February 23, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Gale force winds blow back the waves at Church Rock on Broad Haven Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Britain, Thursday. Rebecca Naden/Reuters

Students stand among plum blossom at a campus in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, China on Thursday. China Daily/Reuters
Market Closes for February 23^rd, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day, with the key benchmark gauge hovering near an all-time high as fertilizer and metal producers slumped. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce rose after beating analysts’ earnings estimates.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 0.3 percent to 15,781.20 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after reaching a record high Tuesday. Industrial and materials companies fell more than 1 percent, offsetting gains in real estate consumer staple shares.
     Fertilizer shares fell after urea prices dropped. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. declined 3.2 percent while Agrium Inc. lost 2.6 percent.
     Copper producers retreated along with the metal’s prices as First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. sank more than 3.5 percent.
     CIBC, the first Canadian bank to report quarterly results, advanced 1 percent. The lender beat analysts’ estimates after posting higher first-quarter profit led by gains in capital markets and raised its quarterly dividend 2.4 percent to C$1.27 a share.
     The country’s eight largest lenders are expected to increase per-share operating profit by an average of 7 percent from a year earlier, according to Scotia Capital analyst Sumit Malhotra. Royal Bank of Canada is scheduled to post results Friday, with the remaining lenders reporting next week.
     In other movers:
     * Maple Leaf Foods Inc., one of Canada’s largest meat processors, jumped 5.2 percent as optimism over its purchase of a U.S. producer of vegetarian foods offset disappointing earnings.
     * Halogen Software Inc. rallied 22 percent after agreeing to be bought by Saba for about C$293 million.
     * HudBay Minerals Inc. slumped 6.4 percent after reporting an unexpected quarterly loss.
US
By Joe Deaux
     (Bloomberg) — Doting words from President Donald Trump about Caterpillar Inc.’s bulldozers and U.S. Steel Corp.’s pipeline prospects couldn’t save the two companies from a slump in material stocks Thursday.
     Shares of the Peoria, Illinois-based machinery maker posted the biggest decline in five months while the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker lost as much as 10 percent and ended down 7.9 percent. A report emerged Thursday that a jammed congressional to-do list could push a massive U.S. infrastructure bill back to 2018, delaying new demand for raw materials and construction equipment.
     Trump has touted a $1 trillion infrastructure spending package over 10 years that would invest in roads, bridges and airports, as well as Buy America policies that would boost domestic companies that sell metals and machinery. Copper has risen more than 10 percent since Trump was elected on bets of improving demand helped by the president’s spending pledge.
     At a White House meeting with industry executives on Thursday, Trump said, “I love Caterpillar,” and indicated he might go out and drive one of the company’s machines soon. He then told U.S. Steel Chief Executive Officer Mario Longhi that he will be putting domestic producers of the metal “heavy” into the pipeline business and that projects like Keystone XL and Dakota Access would need to use American-made steel.
     While Trump’s public comments and Twitter postings over the past month have moved the share prices of aircraft manufacturers to drug makers, they failed to abate Thursday’s selloff. Caterpillar is still up 45 percent in the past year and 13 percent since the election, while U.S. Steel more than quadrupled in the past year and is also up 78 percent since the election, helped by an increase in demand and a slew of successful trade cases against foreign steel products.
     Repealing and replacing Obamacare, tax reform, the budget and the Supreme Court vacancy could push Trump’s infrastructure bill to 2018, Axios reported, citing Republicans it didn’t name.
     Metals from aluminum to zinc and iron ore also fell.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

The phrase “to meditate” does not only mean to examine, observe, reflect, question, weigh;
it also has, in the Sanskrit, a more profound meaning, which is “to become.”
Krishnamurti

As ever,

Carolann

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
                                                                                   -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, 1893-1986

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
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