March 3, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Numbers:
65: Years Queen Elizabeth II has sat upon the throne – the first time a British monarch has achieved a sapphire anniversary.  She became the country’s longest-reigning monarch in 2015.
1955: year Elvis Presley made his first TV appearance.
2040: Year when India’s economy is projected to surpass that of the United States, making it the world’s second largest.  China is projected to be No. 1.
9,032: Distance (in miles) of the world’s longest commercial flight.  Qatar Airways launched the new route in February, connecting Auckland, New Zealand, with Doha, Qatar.

INSPIRING WOMEN:
In Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for the  album of the year award at the 2016 Grammys, she encouraged young women to continue to work hard.  This year, the Recording Academy created a Grammys commercial in which young women and girls recite parts of Swift’s speech as they practice musical instruments and dance routines.  See the inspiring video at http://bit.ly/grammyswomen.

And if by chance you haven’t seen the movie Hidden Figures yet, get thee to the cinema as soon as possible to see this amazing movie – true story of a few extraordinary black women who worked at NASA on the space program in the early ‘60s.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ffion Williams presents a bunch of daffodils to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth following a visit to the Royal Welsh Regiment at Lucknow Barracks to mark St David’s Day, in Tidworth, Britain on Friday. Ben Birchall/Reuters

Personalized coffee mugs featuring Elvis Presley’s face line the wall of a gift shop during the grand opening of the new ‘Elvis Presley’s Memphis’, a $45 million, state of the art entertainment and museum complex, in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday. Brandon Dill/Reuters
Market Closes for March 3^rd, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
2356
The consensus estimate among Wall Street analysts was that the S&P 500 would rise about 5% in 2017, to 2356. The index closed on Thursday at 2381.92, and analysts are scrambling to raise their estimates to reflect the rally.
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian equities ticked up as gains in energy and industrials offset declines in seven of 11 sectors in the benchmark gauge.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 15,560.70 at 11:08 a.m. in Toronto. An advance on the day would mark the index’s second gain in eight sessions. The index, which closed at a record on Feb. 21, finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market — a 2.3 percent decline since its high has left it up just 1.8 percent on the year.
* Crude oil rose 1%, rising above $53
* Transalta up 6% for biggest advance in index after beating earnings estimates
* GMP Capital Inc. up 3.8% after the Canadian firm returned to profitability in a quarter fueled by a jump in investment- banking revenue
* Freehold Royalties up 5.2% after issuing positive guidance
* Valeant Pharmaceuticals down 4.4%; the stock is down 80% since last March as the drugmaker got embroiled in scandals about prices hikes and accounting that led to legal and regulatory investigations
* ECONOMY:
** Toronto home prices jumped more than 20 percent in February for the sixth straight month as listings dried up, pushing the price of a suburban house beyond C$1 million ($750,000) for the first time, according to the city’s real estate board
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced for the sixth consecutive week as economic data sailed past forecasts and shares of financial companies rose with higher bond yields.
     So strong were signals on growth in the U.S. and beyond that investors were left almost completely unfazed by the surging odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase, as the likelihood priced by Fed funds futures more than doubled. Chair Janet Yellen on Friday capped the week of rising expectations by explicitly supporting a hike if economic progress persists. The S&P 500 nevertheless rose for the fifth time in seven days.
     The benchmark gauge for American equity added 0.7 percent over the five days to end the week at 2,383.12. Helped by President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress, the index briefly crossed 2,400 for the first time ever on Wednesday, before closing that session, the best of the year, at a record 2,395.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9 percent to end the week 21,005.71 as small-cap shares finished lower for a second week.
     “Earnings on a forward-looking basis are going to be higher rather than lower and growth is quite good and maybe accelerates some,” Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at Oppenheimerfunds Inc., said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The question is in the current context, without any policy initiative, can earnings growth be significantly higher than 7 or 8 percent? If not, one could argue all that information is all pretty much priced in.”
     Comments from Fed officials calling for a March interest- rate hike came against economic data that is beating estimates at the strongest rate in almost five years, according to a Bloomberg Index measuring the degree to which data surpasses analyst expectations. The gauge advanced for the second straight week and has been in positive territory since November.
     The majority of the S&P 500’s points were tallied Wednesday as investors embraced Trump’s cooler rhetoric in a speech that was short on details. Energy companies jumped on support from higher oil prices. Volume on U.S. exchanges was the year’s heaviest.
    Financial stocks were the biggest winners on the week, advancing 2 percent after posting the biggest single-day jump since Nov. 10 on Wednesday. Energy shares climbed 1.4 percent as phone shares and real estate companies declined amid five days of higher Treasury yields.
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks were little changed Friday as investors assessed Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s intention to hike rates at the central bank’s March meeting.
     The S&P 500 Index ended less than 0.1 percent higher at 2,383.12 at 4 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 3 points to 21,005.71.
* Five of 11 groups ended higher with financials and health care leading gains with 0.4% advances
* Real estate, utilities and staples fell at least 0.3% as the 10-year Treasury yield climbed a fifth day to 2.478%
* Fed funds futures show a 94% chance the Fed will raise rates this month, versus 40% at the end of last week
* The earnings season is drawing to a close, with about 73% of S&P 500 members beating profit estimates and a little over half exceeding sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* ECONOMY:
** Yellen capped a week of rising expectations about an imminent interest-rate increase by explicitly supporting a hike in mid- March if U.S. economic progress persists
** Markit February PMI falls to 54.1 from 55.8 in Jan.; Year ago 50
* EARNINGS:
** Next S&P 500 companies reporting Tuesday March 7: Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS), Editas Medicine (EDTS)
* In Europe, stocks closed little changed, paring earlier losses, as banks rallied and French shares climbed after polls showed anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen lagging rival Emmanuel Macron for the first time
     For related equity market news:
* Animal Spirits Driving Stock Market Surge, Says Fundstrat’s Lee
* Harvard Academics Reveal Blueprint for Avoiding Stock Crashes
* Goldman Indicator Shows Complacency as Traders Give Up Hedging

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

Truth resides in the heart of every man.
And it is there that he must seek it, in order to be guided by it so that,
at the least, it will appear to him.
But we do not have the right to force others to see the Truth in our way.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

To live is the rarest thing in the world.  Most people exist, that is all.
                                                           -Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900

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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