May 26, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On this day in 1896, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published.
Its 12 initial members are the great industrial giants of the time: American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, American Tobacco, Chicago Gas, Distilling & Cattle Feeding, General Electric, Laclede Gas, National Lead, North American, Tennessee Coal & Iron, U.S. Leather, and U.S. Rubber. The indexes value that day: 40.94.

This morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box, a “just released” study was cited, noting that 50 % of Americans do not take vacation from work and of those that do, ~80% “stay connected” to their work email and VM’s while on vacation.
To compare this to our ancestors’  work (i.e., management’s)  life a couple of centuries ago  when life was ostensibly “simpler”,  here is the  Revd Robert Robinson, Baptist pastor and farmer,  who, on May 26^th, 1784, wrote this letter to an unknown friend:

Rose at three o’clock – crawled into the library – and met one who said, “Yet a little while is the light with you: walk while ye have the light – the night cometh, when no man can work – my father worketh hitherto, and I work.’
  Rang the great bell, and roused the girls to milking – went up to the farm, roused the horse-keeper – fed the horses while he was getting up – called the boy to suckle the calves, and clean out the cow-house – lighted the pipe, walked round the gardens to see what was wanting there – went up the paddock to see if weaning calves were well – went down to the ferry, to see whether the boy had scooped and cleaned the boats – returned to the farm – examined the shoulders, heels, traces, chaff, and corn of eight horses going to plough – mended the acre staff – cut some thongs, whipcorded the boys’ plough whips – pumped the troughs full – saw the hogs fed – examined the swill tubs, and then the cellar – ordered a quarter of malt, for the hogs want grains, and the men want beer – filled the pipe again, returned to the river, and bought a lighter of turf for dairy fires, and another of sedge for ovens – hunted up the wheelbarrows and set them a trundling – returned to the farm, called the men to breakfast, and cut the boys’ bread and cheese, and saw the wooden bottles filled – sent one plough to the three-roods, another to the three half-acres, and so on – shut the gates, and the clock struck five – breakfasted – set two men to ditch the five roods – two more to chop sads [heavy sods], and spread about the land = two more to throw up muck in the yard – and three men and six women to weed wheat – set on the carpenter to repair cow-cribs, and set them up till winter – the wheeler to men up the old carts, cart-ladders, rakes, etc., preparatory to hay-time and harvest – walked to the six-acres, found hogs in the grass – went back and sent a man to hedge and thorn – sold the butcher a fat calf, and the suckler a lean one – the clock strikes nine – walked into barley-field – barley fine, picked off a few tiles and stones, and cut a few thistles – and peas fine, but foul; the charlock must be topped – the tares doubtful; the fly seems to have taken them – prayed for rain, but could not see a cloud – came round to the wheat-field – wheats rather thin, but the finest colour in the world – set four women on to the shortest wheats – ordered one man to weed the ridge of the long wheats – and tow women to keep rank and file with him in the furrows – thistles many – bluebottles no end – traversed all the wheat-field – came to the fallow-field – the ditchers have run crooked – se them straight – the flag-sads cut too much, rush-sads too little, strength wasted, show the men how to three-corner them – laid out more work for the ditchers – went to the ploughs – set the foot a little higher; cut a wedge, set the coulter deeper, must go and get a new mould-board against tomorrow – went to the other plough – picked up some wool, and tied over the traces – mended a horse-tree, tied a thong to the plough-hammer – went to see which lands want ploughing first – sat down under a bush – wondered how any man could be so silly as to call me reverend – read two verses and thought of his loving-kindness in the midst of his temple – gave out, “Come all harmonious tongues,” and set Mount Ephraim tune – rose up = whistled – the dogs wagged  their tails, and on we went – got home – dinner ready –filled the pipe – drank some mild – and fell asleep –woke by the carpenter for some slats, which the sawyer must cut – the Reverend Messrs A. in a coat, B, in a gown of black, and C, in one of purple, came to drink tea, and to settle whether Gomer was a father of the Celts and Gauls and Britons, or only the uncle – proof sheet from Mr Archdeacon – corrected it – washed – dressed – went to meeting , and preached from, The end of all things is at hand, be ye sober and watch unto prayer – found dear brother reverence there, who went home with me, and edified us all out of Solomon’s Song, with a dish of tripe out of Leviticus, and a golden candlestick out of Exodus.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People in Paris wet their feet at the Fountain of Warsaw at the Trocadero Gardens. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

A man dressed in traditional clothes tries to pull his opponent over the table during a finger-wrestling championship in Woernsmuehl, Germany, on Thursday. MATTHIAS SCHRADER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Market Closes for May 26^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Note to Self:
Don’t measure your progress using someone else’s ruler.
Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
2
The number of S&P 500 companies that have split their stock this year. That’s down sharply from 20 years ago, when 93 S&P 500 firms split their shares, a rate of close to two per week, according to Birinyi Associates.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed with a slight gain as increases in raw-materials stocks offset declines in energy and consumer staples.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 6 points or less than 0.1 percent to 15,416.93 on lower-than-usual trading volume ahead of a long weekend south of the border. For the week, the benchmark fell 0.3 percent.
     Materials stocks added 0.5 percent amid higher precious- metal prices. MAG Silver Corp. added 3.3 percent following an upgrade at BMO Capital Markets. The energy index slipped 0.2 percent even as the price of crude rose, and industrials stocks also fell 0.2 percent.
     In other moves:
* Westshore Terminals Investment Corp. added 5.2 percent following Thursday’s 5.7 percent gain. British Columbia’s Liberals fell short of a majority in a final election count, raising questions about the party’s promise to ban shipments of thermal coal
* Bombardier Inc. gained 3.2 percent. The company delivered its first CS300 aircraft to Swiss International Air Lines AG.
*  Eldorado Gold Corp. fell 2.8 percent following a downgrade by S&P
US
By Robert Brand
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks limped into the weekend on a sluggish final day of trading, while the dollar fluctuated with oil as investors assessed data showing the U.S. economy on firm footing.
     The S&P 500 Index fluctuated between gains and losses before closing higher by less than a point — good enough for a seventh straight gain and fresh record in trading 25 percent below the 30-day average. The dollar capped a weekly advance as a second reading on gross domestic product topped estimates. Crude headed for a weekly loss after OPEC’s move to prolong supply cuts for nine months disappointed investors hoping for more. The pound fell as a poll showed U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May losing ground to her main opponent ahead of next month’s election.
Action was subdued ahead of a three-day weekends in the U.S. and the U.K. A second straight month of stagnant orders for business equipment in April indicated investment in capital goods could slow in the second quarter, paring weekly gains in U.S. stocks. Crude languished below $50 a barrel, while U.K. investors awakened to election risk after a poll showed the Conservative party lead narrowed after the Manchester attack.
     “Markets ultimately found the renewed deal among OPEC and friends underwhelming,” Cole Akeson, a strategist at Sberbank CIB in Moscow, wrote in an emailed note. “Essentially, the market consensus seems to have come around to a view that regardless of what effect on global inventories the deal may have for now, OPEC and its partners have little insight as to what to do later on.”
     Here are the main moves in markets:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose less than one point to 2,415.62 as of 4 p.m. in New York. The seven-day streak is the longest since February. The measure climbed 1.4 percent in the week, the most since April 28.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.2 percent, with oil and gas producers falling 1.1 percent. Automakers slid 0.5 percent.
* MSCI’s emerging-market index added 0.1 percent, pushing its gain in the five days to 2 percent.
     Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index added 0.1 percent after falling as much as 0.2 percent. It’s up 0.1 percent on the week.
* The pound slid 1.2 percent to $1.2793. A YouGov poll for the Times late Thursday put the Conservatives at 43 percent with Labour at 38 percent — a dramatic narrowing of the gap that even this month has been as high as 24 points in some polls.
* The yen rose 0.6 percent to 111.198 per dollar, after dropping 0.3 percent on Thursday.
* The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.1175.
     Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.8 percent to settle at $49.80 a barrel. The contract plunged 4.8 percent in the previous session. Crude lost more than 1.5 percent in the week.
* Gold futures rose 0.8 percent to $1,270.10 an ounce.
* Copper dropped from a three-week high as traders turned bearish ahead of holidays and the dollar recovered.
     Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell one basis point to 2.25 percent. U.S. bonds are on course for a fourth month of gains.
* Benchmark German and French yields dropped three basis points.
     Asia
* Japan’s Topix slipped 0.6 percent, trimming its weekly advance to 0.6 percent.
* Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.7 percent, with BHP Billiton Ltd. dropping 2 percent.
* South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5 percent to another record. The index is up 2.9 percent for the week, the biggest gain in two months.
* Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was flat, keeping its weekly gain at 1.8 percent, while the Shanghai Composite increased 0.1 percent.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of his tail.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

Carolann

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing
to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
                                                      -William Jennings Bryan, 1860-1925

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