February 13, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Happy Valentine’s weekend!

  On February 13^th, 1840, Queen Victoria wrote in her journal, that it was the third day of her marriage,  and that “My dearest Albert put on my stockings for me.  I went and saw him shave; a great delight for me.”

Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. 

         –John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Gary was on call last weekend so on a whim I decided to use some of my airline points and take the red eye to New York City for the weekend.  There is a Cathay flight out of Vancouver that leaves around nine and arrives in NYC at 6 AM.  I spent one day at the met and one day at MOMA, then took the red eye home.  I wanted to see the special Cezanne exhibit at the Met which consists of all the paintings and drawings of his wife during their lifetime together.  It is a wonderful exhibit and she appears to be an enduring inspiration for the artist.  I believe it continues for a few more months, so if you happen to be in NY, worth the visit.  I spent all my time at MOMA on this visit studying the Warhols.  I didn’t realize his famous 52 Campbell Soup varieties was originally shown at a gallery in LA without frames situated on grocery store shelves set up in the gallery.  It is truly a masterpiece.

And on this day…

382 years ago – in 1633 – Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy for supporting Copernican theory that holds the Earth revolves around the Sun. He faced the Roman Inquisition later that year in April and pled guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A toddler stands in a Lunar New Year display featuring sheep at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Friday. The Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 19 will welcome the Year of the Sheep. Bobby Yip/Reuters

Children check out a room in the Ice Hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Mathieu Belanger/Reuters

Market Closes for February 13^th, 2015     

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose a fifth day, extending an almost five-month high, as energy producers gained with the price of oil in London topping $60 a barrel for the first time this year.

     PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. and Enerplus Corp. gained at least 4.5 percent as energy stocks advanced. Dream Unlimited Corp., the commercial and residential real estate manager, jumped 7.5 percent after posting better-than-expected earnings. Centerra Gold Inc. jumped 4.5 percent as gold posted the first back-to- back gains in more than three weeks.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 36.29 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,264.81 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest since Sept. 19. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge rose 1.2 percent in the week and has climbed 4.3 percent this year. Trading volume was 17 percent below the 30-day average. Canadian equity markets are closed Monday for a holiday.

     PrairieSky Royalty climbed 5.3 percent and Enerplus increased 4.6 percent as energy shares rallied 0.4 percent as a group. The S&P/TSX Energy Index gained 1.7 percent this week.

     Brent crude rose 3.8 percent to climb above $60 a barrel for the first time this year amid speculation a decline in U.S. drilling will slow production and curb a global supply glut. West Texas Intermediate oil jumped 3.1 percent.

     B2Gold added 2.6 percent as raw-materials producers rose 0.6 percent as a group.

     Gold for April delivery added 0.5 percent to settle at $1,227.10 an ounce in New York. The metal price rose for its first back-to-back advance in more than three weeks as falling U.S. retail sales cast doubt on the pace of growth in the world’s largest economy.

     Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest diversified miner, rose 2.6 percent and Lundin Mining Corp. added 6.4 percent as tin climbed and copper advanced for a second week. Sherritt International Corp. jumped 11 percent.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — A second straight weekly rally pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an all-time high, as Apple Inc. advanced with technology shares and oil rebounded to end stocks’ longest dip since 2013.

     Energy shares jumped 2.6 percent as crude continued to climb back from the lowest level in almost six years. Apple reached a record, boosting its market cap above $700 billion, as technology shares led gains in the S&P 500. TripAdvisor Inc. surged 24 percent after Expedia Inc. agreed to acquire Orbitz Worldwide Inc.

     The S&P 500 rose 2 percent to 2,096.99 for the week, topping a previous record set in December. The Russell 2000 Index increased 1.5 percent to an all-time high, while the Nasdaq Composite Index and Nasdaq 100 Index reached the highest levels since 2000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 195.06 points, or 1.1 percent, to 18,019.35, less than 0.2 percent from its December peak. U.S. equity markets will be closed Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

     “The market is making new highs, and yet you don’t see any celebrations, which come toward the end of a bull market,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based RW Baird & Co., which oversees $110 billion, said in a phone interview. “That leads us to believe we’re going to go higher here.”

     Equities received a boost from events in Europe, where government officials taking part in Greece’s debt negotiations said both sides are signaling a willingness to compromise, while Russia agreed to enforce a cease-fire in the eastern part of Ukraine. Data also indicated the euro-area economy expanded faster than forecast last quarter.

      U.S. stocks topped record levels for the first time in 2015 amid corporate earnings that have eclipsed analyst estimates and optimism in the economy following the biggest three-month rise in hiring in 17 years.

     The week’s advance pushed the S&P 500’s gain in February to 5.1 percent, following a 3.1 percent drop in January that was its worst month in a year.

     Prior to the leg up that helped it reach a record Friday, the S&P 500 had been whipsawed by investors. It experienced three declines of more than 2.7 percent since the start of the year, only to recover within a week each time. Daily swings in the S&P 500 have averaged 0.86 percent so far this year, compared with 0.53 percent in 2014.                         

     It’s been 46 days since the S&P 500’s last record, reached on Dec. 29, the longest stretch without a high since the 47-day run through Sept. 18, 2013. Prior to that, it had taken about seven days on average to break a new high since March 27, 2013. The S&P 500 closed at a record 53 times in 2014.

     U.S. equities struggled to advance in 2015 as the strongest dollar in at least a decade and a plunge in oil prices threatened earnings growth and tested the resilience of investors as the bull market nears its seventh year.

     Stocks began rising in February as companies from Apple to Schlumberger Ltd. weathered the crude slump and the dollar’s appreciation, helping to deliver profit growth of 5.1 percent among the nearly 400 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far.

     Technology stocks led the S&P 500 higher during the week, rising 4.3 percent as large stocks in the group extended rallies this year.                         

     Apple advanced 6.9 percent in the week to a record, bringing the advance in 2015 to 15 percent. Optimism in the world’s largest company by market capitalization has been growing since Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook revealed larger- screened, more expensive iPhones in September, which helped fuel a record profit during the last three months of 2014.

     Netflix Inc. has surged 36 percent this year, and Amazon.com Inc. has risen 23 percent.

     Cisco Systems Inc. surged 8 percent in the week to erase a loss from January after reporting quarterly profit and sales that topped estimates.

     The gains in technology shares sent the Nasdaq Composite higher by 3.2 percent in the week to 4,893.84, the highest level in almost 15 years. The gauge ended the week 3.1 percent below its all-time closing high of 5,048.62, set on March 10, 2000. It closed below 4,000 twice last year, on Feb. 3 and April 11, but has rallied 22 percent since then.                        

     Energy producers in the S&P 500 have surged 11 percent since Jan. 15, as U.S. crude climbed above $50 a barrel, bolstered by speculation that a decline in drilling will slow output and curb a global supply glut. The group tumbled 10 percent in 2014 as crude sank more than 50 percent.

     Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. led gains in the group for the week, rising at least 6.8 percent.

     Coca-Cola Co. increased 1.3 percent for the five-day period after the company beat forecasts as quarterly profit benefited from cost-cutting efforts. PepsiCo Inc. rose 2.5 percent as its profits also topped estimates, even as currency headwinds eroded sales.

     American Express Co. slid 8.2 percent after saying on Thursday it plans to end co-brand and merchant agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp. The next day, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its price target for the card issuer.

     Utility stocks in the benchmark gauge slipped 3.3 percent in the week for the worst performance among the 10 main S&P 500 groups. The group has fallen 4.8 percent in 2015 after rallying 24 percent last year. The declines come as U.S. 10-year Treasury yields jumped 40 basis points since the start of February. Utilities have the second-highest dividend yield in the broader index.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

The divine music is incessantly going on within ourselves,

but the loud senses drown the delicate music,

which is unlike and infinitely superior to anything w4e can perceive with our senses.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,
 

Carolann

Work hard, stay positive, and get up early.  It’s the best part of the day.

                                              -George Allen, 1918-1990

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7