August 21, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
From The Economist today:
If you are standing in the right place on Earth today, you will see a total eclipse. That this is possible is a happy accident: the moon has slowly been receding from Earth ever since its creation 4.5bn years ago. Millions of years from now, our satellite will not be close enough to Earth to entirely hide the sun. Eclipse-hunters today are lucky to live in an era where this cosmic spectacle is visible, writes our data team
TODAY IN HISTORY
On Aug. 21, 1959, President Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.
Go to article »
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Riders are silhouetted against strong evening sunshine on Barassie beach in Scotland with the Island of Arran on the horizon. CREDIT: SKULLY/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race sets out from Liverpool. CREDIT: PAUL COOPER FOR THE TELEGRAPH

A total solar eclipse is seen above Madras, Oregon. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Market Closes for August 21st, 2017 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
21.75 gigawatts
The capacity of the utility-scale solar generation plants in the U.S. Seventeen large solar plants are in the direct path of Monday’s solar eclipse and so, for approximately three minutes, won’t generate any solar power at all.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — The August doldrums hit Canadian stocks, leaving them little changed on low trading volume as a continued rally in mining shares was offset by falling oil prices.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell half a point or less than 0.1 percent to 14,951.88, its lowest close in nine months.
Trading volume was 23 percent below the 10-day average.
     Individual sector moves were more dramatic, with materials stocks gaining 1 percent as industrial metals extended their longest weekly rally in three years. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. rose 5 percent after it resolved a tariff dispute with Zambia.
     Energy shares fell 1.1 percent as the price of oil tumbled 2.3 percent, the most in a week. Baytex Energy Corp. lost 4.7 percent and MEG Energy Corp. fell 4.6 percent.
     In other moves:
* Transat AT Inc. jumped 11 percent to the highest since 2014 after the travel company was upgraded by Laurentian Bank Securities and National Bank
* Cardiome Pharma Corp. tumbled 35 percent to the lowest since 2013. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Cardiome’s proposed data package would not be sufficient to support a resubmission of its Brinavess drug application
* AGF Management Ltd. rose 4.2 percent. The asset manager said its 32-percent-owned Smith & Williamson, is in talks with Rathbone Brothers about a possible merger
US
By Robert Brand and Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — Most U.S. stocks rose, while the dollar edged lower amid growing unease about persistent low inflation and as investors await central bank speeches at Jackson Hole.
     The S&P 500 Index eked out an advance in the final hour of trading to halt a two-day slide that had taken stocks to the lowest level since July. Trading 18 percent below the 30-day average. Emerging-market equities edged higher, while European shares slipped. The yen strengthened past 109 per dollar.
Treasuries climbed, gold resumed its trudge toward $1,300 per ounce and oil fell.
     Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will be among the officials addressing this year’s installment of the annual conference hosted by the Kansas City Fed. The summit, held at a Wyoming mountain retreat, comes as central banks in advanced economies grapple with ending years of unprecedented monetary easing, even as stubbornly tepid inflation clouds the outlook.
     “The key event this week is the Jackson Hole central bank policy forum which begins on Thursday,” Citigroup strategists including Peter Goves wrote in a note to clients. “The market spotlight will likely focus on Yellen, given the generally low U.S. inflation environment and the likelihood of Fed balance sheet reduction occurring relatively soon.”
          Among the key events this week:
* Amazon.com Inc.’s bid for Whole Foods Market Inc. faces a shareholder vote on Wednesday.
* Combined sales of new (data Wednesday) and previously owned
(Thursday) U.S. homes probably edged up in July from the prior month, indicating a still robust real estate market held in check by rising property prices, economists forecast.
* A verdict in the graft trial of Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee is due Friday.
* Botswana, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Tunisia set monetary policy.
* A raft of survey data will probably show euro-area growth slowed in the third quarter.
* The annual Jackson Hole economic symposium begins on Thursday.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
                             Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 2,428.29 at 4 p.m. in New York. Almost 280 stocks rose, while 220 retreated.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dipped 0.4 percent.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index advanced 0.1 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index lost 0.8 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index added 0.3 percent.
                           Currencies
* The euro advanced 0.4 percent to $1.1810.
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.3 percent to the lowest since Aug. 3.
* The British pound climbed 0.2 percent to $1.29.
* The Japanese yen increased 0.4 percent to 108.82 per dollar, the strongest in almost four months on a closing basis.
                             Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 2.18 percent, the lowest in almost two months.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 0.40 percent.
                          Commodities
* Gold advanced 0.4 percent to $1,287.75 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude lost 1.3 percent to $47.88 a barrel.
                              Asia
* Japan’s Topix index fell 0.1 percent at the close with volume was about 16 percent below the 30-day intraday average. South
Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.4 percent, with BlueScope Steel Ltd. tumbling as
much as 23 percent after the company reported disappointing earnings.
* Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.4 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.6 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.1 percent.                 

Have a wonderful evening everyone. 

Be magnificent!

In your veins, and in mine, there is only one blood,
The same life that animates us all!
Since one unique mother begat us all,
Where did we learn to divide ourselves?
Kabir

As ever, 

Carolann

A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places.
-Isabelle Eberhardt, 1877-1904

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