June 26, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I will be writing the newsletter on Carolann’s behalf, as she is out of town.

Photos of the Day

A man takes advantage of the heavy rain to give his Siberian husky a bath outside their house in Paranaque city, metro Manila

A vendor sells dates at a market ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Market Closes for June 26^th , 2014

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

June 26 ( Bloomberg)

Canadian stocks rose, erasing an early decline, as energy an dindutrial stocks pushed the benchmarke index higher for a second straight day.  Enerflex Ltd. And Enerplus Corp. added at least 2.6 percent to pace gains among energy companies.  Perpetual Energy Inc. jumped 20 percent after it got a rating upgrade and announced a new joint venture.  AutoCanda Inc. dropped 4.5 percent a day after announcing it would sell C$350 million in new shares.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 56.09 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,030.74 at 4pm in Toronto.  The gauge is up 10 percent for the year, and closed at a record June 19.

Industrial companies gained the most among 10 groups in the benchmark index, rising 0.7 percent.  Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. Rose at least 2.6 percent to pace gains in the groups.

Perpetual Energy jumped 20 percent to C$1.96 as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised its rating to the equivalent of buy from the equivalent of hold. Perpetual also announced a $120 million joint venture to pump natural gas in Alberta.

AutoCanada fell 4.5 percent to C$79.38.  The car dealership owner announced a stock offering yesterday, saying it would sell new shares for C$78.  AutoCanada is up 73 percent this year.

QLT Inc. jumped 14 percent to C$6.59 after Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it would buy the company in a $345 million stock transaction.  The deal allows Auxilium, a specialty drug company based in Chersterbook, Pennsylvania, to re-domicile in Canada and take advantage of the country’s tax rate.

Concordia Healthcare Corp. gained 3.2 percent to C$32.75 after its chief executive officer said it had already had one company approach the drug maker with a merger deal and was still a target.

Lumenpulse Inc. rose 2.6 percent to C$21.20 after saying it would buy assets from U.K.-based Projection Lighting Ltd. For GBP 16.6 million.

USA

By Jeff Kearns and Steve Matthews

June 26 ( Bloomberg)

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the U.S. economy is improving enough to withstand an increase in short-term interest rates next year as growth picks up. “I’m starting to think the economy could tolerate at least  little bit of the central bank getting back to a more normal stance,” Bullard, who favors raising the benchmark rate in the first quarter of 2015, said at an event today in New York.

The Federal Open Market Committee is closer to its goals fur full employment and low stable inflation than many investors realize, Bullard said.  He predicted the pace of economic growth will accelerate to 3 percent this year after an unexpectedly deep first quarter contraction.

“Inflation is picking up now.  It is still below target but it has been moving up in recent months,” he said in response to a question at a forum organized by the Council on Foreign Relations.  “I don’t think financial markets have internalized how close we are to our ultimate goals, and I don’t think the FOMC has internalized how close we are.”

The FOMC is debating how long to keep the benchmark federal funds rate near zero after completing a bond-purchase program that’s set to end late this year.  The committee repeated on June 18 that it expects the rate to remain near zero for a “considerable time” after the purchases end.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Brianna

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