June 9, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1534 – Jacques Cartier sails into the river he names the St. Lawrence, on the Saint’s feast day.

1934: Donald Duck, cartoon, was born.

1898: Hong Kong lease signed from Britain.

On this day in 1973, Secretariat becomes the first horse since Citation in 1948 to win the Triple Crown.

Number of the Day :
318
The latest results of the U.K. general election indicate the Conservative party won 318 seats in Parliament, less than the 330 it had before the election and short of the 326 it would have needed to retain a majority.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People cross Westminster Bridge in front of the Houses of Parliament in London the day after Britain’s national elections.MARKUS SCHREIBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Larry the cat sits outside 10 Downing Street in London. CARL COURT/GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for June 9^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed higher as financial shares posted their biggest three-day gain since December and energy shares rallied following two days of declines.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 50 points or 0.3 percent to 15,473.21. The benchmark gained 0.2 percent on the week. Financial stocks rose 1.1 percent for a three-day gain of 2.4 percent as bond yields rose. Energy shares jumped 1.3 percent as the price of oil gained for the first time since Tuesday.
     Raw-materials stocks lost 0.8 percent as gold miners fell with the price of the yellow metal. Asanko Gold Inc. tumbled 7.6 percent.
     In other moves:
* Enghouse Systems Ltd. lost 11 percent after reporting second- quarter earnings that missed the lowest analyst estimate
* Hudson’s Bay Co. fell 11 percent. The retailer announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs after posting a wider-than-expected loss last quarter
* Home Capital Group Inc. rose 7.8 percent following reports that private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group has proposed a strategic partnership with the troubled mortgage lender.
US
By Samuel Potter
     (Bloomberg) — A selloff in technology shares spoiled an otherwise buoyant day in the U.S. stock market as companies from Apple Inc. to Nvidia Corp. tumbled. The British pound dropped as the U.K.’s ruling Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty just days before Brexit negotiations were due to start.
     Sterling fell the most in eight months as the election intended to strengthen Prime Minister Theresa May’s hand in negotiations with the European Union instead left her battling to survive. The currency’s retreat gave British stocks a boost, as the FTSE 100 Index gained around 1 percent. U.K. bonds rose.
     Outside of Britain, investors turned their attention to sinking technology stocks following early enthusiasm that had pushed U.S. equity indexes to new intraday highs. The move lower began when Robert Boroujerdi, global chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., warned that low volatility in Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple, Microsoft Corp. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. may be blinding investors to risks such as cyclicality and regulation. The S&P 500 technology index plunged 2.7 percent.
     The U.K. vote capped a series of major events this week — including former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday — that passed with relatively little fuss. Attention will now turn to the week ahead, when the Fed is expected to raise interest rates and the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank also meet.
     “For now, the results of the U.K. elections do not appear to be threatening the global growth story,” Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer at UBS Group AG, said in a note to clients. But for Britain,“political uncertainty is likely to more than offset any benefit from a marginally weaker pound,” he said.
     Here’s what investors will be facing next:
* French voters go to the polls over the weekend, this time as part of a two-step process for parliamentary elections. The outcome will decide how much control new President Emmanuel Macron will have to enact his legislative agenda.
* Federal Reserve policy makers are forecast to raise their benchmark interest rate for the second time this year at the conclusion of a two-day meeting next week. Central banks in Japan and Britain are also scheduled to weigh in with policy decisions.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.8 percent, and the Nasdaq 100 Stock Index plunged 2.4 percent.
* Apple led decliners in the S&P 500, sinking 3.7 percent, while Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google all lost more than 1 percent.
* The FTSE 100 climbed 1 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent.
     Currencies
* The pound weakened 1.8 percent to $1.2734 per dollar, while the yen retreated 0.2 percent to 110.26 and the euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.1197.
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index added 0.2 percent.
     Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.21 percent.
* U.K. gilt yields dropped three basis point after climbing three basis points on Thursday.
* German bund yields rose one basis point to 0.26 percent. French 10-year yields were essentially flat.
     Commodities
* West Texas crude rose 0.5 percent to $45.86 a barrel, after two days of losses. Oil has slumped this week as an unexpected increase in U.S. stockpiles cast doubt on OPEC’s ability to rebalance world crude markets.
* Gold fell 0.8 percent to $1,269.40 an ounce, declining a third day. 
     Asia
* Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 0.5 percent. SoftBank Group Corp. rallied 7.4 percent to the highest in 17 years after agreeing to buy Boston Dynamics from Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

Have you ever tried living with yourself?
If so, you will begin to see that yourself is not a static state,
it is a fresh living thing.
And to live with a living thing your mind must also be alive,
And it cannot be alive if it is caught in opinions, judgements, and values.
Krishnamurti

As ever,

Carolann

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
                                                  -James Thurber, 1894-1961

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