November 10, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: HAPPY FRIDAY!
1871, Stanley finds Livingstone.
1951, Area codes introdued
1983, Microsoft releases Windows.
On Nov. 10, 1982, the newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A brown-hooded kingfisher sits on a branch with a freshly caught frog in its beak.  Riaan Marais who took the photo said, ‘We were doing a boat safari on the Rufiji river in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania when I spotted the bird with the frog on an overhanging branch on the river bank. It most probably caught the frog in the reeds along the river’s edge as this is where these frogs stay.  The kingfisher must have caught the Common Reed Frog just before I took the image, as the frog was still alive, I had a brief moment to take the image before the bird flew off with the frog’.
CREDIT: RIAAN MARAIS/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

A woman plays with her three dogs at the beach after sunset in Del Mar, California, USA.

Blue Man Group perform on stage on November 8, 2017 in Milan, Italy.
Market Closes for November 10^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1494, the first edition of Luca Pacioli’s Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita is printed in Venice. The book contains 36 brief chapters on accounting and, for the first time, popularizes the concept of double-entry bookkeeping.
Number of the Day
2,654
The number of new or limited-time items that the 100 biggest restaurant chains added to their menus last year, up 46% from 2015. That’s helping revive sales, but it’s also stretching supply chains
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a third day amid a broader global selloff as concern grows that U.S. tax reform is encountering stumbling blocks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 6 points or less than 0.1 percent to 16,076.12 at 9:51 a.m. in Toronto. Financials fell 0.4 percent as Manulife Financial Corp. lost 1.5 percent, giving up some of Thursday’s 4.1 percent gain.
     Industrials lost 0.2 percent. Ritche Bros. Auctioneers Inc. tumbled 7.7 percent, the biggest decliner on the benchmark, after third-quarter earnings missed the lowest analyst estimate.
     In other moves:

                             Stocks
* Klondex Mines Ltd. fell 6.9 percent after the miner reported a wider loss and lower sales than expected
* Just Energy Group Inc. fell 5.4 percent, adding to Thursday’s 9.7 percent drop. The stock was downgraded to hold at TD Securities after weak earnings
* Enerflex Ltd. lost 4.1 percent after third-quarter revenue missed the lowest analyst estimate
* Torstar Corp. rose 4.6 percent. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is buying 13.3 percent of the company’s Class B shares
* CAE Inc. fell 3.2 percent after earnings missed estimates
                            Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $14.30 discount to WTI, the widest gap since March
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.05 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,285.20 an ounce
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.1 percent to C$1.2694 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose three basis points to 1.96 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — Treasuries fell for a third day and U.S. stocks limped to the end of a week that saw a bout of volatility return to global financial markets.
     The S&P 500 Index slumped, posting its first down week since early September. The move was led in part by health-care shares, which dropped as the industry grapples with how to handle Amazon as a potential competitor. Energy stocks also struggled as crude slipped below $57 a barrel amid rising tensions in the Persian Gulf.
     “Market participants expect OPEC to extend the production cuts beyond March 2018 and stocks to decline further,” commodities analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note to clients Friday. “That said, the reduction of stocks should be sluggish even if the agreement to cut production is extended. What’s more, the higher price level should lead to a further rise in U.S. shale oil production. Oil is already much too expensive even if the latest developments in Saudi Arabia justify a certain risk premium on the oil price.”
     The yield on 10-year Treasuries punched through 2.4 percent, joining a spike in European sovereign rates with inflation worries ratcheting up. The dollar was little changed as President Donald Trump’s Asia trip wound down. High-yield debt steadied, the largest junk bond exchange-traded fund rose after three days of declines.
     Carmakers led the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to its biggest two-day drop since August, with most industry sectors declining. Stocks in Asia fell after a rally earlier in the week that saw them touch record highs. Yields on core European bond yields rose.
     Global equities hit historic highs during the week as investors were encouraged by solid earnings and synchronized economic growth. But they sold off sharply on Thursday as the U.S. Senate revealed that its tax plan would delay cuts to the corporate rate until 2019. The move fed growing pessimism about the prospects for meaningful U.S. fiscal reform, which had buoyed share prices in the U.S. On Friday, economists at the University of Michigan reported that consumer sentiment in November fell by the most in a year.
     “We think Americans are confused by the current tax cut proposals, which will radically change how workers will pay Uncle Sam,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., wrote in an email. “Washington uncertainty is back. Big time. Bet on it.
     In addition, traders have begun preparing for a series of potential interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve over the next 12 months.
     “You have a Fed that with a 4.1 percent unemployment rate appears to be on cruise control for three or four hikes over the next year,” said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI. “In the context of there being very little inflation, if they do that it implies tighter financial conditions, which will help flatten yield curves and increase risk premiums a bit. That has a lot to do with what’s going on right now.”

      Here are key events investors were watching:
* Economists at the University of Michigan released preliminary consumer sentiment figures for November.
* European Central Bank Executive Board member Yves Mersch spoke at a conference in Windsor, U.K.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                            Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent to 2,582.30 and was down 0.2 percent for the week.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.4 percent to the lowest in more than two weeks.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.7 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index dipped 0.4 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index declined 0.6 percent, the biggest drop in more than three weeks. 
                            Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
* The euro gained 0.2 percent to $1.1668.
* The British pound climbed 0.4 percent to $1.3198.
* The Japanese yen dropped less than 0.1 percent to 113.55 per dollar.
* South Africa’s rand sank 0.9 percent to 14.3772 per dollar, the weakest in a year.
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose six basis points to 2.402 percent, the largest climb in three weeks.
* Germany’s 10-year yield increased four basis points to 0.41 percent, the highest in more than two weeks.
* Britain’s 10-year yield surged eight basis points to 1.342 percent, the largest increase since September.
                            Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.6 percent to $56.83 a barrel.
* Gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.67 an ounce.
* Copper fell 0.4 percent to $3.07 a pound.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

Unity is and intellectual concept.
On an emotional level unity is serenity, equality, and equilibrium.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

Carolann

A schedule defends from chaos and whim.
                          -Annie Dillard, b. 1945

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
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Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

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