March 5, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Full Moon tonight – deserves a  gaze up at the sky

World’s oldest person turns 117 today: Misao Okawa, daughter of a kimono maker, was born in Osaka on March 5, 1898.

On this day in 1770, the Boston Massacre took place. British soldiers fired on an angry mob of American colonists gathered in front of the Customs House in Boston, killing five. – Dan Strumpf, Wall Street Journal.

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate

the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.  -J. W. Goethe

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The moon sets in the early morning hours as a man walks along an ocean pier in Oceanside, Calif., Thursday. Mike Blake/Reuters

A Sri Lankan Buddhist devotee prays offering Lotus flowers at a temple on full moon day in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, Thursday. Buddhists constitute the majority of this South Asian Island nation’s population. Eranga Jayawardena/AP

Market Closes for March 5^th, 2015     

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, snapping a two-day decline, after the European Central Bank detailed the start of its asset-purchasing plan to combat deflation.

     Great Canadian Gaming Corp. surged 12 percent, the most since August, after posting earnings ahead of analysts’ estimates. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 5.1 percent after boosting its dividend on rising profit. SNC Lavalin Group Inc. tumbled to a two-year low after its 2015 forecast fell short of analysts’ estimates. Encana Corp. lost 3.1 percent after disclosing a plan to raise C$1.25 billion through a share sale.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 20.27 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,103.11 at 4 p.m., narrowing an earlier gain in the final minutes of trading. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has advanced 3.2 percent this year.

     Eight of 10 industries in the benchmark index advanced on trading volume 8 percent below the 30-day average.

     Financial stocks declined 0.1 percent as a group. Canadian Western Bank sank 7.1 percent, the most since July 2009, after posting first-quarter earnings and revenue short of analysts’ estimates.

     Methanex Corp. added 5.3 percent and B2Gold Corp. increased 2.9 percent as raw-materials producers advanced.

     The MSCI World Index of developed markets increased 0.1 percent after a two-day decline. The ECB will begin buying about 60 billion euros ($66 billion) in bonds a month starting March 9, ECB President Mario Draghi told reporters in Nicosia where officials had met, the first salvo in a bid to head off deflation in the euro area.

     The central bank also unveiled forecasts showing higher economic growth with an inflation outlook that puts the ECB on track to reach its inflation goal of just below 2 percent.

US

By Michelle F. Davis and Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, after equities posted their biggest two-day slump in more than a month, amid corporate deals before Friday’s government jobs report.

     Pharmacyclics Inc. surged 10 percent after AbbVie Inc. agreed to buy the drugmaker in a $21 billion deal. Mallinckrodt Plc climbed 4.7 percent after buying closely-held Ikaria Inc. for about $2.3 billion.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent to 2,101.04 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 38.82 points, or 0.2 percent to 18,135.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 percent. About 5.8 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, the lightest volume since Jan. 2.

     “We didn’t really get anything definitive out of the ECB so people are just kind of flattening out in front of the employment report tomorrow,” Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co LLC in Newton, Massachusetts, said by phone. “We’re going to be in this tight range as traders push it around a little bit, and until we go one way or the other, people aren’t going to jump in with both feet.”

     European Central Bank President Mario Draghi primed investors to be ready for the central bank’s first bond-buying salvo as he signaled officials are convinced the measure will succeed in the choking off the threat of deflation.                        

     Six years after the Federal Reserve began its own quantitative easing program, the ECB’s Governing Council committed to begin asset purchases next week that will amount to 60 billion euros ($66 billion) a month, its president told reporters in Nicosia. He also unveiled forecasts showing higher economic growth with an inflation outlook that puts the ECB on track to reach its inflation goal of just below 2 percent.

     “Obviously the whole notion of European style QE has been well advertised at this juncture,” Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist in Philadelphia at Janney Capital Management LLC, which oversees about $68 billion in assets, said by phone. “More encouraging is the fact that they’ve raised their view of economic growth over the next several years. There’s been more upbeat news coming out of Europe.”                      

     The S&P 500 dropped 0.9 percent in the previous two days for the biggest slide in five weeks after rising to fresh records four times in February. The Dow fell 1.1 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.8 percent after surpassing 5,000 on Monday.

     The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose 7,000 last week to 320,000, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected 295,000 jobless claims.

     A separate report showed factory orders unexpectedly fell in January. Data on nonfarm payrolls and unemployment are due Friday, with economists predicting employers added 235,000 workers in February, while the unemployment rate is expected to drop to 5.6 percent, matching a more than six-year low.

     Six of 10 main S&P 500 groups rose. Health-care advanced for a second day as Mallinckrodt gained 4.7 percent after agreeing to acquire closely-held Ikaria Inc. to expand in neonatal intensive-care treatments.

     Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 5.8 percent after Wells Fargo analyst Brian Abrahams wrote in a note that one of the company’s drugs may get early approval. Investor attention is now focusing on Vertex’s cystic fibrosis drug Kalydeco/VX-809, Abrahams wrote.

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index advanced 2.2 percent to an all-time high, as Pharmacyclics climbed 10 percent after AbbVie agreed to buy the company for $21 billion to expand in cancer therapy. AbbVie fell 5.7 percent.

     Kroger Co. rallied 6.7 percent after the biggest U.S. grocery-store chain’s surging same-store sales lifted fourth- quarter profit well above analysts’ estimates.

     Costco Wholesale Corp. climbed 2.7 percent after second- quarter profit rose 29 percent as sales outpaced discount rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

     Joy Global Inc., the world’s largest maker of underground mining machinery, fell 5.2 percent to its lowest in more than five years after cutting full-year earnings and sales forecasts following commodity-price declines.

     H&R Block Inc. lost 4.2 percent after reporting revenue below analysts’ estimates. The company reported an adjusted loss per share of 13 cents, compared with an estimated 17 cents.     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index slipped 1.3 percent to 14.04 after two days of gains. The gauge, known as the VIX, lost 36 percent in February for its biggest monthly decline on record.
 

Have a great evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

To understand pleasure is not to deny it.

We are not condemning it or saying it is right or wrong but if we pursue it,

let us do so with our eyes open, knowing that a mind that is all the time seeking pleasure

must inevitably find its shadow in pain.

They cannot be separated, although we run after pleasure and try to avoid pain.

Krishnamurti

As ever,

Carolann

Good words are worth much, and cost little.

                    -George Herbert, 1593-1633

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