July 4, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Fourth of July may be the most American of holidays. Here are some of the numbers behind Independence Day in the U.S.

• 238 years

The number of years the U.S. has been independent from Britain, who now is America’s seventh leading trading partner, according to Foreign Trade Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau.

• 2.5 million

The estimated number of people who were living in the 13 colonies in July 1776, according to Historical Statistics of the U.S.

• 318.4 million

The estimated population of the U.S.’s 50 states in July 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• $203.6 million

The value of Chinese fireworks purchased in the U.S. in 2013. More than 90% of the fireworks imported to the U.S. come from China.

• 97%

The percentage of imported American flags that come from China.

• 34.8 million
• The number of Americans who will be traveling by automobile over the July 4 holiday, according to AAA. About 80% of travel will be by car.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came. –John F. Kennedy

July 4^th, 1785, Lord Byng, Viscount Torrington wrote in his Diary:

Our breakfast [at Oxford] was excellent; plenty of strawberries and cream.  I then tried, in vain, to get into the Ashmolean Museaum…to know if the woman were yet living who used to show (so well) the picture of the famous sailor, Sir Martin Frobisher: viz., “Sir Martin Furbisher, an antient navigator, sail’d all round the world and shot the Gulph… There’s the pistol in his hand he shot it with”…

We had been so long on horseback and tormented by flies, in a hot sun (even from ten till three o’clock) that we were as fatigued and peevish as any nervous wretches could be.  At one gateway, Colonel Bertie’s horse went on his knees to endeavour to drink, to the great alarm of his rider, who thought he had slipped into a deep hole; nor was it possible to refrain from laughter at this camel-like operation.

I visited the Mecedes museum when I was in Stuttgart last week; it is an amazing experience.  A real trip down memory lane.  When I read the above diary entry by Lord Byng today, I was reminded of one of the exhibits, wherein Kaiser Willhelm II, upon viewing Daimler’s and Maybach’s creations, remarked something to the effect that he thought the car would be a passing fad  and would never replace the horse!

Photos of the Day

Kevin Taylor of Savannah, Ga., heads out to surf the waves on the north beach of Tybee Island as Hurricane Arthur makes its way up the East Coast. The storm has bypassed the Georgia coast as predicted, but forecasters are warning beach goers to beware of dangerous rip currents in its wake.Stephen B. Morton/AP

Workers finish to prepare a gangway over the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Rome’s 18th-century Trevi Fountain, famed as a setting for the film ‘La Dolce Vita,’ is getting a $2.9 million restoration courtesy of the Fendi fashion house, and is closed to public. The gangway, that will be opened tomorrow, will allow tourists to view the fountain and even to flip a coin into the fountain: tradition says that doing so ensures a prompt return to the Eternal City.Alessandra Tarantino/AP

Market Closes for July 4^th, 2014

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

July 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the sixth time in seven days as industrial and financial companies pushed the benchmark index to a record.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Air Canada rose at least 1.5 percent to pace gains among industrial companies. Lassonde Industries Inc. rose to a record after agreeing to buy Apple & Eve LLC.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 7.85 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,214.96 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. Six of 10 industries on the index gained.

Volume was 64 percent lower than the average over the last 30 days as the U.S. celebrated the Independence Day holiday.

Industrial companies rose the most, increasing 0.6 percent. Canadian Pacific gained 1.5 percent to C$198.95 and Air Canada rose 2.6 percent to C$10.05.

Lassonde jumped 7.4 percent to C$118.03, closing at the highest price since September 1988, after the producer of food products from barbecue sauce to baked beans announced it was buying a 90 percent stake in juice-maker Apple & Eve.

Lundin Petroleum AB fell 0.8 percent to C$21.18 as the company said it would sell part of one of its Norway offshore oil properties.

ShawCor Ltd. fell 1.4 percent to C$57.66 after it announced a C$30 million contract to apply protective coating to a pipeline transporting gas from Russia to Bulgaria.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine between government troops and pro-Russian rebels continued after a 10-day cease-fire ended.

US

Markets closed today.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

It is not others who must change, but you.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

Carolann

The best road to progress is freedom’s road.

-John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7