November 9, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Nov. 9, 1989, East Germany lifted restrictions on emigration or travel to the West, and within hours tens of thousands of East and West Berliners swarmed across the infamous Berlin Wall for a boisterous celebration.
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The following day, celebrating Germans begin to tear the wall down.
November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht, Crystal Night – pogrom against Jews in Germany.
November 9^th, 1942, James Agate wrote in his diary, Ego, (the Torch landings at Casablanca, Algiers and Oran had taken place the day before):

A glorious day, in every sense of the word.  Alexander’s great victory [Alamein] and the invasion by the Americans of French North Africa have put people of this country into better fettle than they have known since 1925, when, at Melbourne on the third day of the second Test Match, Hobbs and Sutcliffe put on 283 runs for England’s first wicket and sent the Stock Exchange up two points. –from The Book of Days.

1965 – East Coast blackout.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

This photo of the Aurora over Loch Lomond in southern Scotland was sent in by reader Jaymes Harris.
CREDIT:  JAYMES HARRIS

An aerial view of Dawn Redwood trees in Nanjing, China.

A world map in the form of a set of gores for a terrestrial globe, from 1507 by cartographer Martin Waldseemueller is displayed at Christie’s auction rooms in London. The map is the first map to name America, and is expected to fetch £600,000-900,000 when it goes under the hammer on December 13.

Big wave surfer Andrew Cotton drops a wave during a surf session at Praia do Norte in Nazare, Portugal.
Market Closes for November 9^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
$57.6 billion
Global spending on hardware and software related to artificial intelligence could expand to $57.6 billion in 2021 from $12 billion this year, according to International Data Corp.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks posted their first two-day streak of losses in two months, as a global risk-off climate weighed on the benchmark’s biggest sectors.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 23 points or 0.1 percent to 16,082.09. Combined with Wednesday’s 0.2 percent drop, it marks the first consecutive drops since the recent rally began on Sept. 8.
     Materials stocks were the biggest decliners, losing 0.8 percent as copper traders turned bearish for the first time since September and nickel slumped by the most in almost seven weeks. Lundin Mining Corp. fell 3.7 percent.
     Energy and financial shares both lost 0.1 percent, and industrials lost 0.2 percent.
     In other moves:

                               Stocks
* NexGen Energy Ltd. jumped 24 percent, the most in 20 months, amid Cameco Corp.’s plan to shut the world’s biggest uranium mines for most of 2018. Cameco rose 3 percent on speculation the move would lead to higher prices
* Just Energy Group Inc. tumbled 9.7 percent to the lowest since mid-2015. The company said Ebitda fell below expectations given mild summer weather and hurricane disruptions
* Uni-Select Inc. lost 8.6 percent to the lowest since mid-2015. Third-quarter earnings missed the lowest analyst estimate
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $14.15 discount to WTI
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.05 discount to Henry Hub, the widest gap in eight trading days
* Gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,287.50 an ounce, the highest in more than three weeks
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.4 percent to C$1.2678 per U.S. dollar, the strongest in two and a half weeks
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose one basis point to 1.93 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks stumbled Thursday, with losses widening after the Senate revealed that its tax plan would delay cuts to the corporate rate until 2019. Treasuries turned higher and the dollar extended losses.
     All major U.S. equity gauges fell, with selling heaviest in technology shares that had been on a 10-day surge. Semiconductor stocks tumbled after Intel Corp. hired away a key executive at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to run its new graphics chip business. 
     “The market wants to see tax cuts this year,” said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas. “That’s the reason were seeing the selloff now.
     The bond market took its main cue from technical factors, as sovereign debt halted a rally that started two-weeks ago. Corporate credit faltered amid a glut of year-end issuance, with the starkest declines coming among the lowest-rated companies. Volatility spiked as investors appear to be growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for meaningful fiscal reform with both houses of Congress struggling to put forward tax proposals that have reasonable chances of becoming law.
     “Policy makers hope to pass a tax plan by Thanksgiving,” said Mark McCormick, North American head of foreign-exchange strategy at Toronto-Dominion Bank. “But the looming political trade-offs and divergence in House and Senate proposals argue this deadline is nothing short of a holiday miracle.”
     European equities fell the most since August as basic- resources shares dropped following a decline in industrial- metals prices. Inflation concerns also crept into markets, as the European Commission was the latest authority to raise growth forecasts. Sterling fluctuated amid a resumption in Brexit talks, while oil looked to halt a two-day drop.
     President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to Beijing with little in the way of trade concessions and no agreement on how to handle North Korea. It’s been a year since Trump’s election win and investors are taking stock of his promises to get tough on trade, cut taxes and slash regulations. Meanwhile, reports of fresh arrests in Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on corruption added to geopolitical concerns.

      Here are the key events investors are watching:
* The Philippines’ central bank announced its rate decision.
* A number of central bankers were scheduled to speak Thursday, including the ECB’s Benoit Coeure, Yves Mersch, Vitro Constancio and Villeroy de Galhau and Sabine Lautenschlager.
     And these are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.4 percent to 2,584.62, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index dropped 0.5 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 1.1 percent, the biggest decrease since July.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1 percent to the highest in about 10 years.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index dipped 0.1 percent.
                          Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.3 percent. 
* The euro gained 0.4 percent to $1.1644, the largest increase in a two weeks. 
* The British pound rose 0.2 percent percent to $1.3148. 
* The Japanese yen gained 0.4 percent to 113.37 per dollar.
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell less then 1 basis point to 2.3292 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed five basis points to 0.375 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 1.265 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.5 percent to $57.07 a barrel.
* Gold gained 0.4 percent to $1,286.14 an ounce, the highest in three weeks.
* Copper fell 0.3 percent to $3.09 a pound, the lowest in a month.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

I do not know of any religion apart from human activity.
It provides a moral basis to all other activities which they would otherwise lack,
reducing life to a maze of “sound and fury signifying nothing.”
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.
                     -Theodore Roethke, 1908-1963

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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