Targa Resources (TRGP), US Foods Holding (USFD), Och-Ziff Capital Management (OZM), Entergy (ETR), PepsiCo (PEP), Wyndham Worldwide (WYN), Analog Devices (ADI), Medicines (MDCO), Smart Sand (SND)
** The Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed up less than 0.1%

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

As long as there is division in any form
there must be conflict.
You are responsible, not only to your children,
but to the rest of humanity.
Unless you deeply understand this, not through words or ideas or the intellect,
but feel this in your blood, in your way of looking at life, in your actions,
you are supporting organized murder which is called war.
Krishnamurti

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night!  Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
                   -William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
                          Romeo and Juliet

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com