September 14, 2012 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

KILLER PAISLEY Sequence:  Normal, Deadly Strain is Introduced, 48 hours later.

Fashion Week begins in London

And also on this day in…

1535 – Jacques Cartier reaches the Iroquois village of Stadacona [Quebec] on his second voyage; meets Donnacona again; greeted with Iroquois word ‘Kanata‘ or ‘Cantha;’ meaning ‘settlement of huts’; first recorded use of name.
1321 – Dante Alleghieri died.
1812 – Napoleon Enters Moscow.

1879 – Margaret Sanger, feminist, was born.

1901 – President William McKinley dies of an infection from gunshot wounds after being shot by a deranged anarchist at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.
1946 – Oliver Stone, director, was born.
1982 – Hollywood Star and Real life Princess, Grace Kelly, dies in car accident.

photos of the day September 14, 2012

A visitor looks at an installation by US artist David Moreno exhibited at the 30th Sao Paulo Biennial in Sao Paulo, Brazil. According to organizers the international art show is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial, which was set up in 1895. The Latin American premier art show opened Sept. 7 and runs through Dec. 9.

Andre Penner/AP

Spain’s David Ferrer returns the ball to Sam Querrey of US, during the first singles match at their Davis Cup World Group Semi-final in Gijon, northern Spain. Ferrer won the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Alvaro Barrientos/AP

Market Closes for September 14^th, 2012:

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, sending the benchmark index to its highest level since April, as commodities rallied a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it would buy mortgage-backed securities to spur economic growth.

Diversified miners Inmet Mining Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd. added at least 5 percent. First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

advanced 1.5 percent as copper prices advanced. Centerra Gold Inc. climbed 13 percent as gold touched a six-month high.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 139.31 points, or 1.1 percent, to 12,499.47 in Toronto. Trading volume was 61 percent higher than the 30-day average. Mining and industrial stocks led gains for the S&P/TSX as seven of 10 industries advanced. The benchmark equity gauge advanced 1.9 percent this week.

“It’s all follow-through from yesterday on the notion of ’don’t fight the Fed,’ so markets are going steadily higher,”

said Greg Taylor, portfolio manager with Aurion Capital Management, from Toronto. His firm manages about C$8 billion ($8.2 billion). “The underlying notion of the program yesterday is inflationary and that’s going to give an underlying bid to commodities because it’s going to take money out of the U.S. dollar, so you’ll get crude going up.”

Crude for October delivery advanced as much as 2.1 percent to $100.42 a barrel in New York, the first time it had crossed the $100 threshold since May.

Commodities are on the longest run of weekly gains since 2010. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI spot gauge of 24 raw materials gained 1 percent to 694.21, the highest level since April 3. The index rose 2.6 percent this week, its seventh weekly advance for the best streak since October 2010.

Canadian equities joined global markets in the rally after the U.S. central bank yesterday announced its third round of large-scale asset purchases since 2008. It set no limit on the purchase amount or duration of the program. Instead, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said stimulus will be expanded until the Fed sees “sustained improvement” in the labor market.

Legacy Oil + Gas Inc. surged 4.2 percent to C$7.44 for a seventh day of gains, its longest streak in nine months. Suncor Energy Inc. advanced 3.4 percent to C$34.32 and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. increased 2.7 percent to C$33.67.

Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified miner, added 5 percent to C$33.02 and Inmet Mining soared 6.9 percent to C$54.23, its highest price since April. First Quantum Minerals rose 1.5 percent to C$23.11. Copper for December delivery advanced 3.3 percent to settle at $3.8325.

Centerra Gold climbed 13 percent to C$10.08, OceanaGold Corp. rose 7.4 percent to C$3.04 and Alacer Gold Corp. increased 6 percent to C$7.02. Gold futures for delivery in December extended yesterday’s gains, rising 60 cents to settle at $1,772.70 an ounce in New York.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Canada’s largest publicly traded drugmaker, fell 3.6 percent to C$54.77 after the company announced yesterday that Rajiv De Silva, president and chief operating officer of specialty pharmaceuticals, will leave by the end of the year.

US

By Inyoung Hwang

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed to its highest level since 2007, as markets rallied around the world on the Federal Reserve’s bond-purchase program.

Alcoa Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. jumped at least 1.2 percent, as commodity producers rallied. Apple Inc. jumped 1.2 percent as the Nasdaq Composite Index rose to its highest level in 12 years. Staples Inc. climbed 2.1 percent amid a report private-equity firms are considering buying the largest U.S. office-supplies chain. Analogic Corp. surged 16 percent after profit topped estimates.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.4 percent to 1,465.77 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge is at the highest level since Dec. 31, 2007, after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke announced asset purchases to boost growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 53.51 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,593.37. About 8.5 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges today, 40 percent above the three-month average.

“Though the Fed has created a little short-term excitement, I think this is more fundamental than people appreciate,” James Paulsen, the chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management, said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees about $320 billion. “When the dust settles away from this, you’re going to be left with an economy still showing increasing momentum from where we were.”

All 10 groups in the S&P 500 rallied yesterday after the Federal Open Market Committee committed to buying bonds until the U.S. labor market recovers “substantially.” The central bank said it will expand its holdings of long-term securities with open-ended purchases of $40 billion of mortgage debt a month. Asian and European equities extended the rally today, led by gains in basic-resource companies and automakers.

The S&P 500 is about 7 percent from reaching its record closing high after rallying 17 percent this year amid expectations central banks will take steps to stimulate the economy. Equities received a boost last week as the European Central Bank agreed to an unlimited bond-buying program to help reduce borrowing costs in the euro region.

Bank of America Corp.’s Savita Subramanian forecast the S&P 500 will rise to 1,600 at the end of 2013, 2.2 percent higher than the previous all-time high of 1,565.15. The equity index will continue to climb amid earnings growth, Subramanian, the New York-based head of U.S. equity strategy, said in a note.

Stocks rose today as data showed retail sales in the U.S. increased in August by the most in six months. The cost of living in the U.S. climbed in August by the most in more than three years, reflecting a surge in fuel costs. Industrial production shrank in August by the most since March 2009, while confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly improved in September.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. will replace Kraft Foods Inc. in the Dow, the first change to the 116-year-old U.S. stock benchmark in three years, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Kraft, the world’s second-largest food company, will be removed from the Dow average after deciding to spin off its North American grocery business on Oct. 1. The change goes into effect at the opening of trading on Sept. 24, S&P Dow Jones Indices said. UnitedHealth rose 0.7 percent to $54.25 today.

Kraft slipped 0.5 percent to $39.93.

Commodity companies posted the biggest advances out of 10 groups in the S&P 500, rising at least 1.2 percent as oil climbed to the highest level in more than four months. Investors bought shares of companies most tied to economic growth, sending the Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index up 1.3 percent, for its fourth straight day of gains.

Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, gained 2.2 percent to $9.84. Exxon, the world’s biggest oil company, added 1.2 percent to $92.30, the highest since May 2008.

Financial companies rose 0.8 percent as a group. Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, advanced 1.6 percent to $9.55.

Apple, the iPhone and iPad maker, climbed 1.2 percent to a record $691.28. The shares have soared 4.7 percent over three days after the world’s most valuable company announced on Sept. 12 a new version of the iPhone that boasts a bigger screen, faster chip and access to speedier wireless networks. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.9 percent to 3,183.95, the highest since November 2000.

Staples rose 2.1 percent to $12.21. Fortune reported yesterday that private-equity firms including Bain Capital LLC are considering buying the retailer. Discussions to take over Staples are preliminary and an offer wouldn’t be made until late this year, Fortune reported, citing people it didn’t name.

Analogic jumped 16 percent to $80.44. The medical and airport-security device maker reported adjusted earnings in the fourth quarter of $1.32 a share, exceeding the average analyst estimate of 84 cents. Sales were $151 million compared with the average projection of $141 million.

Western Digital Corp. slid 3.6 percent to $41.06. The largest maker of hard-disk drives cut its forecasts for sales and market size in the current quarter, citing muted demand for personal computers. Revenue will be no more than $4 billion in the three months that end Sept. 28. That’s down from an earlier projection at least $4.2 billion and compares with an average analyst estimate of $4.28 billion.

Werner Enterprises Inc. lost 7.4 percent to $21.93. The trucking and logistics company forecast third-quarter earnings will be no more than 36 cents a share, below the 44 cents estimated by analysts on average.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication

but in the deliberate and voluntary restriction of the wants.

This alone promotes real happiness and contentment, and increases the capacity for service.

A certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above that level,

it becomes a hindrance instead of a help.

Therefore the ideal of creating an unlimited number of wants and satisfying them

seems to be a delusion and a snare.  The satisfaction of one’s physical needs, even the intellectual needs

of one’s narrow self, must meet at a point a dead stop before it degenerates into physical

and intellectual voluptuousness.  A man must arrange his physical and cultural circumstances

so that they may not hinder him in his service of humanity,

on which all his energies should be concentrated.

Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

As ever,

Carolann

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify

himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life

full, significant, and interesting.

-Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7