January 16, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On Jan. 16, 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

-from A Countrywoman’s Notes by Rosemary Verey:

JANUARY con’t:

Flints are not indigenous to our local countryside – the nearest source is the Marlborough Downs – so when you catch sight of the worked flints as you walk across a newly ploughed field it naturally raises questions in your mind.  Paleolithic implements are found in gravel and clay beds but the later Neolithic flints lie on or near the surface so ploughing turns them up.  The flint is weathered and the black surfaces have, through age, become irregularly whitened with a  dull luster and with the edges slightly blunted but not water-worn.  It is exciting to me to hold one of these in my hand and to realize that it could have been worked 5,000 years ago.  The implements Neolithic man used and that we now find on the high ground of the Cotswolds are scrapers, arrowheads, stone hammers, flint flakes with serrated edges, burins and the remaining cores, lumps of flint left over.  Where these flints are found there may have been continuous habitation for thousands of years, for pieces of Roman tile have also surfaced and I have found the shell of a Roman snail.  When you are  standing almost on the top of the Cotswolds, with only cattle and one farmhouse in view, it is comforting to feel that an unbroken chain of men have enjoyed it too.  It gives strength to one’s belief in eternity.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Icicles on a tree reflect the light whilst the sun sets in Sarajevo, Bosnia on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Amel Emric/ AP

A local fisherman fishes on a frozen, snow-covered lake near the small town of Ignalina, Lithuania, north of the capital Vilnius, on Sunday.Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

Skaters are silhouetted in a beam of sunlight as they make their way along the Rideau Canal Skateway shortly after dawn on Sunday in Ottawa. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press/AP
Market Closes for January 16^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell Monday as auto-parts makers including Martinrea International Inc. dropped amid concerns a Trump border tax would hit Canada hard. Trading was light with U.S. markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.1 percent to 15,479.29 by 4 p.m. in Toronto. With a gain of 1.2 percent this year, the index has dropped to 10th place among developed markets after finishing 2016 in the No.1 spot.
     Gold and other miners advanced as the price of the precious metal climbed to highest level since Nov. 22 as concerns about a so-called hard U.K. Brexit spurred demand for a haven. Vancouver-based gold streamer and royalty company Sandstorm Gold Ltd. led gains among gold companies on the TSX with a 5.2 percent gain.
     Among other moves:
     * Retailer North West Co. climbed 4.2 percent to C$29.10 after the company said Friday it will buy 76 percent Roadtown Wholesale Trading which serves the British Virgin Islands. TD Securities raised the stock to a buy with a price target of C$32
     * Stella-Jones Inc. slumped 7.5 percent, the most since November, after its forecast for fourth-quarter preliminary sales and operating income missed estimates. At least three brokers downgraded the stock.
     * Martinrea International fell 6.1 percent, also the most since November.
US
Markets closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

We would rather cling to the known than face the unknown-
the known being our house, our furniture, our family,
our character, our work, our knowledge, our fame, our loneliness, our gods –
that little thing that moves around incessantly within itself,
with its own limited embittered existence.
Krishnamurti

As ever,

Carolann

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.
                       -Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com