April 19, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in…
1775 – Battle of Lexington & Concord – Start of the American Revolution.
1932 –  Herbert Hoover suggests a 5-day work week.
1933 – The United States went off the gold standard.
1943 – Tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began an uprising against Nazi forces.
1961 – The Federal Communications Commission authorized regular FM stereo broadcasting starting on June 1, 1961.
1994 – A Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.)
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A red squirrel holds a seed pod in its mouth in Stuttgart, Germany, on Wednesday. Lino Mirgeler/dpa/AP

Tour buses park near tulip fields surrounding Keukenhof spring garden in Lisse, Netherlands, on Wednesday. Keukenhof attracts about 1 million visitors from all over the world. It has more than 7 million bulbs in bloom this spring, with 800 varieties of tulips, and is open from March 23 to May 21.Peter Dejong/AP

Ducklings follow their mother on the small Nidda river on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, on Wednesday. Michael Probst/AP
Market Closes for April 19^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed lower, reversing an earlier gain, after a report showed U.S. gasoline supplies increased for the first time since February, weighing on energy shares.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 70 points or 0.5 percent to 15,552.88. Energy stocks lost 1 percent after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said gasoline stockpiles climbed by 1.54 million barrels last week, surprising analysts who projected a decrease of 2 million barrels.
     The materials index tumbled 1.6 percent on weakness in gold, which lost 1 percent to $1,281.30 an ounce. Yamana Gold tumbled 5.7 percent.
     In other moves:
* Parkland Fuel Corp. jumped 5.7 percent, its biggest gain since August, after it agreed to buy gas stations and a refinery in British Columbia from Chevron Corp. for C$1.46 billion
* Saputo Inc. fell 3 percent after U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to stop incentives that encourage Canadian processors to use local supplies of milk
* BlackBerry Ltd. rose 3.1 percent. CEO John Chen told the Financial Times that he expects “a comeback in handsets”
* Canopy Growth Corp. jumped 5.9 percent, regaining most of the ground it had lost since the Canada unveiled plans to legalize recreational pot last week
* Rogers Communications Inc. gained 1.5 percent to a record high after it reported unexpectedly strong subscriber growth.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks ended the day lower as an early rally in financial companies reversed and as plunging crude oil prices sent energy shares lower.
* S&P 500 down 0.2% to 2,338.17 at 4pm
* Closed down 0.3% on Tuesday, as IBM and Goldman earnings disappointed
* Dow Industrials down 119 points, or 0.6%, to 20,404.49
* Financials slid 0.3% after gaining as much as 1%
* Utilities, real estate and staples weakened as the 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.21% from 2.17%
* Stock movers (shares with moves outside two standard deviations from average 20-day price change)
* Up: Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Lam Research (LRCX), Mettler-Toledo (MTD)
* Down: IBM (IBM), Textron (TXT), Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM)
* VIX climbs to 14.9
* Volatility movers: Discover Financial (DFS), Vornado Realty (VNO), Laboratory Corp (LH) have highest put-call volume ratios in S&P 500
* About 6.6b shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, roughly in line with the one-year average
* Volume movers: WW Grainger (GWW), IBM (IBM), Lam Research (LRCX) all traded with volume at least three times 30-day average
* POLITICS:
* Planners are contemplating what a U.S. strike on North Korea might look like, and the options are grim
* ECONOMY:
* MBA mortgage applications index fell 1.8% in week ended April 14 after rising 1.5% in prior week
* Traders are pulling back from bets the Fed will raise interest rates in June as inflation expectations crumble; odds of a hike have fallen to about 44% from more than 60% earlier this month, based on a gauge compiled by Bloomberg
* EARNINGS:
* After-market Wednesday: CSX (CSX), SL Green Realty (SLG), American Express (AXP), United Rentals (URI), Qualcomm (QCOM), Torchmark (TMK), Kinder Morgan (KMI), eBay (EBAY)
* European Market
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.2% at the close in London
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

What is the world?  It is the earth below and the sky above and the air in space that connects them.
What is light?  It is fire below and the sun above – and the lightning that connects them.
What is education?  It is the teacher above and the disciple below – and the wisdom that connects them.
Taittiriya Upanishad

As ever,

Carolann

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
                               -Truman Capote, 1924-1984

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
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com