November 20, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Robert F. Kennedy, senator, b. 1925
Edwin Hubble, American astronomer, b. 1889
On Nov. 20, 1945, 24 Nazi leaders went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Visitors look at the monumental painting “The Market of Our Democracy” by Russian painter Ilya Glazunov exhibited at his gallery in downtown Moscow.

A man drives a carriage during the 20^th edition of a parade of horses throughout the streets of Paris leading up to the 2017 Paris Horse Salon.

Swans on the racecourse as runners and riders clear ‘Ruby’s Double’ during the Donohue Marquees Risk of Thunder Steeplechase during day two of the Winter Festival as Punchestown Racecourse, Country Kildare.

London’s Regent Street was transformed into a festive wonderland today as over 800,000 revellers enjoyed the Hamleys annual Christmas Toy Parade.

Capillary Formation from Multi-Cellular Spheroids by Alex Justin which has been entered in the Cambridge University engineering department’s 13^th annual photo competition.
Market Closes for November 20^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1991, fashion chain Cascade International announces that its chairman, Victor Incendy, has disappeared — along with more than 200 of Cascades stores. Incendy had claimed that Cascade had between 255 and 400 outlets — but in reality, there are fewer than 30.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canada’s equity benchmark eked out a small gain as increases in pipeline shares offset declines in other commodity stocks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 6 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 16,004.40, the highest in a week. Energy shares fell 0.4 percent even as pipeline stocks rose after Nebraska approved an alternate route for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline.
     The telecom index rose 0.5 percent and consumer- discretionary stocks gained 1 percent, offsetting a 0.8 percent decline in materials.
     In other moves:
                          Stocks
* TransCanada Corp. rose 1.6 percent after Nebraska’s ruling removed one of the last hurdles to its $8 billion pipeline, which has been in the works since 2008
* Aurora Cannabis Inc. jumped 6.2 percent and CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. rose 2 percent. Aurora plans to take its C$582-million takeover bid directly to CanniMed’s shareholders
* Bombardier Inc. fell 1 percent. The company is selling $1 billion of bonds to refinance notes maturing in 2019
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $15.75 discount to WTI, the widest gap since December 2016, as traders continue to weigh the fallout from a TransCanada pipeline spill
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.41 discount to Henry Hub, unchanged from Friday
* Gold fell 1.6 percent to $1,275.30 an ounce, the biggest drop in two months
                           FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.4 percent to C$1.2817 per U.S. dollar, the lowest since Nov. 1
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 1.96 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Julie Verhage
     (Bloomberg) — The dollar gained and stocks rose, driving gold to its biggest drop in two months, as Congress took a holiday break from tax talks and markets absorbed political developments in the Americas and Europe.
     At the start of a truncated Thanksgiving week, investors were unfazed by the news that Fed Chair Janet Yellen had tendered her resignation. The S&P 500 Index climbed after two down weeks, although it gave up some of the gains late in the session on reports that the U.S. is poised to sue to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Inc.
     “Very near term, stocks face cross currents associated with year-end tax-related strategies as well as a potential postponement in tax reform legislation that could cause the pause in the rally to linger,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird, said in a note Monday. “But any weakness that does develop is anticipated to be limited in both time and price.”
     As the dollar gained, precious metals declined, with gold recording its biggest drop since September. Silver and platinum also fell. West Texas intermediate crude retreated after surging the most in two weeks in the previous trading session.
     Yellen submitted her resignation to President Donald Trump, effective upon the swearing in of her replacement, Jerome Powell. The Fed minutes are due out Wednesday, which will allow investors to gauge officials’ eagerness to boost the benchmark interest rate in December, a move widely expected by the market. Treasuries edged lower.
     From a monetary policy perspective, the news of Yellen’s resignation “shouldn’t really affect anything,” Ernie Cecilia, the chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust Co., said by phone. “If anything, Jerome Powell should be close to a continuation of the kind of monetary policy that Janet was doing. So I wouldn’t think there would be any kind of ripple on the monetary side.”
     In Europe, a month of exploratory coalition talks in Germany ended in a dramatic collapse on a dispute over migration policy. The upshot is that the region’s dominant country remains hamstrung on the global stage, potentially affecting everything from policy toward the European Union, Turkey and Russia to government spending. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she’s skeptical about forming a minority government and would prefer new elections if she can’t put together a majority.
     Nevertheless, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced and Germany’s DAX rebounded from a seven-week low, with investors judging that the talks’ failure won’t threaten the economy. The euro declined.
     Pound and gilts traders will focus on a potential downgrade to the U.K. growth outlook this week and the government’s efforts toward agreeing on a Brexit “divorce” bill. Sterling was boosted on Monday by reports that the U.K. was preparing to make an enhanced divorce bill offer to the EU ahead of crucial talks starting next month.
     Chilean stocks posted their worst rout in six years after surprise election results dashed expectations that billionaire Sebastian Pinera would easily win next month’s presidential run- off. The IPSA index dropped 5.9 percent, its worst performance since August 2011.

      Here are some key events coming up this week:
* Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s November meeting are due Tuesday, while those from the European Central Bank’s October meeting due out on Thursday could show dissent in the discussion about tapering.
* Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives a talk at New York University.
* Reports on sales of previously owned homes and durable goods orders for October are due in the U.S.
* The minutes from the Fed’s latest policy meeting are out on Wednesday.
* On Tuesday, Taiwan updates on October unemployment and Hong Kong’s October CPI is out. Singapore 3Q GDP is due on Thursday. New Zealand October trade and South Korea November consumer confidence are due later in the week.
* The U.K. announces its budget Wednesday.
* Argentina, Hungary, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa set monetary policy this week.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                           Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index increased 0.13 percent at 4:03 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 0.7 percent to 386.39.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.1 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index jumped 0.5 percent.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.4 percent , the first gain in a week.
* The euro dipped 0.5 percent to $1.173.
* The British pound climbed 0.2 percent to $1.3235, the strongest in almost three weeks.
* The Japanese yen declined 0.5 percent to 112.62 per dollar.                            
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.36 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield gained less than one basis point to 0.36 percent, the lowest in more than a week.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell less than one basis point to 1.292 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.8 percent to $56.09 a barrel.
* Gold sank 1.2 percent to $1,277.33 an ounce.
* Copper gained 0.8 percent to $6,828 a ton.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Economic equality is the master key to nonviolent independence.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.
                                                                    -Gilbert Highet, 1906-1978

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
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