August 9, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Know your greens:  an edited extract from “A Rhyming Alphabet of Medicinal Plants” (2016) by Dr. Henry Oakley:

A is for Aconitum

of which Pliny said:  If swallowed in error
                              One ended up dead.

Aconitum napellus, wolf’s bane, is so poisonous that Theophrastus (circa 340 BC) reported that death was the punishment for possessing it.
  Dioscorides (70 AD) wrote that the seed heads and roots were placed on raw meat for killing wolves.
  His contemporary Pliny Secundus added;  “There is no poison in the world so quick in operation.”

B is for Borage
Which we put in our Pimm’s
But it contains more odd toxins
Than one can find I your MIMS

Borago officinalis, borage, was held in high esteem by Nicholas Culpeper in the 17^th century for its exhilarating qualities and for driving away sadness and melancholy, until it came under suspicion for causing damage to the liver, genetic abnormalities and cancer.
  Borage used to be added to flavor summer alcoholic drinks, but the UK medicines regulatory agency now advises against this. MIMS is the monthly pharmacopoeia received by UK physicians.

C is for Cynara
The super cardoon,
It’s in flower at the moment
But will be eaten quite soonCynara cardunculus, the cardoon or artichoke thistle.  The flower heads are eaten.  Dodoens (1552) thought them a cure for stinking armpits and that they engendered lust.  Presumably in that order.
  Galen (c 200AD) said they were indigestible unless cooked.  However, he related that other authors recommended the flower heads soaked in stron wine, to “stir up lust in the body.”

On Aug. 9, 1945, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, Japan, instantly killing an estimated 39,000 people. The explosion came three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The hats of officials sit on a coat rack outside a meeting between Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Vietnam Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich at the Pentagon, Washington D.C.
CREDIT: ANDREW HARNIK/AP PHOTO

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik took this image of the moon rising from the International Space Station.  He wrote on Twitter: “Gorgeous moon rise! Such great detail when seen from Space. Next full moon marks #Eclipse2017. Well be watching from @Space_Station.”
CREDIT: NASA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Men and women from the local area work 10 hours a day, to farm red chilli peppers, in Sariakandi, Bangledesh.
CREDIT: SOLENT NEWS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Market Closes for August 9^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 2007, fallout from defaulting subprime mortgages forced BNP Paribas SA to freeze three of its funds that were at one point worth more than $2 billion. The move is now considered one of the key early events of the financial crisis.
Number of the Day
0.24%
The percent the S&P 500 fell on Tuesday, its largest decline since July 6.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell as investors continued to reel from growing tension between the U.S. and North Korea and energy stocks took a hit from an unexpected increase in gasoline supplies.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 39 points or 0.3 percent to 15,217.33. Health-care stocks tumbled 5.1 percent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. lost 9.6 percent as investors continued to digest earnings that included lower revenue guidance for the year.
     The energy index fell 0.4 percent even as the price of oil gained 0.8 percent. U.S. government data showed a decline in crude stockpiles but a jump in gasoline inventories.
     In other moves:
* Callidus Capital Corp. lost 21 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported that its top shareholder Catalyst Capital Group Inc., which also shares a founder with Callidus, is the subject of whistleblower complaints
* Semafo Inc. jumped 18 percent following an upgrade to outperform at Credit Suisse
* Kinaxis Inc. fell 17 percent. Several analysts issued downgrades after the company slashed its full-year sales forecast
* Stantec Inc. rose 9.4 percent after second-quarter earnings beat the highest analyst estimate
* Finning International Inc. gained 8.9 percent on better-than- expected results.
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks ended little changed, while Treasuries pared gains as American government officials tried to ease concerns the country was headed for armed conflict with North Korea. Crude fell on a jump in gasoline stockpiles.
     The S&P 500 Index almost erased losses in the final hour of trading and the CBOE Volatility Index pared an advance as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled military confrontation was not imminent. He was one of several officials in the Trump administration who sought to fine-tune the message on how it will address North Korean threats. 
     Trump’s statement Tuesday that could unleash “fire and fury” against Kim Jong Un’s regime sparked demand for haven assets from the yen to Treasuries. Those trades began reversing late Wednesday as investors grew more confident the situation wouldn’t escalate. Still, emerging-market shares fell the most since June and gold jumped to an eight-week high Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury yield fell as much as five basis points before trimming that to a single point.
     “Trump in his reactions is something new for all of us,” Geraldine Sundstrom, portfolio manager at Pimco Europe, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “Given the nature of the threats, given the players are new, it makes the situation a little bit unusual,” said Sundstrom, who recommended safe haven trades and minimizing risks through duration. 
     Among the key events looming this week:
* U.K. factory output for June is due Thursday, with industrial production for France on Friday.
* This week’s Federal Reserve speakers aren’t done: keep a keen ear out for comments by New York Fed boss Bill Dudley on Thursday.
* Argentina, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Serbia and Zambia set monetary policy.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
                             Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index lost less than 0.1 percent to 2,474.01 at 4 p.m. in New York, all but erasing losses that reached 0.5 percent.
* The CBOE Volatility Index 3 percent, well off its session high of a 15 percent spike.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.7 percent.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index sank 0.4 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 1 percent, the biggest dip in almost eight weeks.
                             Currencies
* The euro added less than 0.1 percent to $1.1757, the weakest in almost two weeks.
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
* The British pound increased 0.1 percent to $1.3001, the first advance in a week.
* South Africa’s rand sank 0.6 percent to 13.455 per dollar, the weakest in more than four weeks.
                             Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped two basis points to 2.24 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 0.428 percent, the lowest in six weeks.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell five basis points to 1.109 percent, the lowest in six weeks.
* France’s 10-year yield decreased four basis points to 0.714 percent, the lowest in six weeks.
                             Commodities
* Gold surged 1.3 percent to $1,279.64 an ounce, the biggest jump in two months.
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.2 percent to $49.26 a barrel.
                             Asia
* Japan’s Topix index fell 1.1 percent, the most since May 18. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index bucked the region-wide downward trend to add 0.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 0.4 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.2 percent.
* The Japanese yen advanced 0.6 percent to 109.70 per dollar, the strongest in eight weeks.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

When you see that everything is different, that everything is unique,
you become one with the whole.
This is because you no longer judge, compare, or attribute particular characteristics.
Remove the characteristics,
and you no longer have an entity.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

Carolann

Everyone is the son of his own works.
    -Miguel de Cervantes, 1547-1616

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