August 3rd, 2011 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Tangents: In memory of my father, whose birthday it is today, and who was the most brilliant gardener during his lifetime. He loved dahlias and gladioli.
DAHLIAS AND GLADIOLI
Two of the showiest blooms in the average garden
Two celebrated and serious-minded women of letters from either side of the Atlantic, Bloomsbury stalwart Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) and New Yorker editor Katharine S. White (1892-1977), took on the topic of gardening during the twentieth century, each working in a breezy style that brought the arcane poetics of soil and seed to a broad new audience. They besieged their readers with tips – what to plant, when, and how, down to the Epsom salts Sackville-West used to keep rabbits from eating her pinks. And they waxed romantic. White rhapsodized over the colonial-era apple trees and the wildflowers of her girlhood, while Sackville-West suggested her Observer readers resurrect the old English word “garth,” for a small piece of enclosed ground, and use floraison, French for “in full bloom.” But both writers were at their best when debating gaudiness in the garden, and what to do with razzle-dazzle flowers such as dahlias and gladioli.
White, a true-blue New Englander who worked at The New Yorker for more than thirty years, despised ostentation, though she was plenty stylish. She refused, as her husband writer E. B. White (1899-1985) explained, “to dress down to a garden,” and dug up plant beds on their thirty-six-acre Maine farm in a tailored tweed skirt and her Ferragamo shoes. But her experiment with a big, bright dahlia crossed the line. “The dahlia is a flower I have never been able to make up my mind about,” she admitted. The results were simply “embarrassing.” The flowers were so enormous, one was bright red and the other bronze, and both were as big as dinner plates,” she reported. “The only word for them was vulgar.”
Sackville-West, who wrote about her gardening triumphs and travails at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, loved a flourish. “I believe in exaggeration,” she declared in 1938. “I believe in big groups, big masses.” She stalked weeds while wearing a loosely tailored jacket, jodhpurs, high-laced boots, and her signature strand of pearls. Sackville-West’s aristocratic lineage and androgynous allure inspired her lover Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. She was, as one wit put it, “Lady Chatterley and her lover rolled into one.”
But even for the bold Sackville-West, the brazen gladiola was “problematic.” Despite its good points (it was “as showy as the dahlia and far less of a nuisance,” invaluable for keeping the garden going into fall, and “supreme in the late summer flower shows, yes, in those great peacock-tail displays like swords dipped in all hues of sunrise, sunset and storm”), the gladiola was top-heavy and suffered a “florist-shop look.” Try as she might to romance them, recalling Pliny’s thoughts on the flower and remembering the wild gladioli she picked once “at sunset off a mountain in Persia,” they never fit the fantasy of her celebrated gardens.
At the start of World War II, as Sackville-West converted the ruined Tudor castle she shared with her husband, writer Harold Nicholson, into a bunker (stashing away a suicide pill in case of German invasion), she became mesmerized by the idea of an all-white garden – the ultimate chic – dreaming of the white magnolias, white tulips, white roses, and white lilies she’d plant there. “Let us plant and be merry,” she wrote to Nicholson, “for next autumn we may all be ruined.”
It wasn’t until the winter of 1949 that she got her plans under way. “It may be a terrible failure,” she demurred, describing her all-white strategy in her column. “All the same, I cannot help hoping that the great ghostly barn-owl will sweep silently across a pale garden, next summer, in the twilight-pale garden that I am now planting under the first flakes of snow.” The white garden at Sissinghurst, one of the most elegant gardens in the world, is now open to the public and hits its floraison in June. –Jessica Kerwin Jenkins
Photos of the day
August 3, 2011
A girl plays in a fountain on a summer’s day in London.
Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters.
A rider performs on his motorcycle during FMX, a freestyle motocross event, in Prague, Czech Republic. David W. Cerny/Reuters.
Market Commentary:
Canada
By Matt Walcoff and Victoria Taylor
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the first time in three days as gold climbed to a record, boosting mining stocks, while financial companies rebounded on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve may return to stimulus policies.
Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, increased 1.4 percent as the metal jumped 1.3 percent. Toronto- Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, rose 1.9 percent as financial companies advanced. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, slipped 1.8 percent after an index of U.S. non-manufacturing businesses decreased more than most economists had forecast.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 63.71 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,816.03, after falling as much as 1.5 percent in the morning.
“In the last hour there was some very aggressive buying,” Greg Taylor, a money manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto, which oversees about C$5 billion ($5.2 billion) said in a telephone interview. “There’s a lot of cash on the sidelines. People are waiting to invest that cash. And there’s always the fear that you missed the bottom.”
The S&P/TSX plunged 5.5 percent in the six days ending yesterday to an eight-month low after data on U.S. and Canadian gross domestic product, as well as U.S. durable-goods orders and consumer spending, trailed most economists’ forecasts. The stock benchmark closed yesterday at its lowest level relative to earnings since July 2010.
Gold increased to $1,666.30 an ounce, after hitting a record of $1,675.90, as the signs of slowing growth and concern over budget deficits in Europe and the U.S. led investors to seek havens.
Barrick rose 1.4 percent to C$47.31. Yamana Gold Inc., the country’s fourth-largest gold producer, gained 2.6 percent to C$13.28. Silver Wheaton Corp., Canada’s fourth-biggest precious- metals company by market value, advanced 2.4 percent to C$36.87.
“It’s wonderful that we have gold,” Doug Davis, vice chairman of Toronto money manager Davis-Rea Ltd., said in a telephone interview. Davis-Rea manages about C$456 million. “The idea of the U.S. currency as a reserve currency is becoming less popular and countries are scouting around to see where else they can put their money.”
The S&P/TSX Financials Index rallied from the lowest close since October after the Wall Street Journal said three former top officials at the Fed believe the central bank may consider a new round of securities purchases to bolster growth.
TD increased 1.9 percent to C$76.79. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, climbed 2 percent to C$51.30. Great-West Lifeco Inc., Canada’s second-biggest insurer, rose 2.6 percent to C$23.38 before the scheduled release of its second-quarter financial results.
Energy companies fell for a sixth day after the Institute for Supply Management’s index of U.S. non-manufacturing businesses declined to the lowest since February 2010. Crude oil dropped to a five-week low after the U.S. reported an increase in gasoline inventories more than five times the median analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Suncor lost 1.8 percent to C$34.65. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, slipped 0.8 percent to C$36.83. Enbridge Inc., Canada’s biggest pipeline company, decreased 0.9 percent to C$30.95.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. rose 5.1 percent to C$24.42 after closing at a five-year low yesterday. The company is releasing its first new smartphone models since August 2010 to try to regain market share it has lost to Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
Imax Corp. gained 5.4 percent to C$17.72 after dropping 27 percent in the previous three sessions. James C. Goss, an analyst at Barrington Research Associates Inc., wrote in a note to clients that the developer of widescreen projection technology is executing a “winning formula.” Technology-patent owner Wi-LAN Inc. sank 13 percent, the most since October 2008, to C$8.15 after losing a court ruling to LG Electronics Inc. Shares of the Ottawa-based company soared 163 percent in the year ending yesterday.
Dundee International Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns commercial properties in Germany, increased 2 percent to C$10.20 in its first day of trading after its initial public offering.
US
By Rita Nazareth
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, preventing the longest Dow Jones Industrial Average slump since 1978, amid speculation the Federal Reserve may consider another economic stimulus program to prevent a recession.
MasterCard Inc., the second-biggest payments network, gained 13 percent after profit rose 33 percent as customers’ spending increased. Coca-Cola Co. and General Electric Co. added at least 1.5 percent, leading the Dow’s gain. Technology stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.2 percent, the most among 10 groups. Sprint Nextel Corp. jumped 3.8 percent as Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its recommendation for the shares.
The Dow rose 29.82 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,896.44 at 4 p.m. in New York after posting a 166-point loss earlier, which was the ninth straight drop. The S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent to 1,260.34, snapping a seven-day decline.
“Every time we see economic weakness, there will be discussion about more stimulus,” Richard Sichel, who oversees $1.6 billion as chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., said in telephone interview. “That could be the case given the fairly weak economic figures we’ve had. In addition, the market has given back a lot recently and people started to look at some bargains.”
Stocks rebounded after the Wall Street Journal reported that three former top officials at the Fed said the central bank should consider a new round of securities purchases to bolster economic growth. The Fed finished its second round of so-called quantitative easing, nicknamed “QE2” by investors, at the end of June. The program helped propel a rally of as much as 28 percent in the S&P 500 since Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke foreshadowed the plan on Aug. 27.
The S&P 500 erased its 2011 gain yesterday and its valuation sank to 13.8 times reported earnings, the cheapest level since July 2010. Growing concern that the U.S. economy is faltering has erased $1.07 trillion from American equities in less than two weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The S&P 500 plunged 2.6 percent yesterday, its biggest one- day loss in a year and giving the index the longest losing streak since October 2008, in the depths of the financial crisis caused by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy. Investors sought the safety of Treasuries, gold and the Swiss currency even as President Barack Obama signed a plan to raise the federal debt limit before a possible default.
Attention has shifted to weakening economic data, including yesterday’s 0.2 percent decrease in consumer spending, the slowest growth in personal incomes since November and an index of American manufacturing sinking to a two-year low.
Stocks fell earlier today after a report showed service industries expanded in July at the slowest pace since February 2010 as orders and employment cooled, a sign the biggest part of the U.S. economy had little momentum entering the second half.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non-manufacturing businesses dropped to 52.7 from 53.3 in June. Readings above 50 signal expansion, and economists projected 53.5 for July, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
Companies in the U.S. added 114,000 workers to payrolls in July, according to figures from ADP Employer Services. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an advance of 100,000. The data comes two days before a government report projected to show an increase of 85,000 jobs.
“This is what slow growth is going to feel like,” Charles Stamey, a managing director at Manning & Napier Advisors Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida, said in a telephone interview.
His firm oversees $42 billion “We’re seeing lots of persistent headwinds that we are going to have to adjust to. The stock market should look cheaper because we’re not having the growth that we’ve historically had.”
U.S. stocks have become a “strong buy” following declines in the past seven days, according to Barton Biggs, managing partner and co-founder of Traxis Partners LP in New York. Biggs spoke on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack” with Erik Schatzker and Deirdre Bolton.
“I do feel right now this is not the time to put out any shorts and I am very tempted to think this is a time to be buying stocks pretty aggressively,” said Biggs, whose firm manages $1.4 billion.
Per-share earnings increased 17 percent and sales rose 12 percent among the S&P 500 companies that have released quarterly results since July 11, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
About 77 percent of the 363 companies have topped the average analyst profit forecast, the data show.
MasterCard rallied 13 percent to $338.47. Net income rose to $608 million, or $4.76 a share, from $458 million, or $3.49, in the same period a year earlier. The average estimate of 29 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for $4.23 a share.
Sprint gained 3.8 percent to $4.15. The third-largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier was raised to “neutral” from “underperform” at Macquarie. The 12-month share-price estimate is $4.60.
CBS Corp. climbed 1.6 percent to $26.70. The owner of the most-watched U.S. television network said second-quarter profit soared, beating analysts’ estimates as sales of reruns and fees from cable TV systems increased.
The seven-day plunge in the S&P 500 caused the most pronounced herd mentality among investors in four months. The Chicago Board Options Exchange S&P 500 Implied Correlation Index jumped to 64.80 yesterday, the highest level since the March sell-off prompted by Japan’s record earthquake and tsunami. It uses equity-derivative prices to measure traders’ expectations for how much S&P 500 stocks will move in tandem during the next 30 days.
“The world is much more focused on macro events,” Nelson Saiers, chief investment officer of Alphabet Management LLC, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The New York-based volatility hedge fund manages $635 million and is up 8.9 percent this year. “People are more nervous, and you can see that in implied correlation.”
Have a wonderful evening everyone.
Be magnificent!
The intellectual aspect is, that love sees and understands.
The emotional aspect is to feel as one with the other person.
Love is unity. There is no “me” in love, only “you.”
The behavioral aspect is, that love inspires us to give.
There is no expectation; we do not expect to receive.
Such love is wisdom and liberation in itself.
-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974
As ever,
Carolann
Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into
some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it,
die for it, and you will find happiness that you had
thought could never be yours.
-Audrey Hepburn, 1929-1993