August 26, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Journalist Gail Sheehy, 76, is author of 17 books.  Her latest is Daring: My Passages, a memoir.  She spoke to Marc Myers; this was printed in The Wall Street Journal  last weekend:

Back in 1968, when I was 30, my entire life blew up.  I had a life plan, and it collapsed for no rational reason.  I had been a newspaper reporter in New York but left the job to help editor Clay Felker start New York magazine.  My marriage was breaking up, and I was falling in love with Clay.  The song that carried me through those years and all stages of my life is Both Sides Now [by Joni Mitchell].

  I first heard the song in 1968, when Judy Collins version was a huge radio hit.  But when I heard Joni’s in 1969 on her album Clouds, it stopped me.  In her voice, I could hear the fragility of being a woman at that time along with hopefulness and an unwillingness to give up.

  Joni’s voice doesn’t sound cynical or put off by life.  She admits her confusion but still marvels at what she sees: “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now / From up and down and still somehow / It’s cloud  illusions I recall / I really don’t know clouds at all.”  In ’69, after my divorce, I let go of my illusions about marriage.

  Over time, I’ve identified with different parts of the song.  In 1970, when I realized I could write magazine features in a whole new way, I was elated, and Joni’s line about “ice cream castles in the air”  resonated.  In my bachelor-girl 30s, her “moons and Junes and Ferris wheels” stood out.  In my flourishing 40s, I became a public figure, so I related to “but now it’s just another show / you leave ’em laughing when you go.”  When Clay finally proposed in 1984, I too felt “proud to say ‘I love you’ right out loud.”

  After Clay died in 2008, I was devastated.  I put on Joni’s version with strings from 2000 and heard a deeper voice full of sorrow and wine and cigarettes.  Eventually, I found my way out of that dark place and dared to love again.

  Today, I connect with Joni’s line, “Something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day.”  I’m looking forward to the next turn in my story line.

Listen to the song at WSJ.com/review.

On this day in 1920, Women’s Equality Day was established.  Women officially became part of the US constitution and given the right to vote.

Photos of the Day

Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano erupts near Banos. Tungurahua, which means ‘Throat of Fire’ in the local Quechua language, has been active since 1999. Carlos Campania/Reuters

Katie Ledbetter sits in a hammock at the Mi Casa, Your Casa art installation at the High Museum in Atlanta. David Goldman/AP

Market Closes for August 26^th, 2014    

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

     Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks extended a record as crude and gold prices advanced, while Tim Hortons Inc. surged for a second day on a takeover.

     Materials stocks climbed the most in the benchmark index as First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Eldorado Gold Corp. rose at least 1.2 percent amid an advance in gold. Tim Hortons gained 8.1 percent after Burger King Worldwide Inc. agreed to acquire the company. Bank of Nova Scotia declined 2.4 percent after reporting earnings.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index increased 20.47 points, or 0.1 percent, to a record 15,619.21 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has rallied 15 percent this year.

     Nuvista Energy Ltd. climbed 7.8 percent to C$11.75 and Canyon Services Group Inc. rose 3.7 percent to C$16.64. Seven of 10 industries in the benchmark Canadian equity gauge advanced.

     The S&P/TSX Gold Index climbed 1.9 percent, rebounding from a five-day skid that pushed it to a one-month low, as gold futures increased 0.5 percent. OceanaGold Corp. gained 1.7 percent to C$2.92, while B2Gold Corp. added 4.2 percent to C$2.74.

     Tim Hortons, Canada’s biggest seller of coffee and doughnuts, soared 8.1 percent to C$88.71 after rallying 19 percent yesterday. Burger King agreed to purchase it for about C$12.5 billion ($11.4 billion) in a deal that creates the third- largest fast-food company.

     The deal moves Burger King’s headquarters to Canada, and gives the company access to a coffee brand with a cult following, which may help boost breakfast sales. The new combined business would create a fast-food network with $23 billion in sales, including franchisees, and more than 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries.

     Bank of Nova Scotia fell 2.4 percent to C$72.45 after third-quarter profit from international lending missed some analysts’ estimates. The firm also raised its dividend 3.1 percent.

     Bank of Montreal was little changed at C$82.16. Canada’s fourth-largest lender posted third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates on gains in consumer lending and investment banking.

US

By Elena Popina

     Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to close above 2,000 for the first time, as reports showed the biggest ever jump in durable-goods orders and an unexpected increase in consumer confidence.

     Amazon.com Inc. added 2.3 percent after the company said it’s buying video-game service Twitch Interactive Inc. in one of its biggest-ever acquisitions. Tim Hortons Inc. jumped 8.5 percent after Burger King Worldwide Inc. agreed to acquire the coffee-and-doughnuts chain in a $11.4 billion cash-and-share deal. Best Buy Co. dropped 6.9 percent after posting a same- store sales decline that was steeper than analysts had projected.

     The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 2,000.02 at 4 p.m. in New York, after climbing as high as 2,005.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 29.83 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,106.70, also reaching an all-time high intraday. About 4.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 20 percent below the three-month average.

     “The 2,000 number got a lot of attention, but let’s get back to basics and see how the economy is doing,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview.

     Data today showed orders for U.S. durable goods jumped 23 percent in July as bookings surged for commercial aircraft. An air show in the U.K. helped drive a 318 percent jump in plane orders, the most since January 2011. A 0.5 percent drop in orders for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft last month followed a June increase of 5.4 percent.                   

     The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 92.4 in August, the highest since October 2007, from a revised 90.3 a month earlier, the private research group said.

     The S&P 500 has advanced for the past three weeks and more than $1 trillion has been added to the value of American equities since a two-month low on Aug. 7 amid speculation central banks will continue to keep interest rates near zero even as the economy strengthens.

     “I am still bullish on the U.S. market, but I do expect the S&P 500 to consolidate and slip back to 1,950-80 range as it’s due for a rest once it climbs to 2,000,” said Manish Singh, who helps manage $2 billion at Crossbreed Capital in London. “Any dip will be a shallow one. The central-bank and data narrative is still supportive of risk.”

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of S&P options prices known as the VIX, slid 0.6 percent to 11.63. The gauge has lost 15 percent this year.

     Seven of the 10 main groups in the S&P 500 increased today. Energy shares led gains with a 0.5 percent rally as West Texas Intermediate oil rose from a seven-month low. Exxon Mobil Corp. added 0.9 percent to pace an advance in the Dow.

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index climbed 1.3 percent to the highest on record, completing a rebound from a 21-percent decline from February through April amid concern that earnings don’t justify their share prices.

     U.S. shares of Canada’s Tim Hortons added 8.5 percent to $81.05 after rallying 19 percent yesterday. Burger King slid 4.3 percent to $31, reversing an earlier 2.5 percent gain. The hamburger chain yesterday surged 20 percent yesterday after saying it is in talks with Tim Hortons. Burger King will move its headquarters to Canada, enabling the second-largest U.S. burger chain relocate to a lower-tax country.

     Premier Inc. rose 5.4 percent to $32 after forecasting full-year adjusted earnings of $1.39 to $1.44 a share, exceeding the average analyst estimate of $1.38. The purchasing network owned by health-care providers also agreed to buy software company Aperek Inc. for $48.5 million.

     Amazon.com added 2.3 percent to $341.83 after the company said said it’s paying $970 million in cash for Twitch, the online gathering place for gamers. The acquisition gives the Web retailer a forum of more than 55 million monthly active users, where people discuss games or watch others as they play.

     DSW Inc., a shoe retailer, jumped 9.2 percent to $30.99 after reporting higher-than-estimated profit.

     Best Buy lost 6.9 percent to $29.80 after the world’s largest electronics chain said second-quarter comparable sales fell 2.7 percent. That was steeper than the 2.2 percent drop forecast by analysts on average. Same-store sales will decline by a “low single digit” percentage rate in the third and fourth quarter, the company said.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Do you live and work in the world?

Always act according to the highest moral standards, both in private and in public.

Always be honest in word and deed, both in private and in public.

Master your emotions and control your senses, both in private and in public.

Be calm and patient, both in private and in public.

Take every opportunity to serve others, both in private and in public.

Be kind and gentle to your children, both in private and in public.

Taittirtya Upanishad

As ever,

Carolann

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.

                                                        -Aaron Rose, 1969-

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