January 29, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I read this poem in yesterday’s edition of  The New York Times.  It was selected for publication by Terrance Hayes.  Terrance Hayes is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently “How to be Drawn,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2015.  His fourth collection, “Lighthead,” won the 2010 National Book Award. 

Patricia Smith is the author of  seven collections of poetry, including “Blood Dazzler,” a finalist for the National Book Award, and “Incendiary Art,” published last year by TriQuarterly Books and the winner of an A.A.C.P.  Image Award this month.

Hayes introduces Smith’s poem, “And He Stays Dead” with this commentary:  “This marvelous poem is a contemporary example of the ghazal, a poetic form with origins as far back as seventh-century Arabia.  Refrain, rhyme, and associative imagery produce several moving intensities.  ‘Knees’ shifts to ‘kneel.’  The implications of ‘cloak’ shift from disguise in the first couplet to shield in the last.  ‘Hollow’ resonates as both emptiness and longing.  Woe is shaped by craft; woe becomes a craft, a resilient vessel, a form of transport.”

And He Stays Dead
   -By Patricia Smith

You can convince your young body to slide on the cloak of savage —
bare your teeth towards the clock and pretend you don’t feel the hollow.

Or you can slap your own face, winding back time, beating yourself
witless until years blur and you convince yourself it isn’t real. The hollow

is not menaced by your trilling. It decides to take your body inside it.
You pile on layers of woolens and fiction, trying to appeal to the hollow

as it owns you. Everyone asks Why is your voice so drained, so moon?
It’s because you are feverishly slipping on mantras that should heal the hollow,

but it just grows larger, and you flail around inside it. It is shaped so
stupidly like a father. You can’t find your knees to kneel. The hollow

will be damned if it gives you a chance to pray your way out, so you
will yourself limp and succumb to damage. Passing days seal the hollow.

Daughter, wear your father like a cloak. Flaunt the blue, the gone
stink of him. Those woes are yours, crafted to reveal. You’re hollow.

Mozart was born on January 27^th, 1756, so Seattle Opera put on a performance of his opera, Cosi Fan Tutte (Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte) this past Saturday night which we fortunate enough to attend; it was the 262^nd anniversary of his birth.  It was a brilliant production, interpreted and choreographed in modern times with the most talented and expertly rendered cast.   Cosi Fan Tutte, meaning “All Women Do It” was first performed in  Vienna on January 26^th, 1790.  Seattle Opera’s 2018 production was conceived, designed, and directed by British polymath Jonathan Miller back in 2006 when it was first performed by the company.  Miller set the opera squarely in contemporary Seattle.  A simple set and extreme costumes clarified each intention of Don Ponte and Mozart’s bewildering, fascinating exploration of the human heart.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A group wearing carnival costume pose at Rialto area during the 2018 Venice Carnival in Venice, Italy. The theme for the 2018 edition of Venice Carnival is “Playing” and will run from 27 January to 13 February.

Venetians row during the masquerade parade on the Grand Canal during the Carnival in Venice, Italy.

Volunteer Alison Wilson dresses as Agnes Burns (Robert Burns mother) to demonstrate how to hurl a haggis at Burns Cottage in Alloway at the World Haggis Hurling championship, part of the Burns celebration in Alloway, which had to be cancelled on Sunday due to bad weather.

Skiers are seen in silhouette on a ski lift as the sun rises next the resort of Lenzerheide, eastern Switzerland.
Market Closes for January 29^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1997, the U.S. Treasury auctions off its first issue of inflation-indexed securities, enabling investors to hedge the risks of the escalating cost of living.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most since August as every sector but one declined and government bond yields continued to rise, trading at their highest level since 2014.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 145 points or 0.9 percent to 16,094.72, the lowest since mid-December. Health-care shares led the decline, falling 2.3 percent as cannabis shares continued to retreat from record highs.
     The materials sector lost 1.8 percent as the price of gold tumbled, dragging miners down with it. Energy shares fell 1.6 percent as crude oil retreated, with most commodities pressured by a strengthening U.S. dollar.
     In other moves:
                         Stocks
* Torex Gold Resources Inc. rose 17 percent to the highest in two months. The stock was upgraded at Scotia Capital after a union blockade at Torex’s ELG mine was removed by the Mexican government
* Cascades Inc. gained 14 percent, the most since 2009. The sector rallied after WestRock Co. agreed to acquire Kapstone Paper & Packaging Corp. for about $3.4 billion
* Aphria Inc. fell 5.8 percent and Nuuvera Inc. rose 11 percent after Aphria agreed to buy Nuuvera for about C$826 million in cash and stock
                         Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $28 discount to WTI
* Gold fell 0.9 percent to $1,340.30 an ounce
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.2 percent to $1.2336 per U.S.dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 2.28 percent, the highest since September 2014
US
By Kailey Leinz
     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined by the most since September and yields on benchmark Treasuries touched the highest levels since early 2014 as traders gear up for a hectic week of data and policy announcements. The dollar strengthened against all its major rivals.
     The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined by the most in almost five months. The euro retreated as German bonds dropped for a fourth day, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index inched lower after the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slumped earlier. Treasuries climbed from the lows of the day after data on personal income and spending.
     “You’re coming off a relatively strong period, where you’ve had a really sharp move in equity markets from the beginning of the year,” Kevin Caron, a senior portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors, said by phone. “The forward looking return on equities has come down marginally because of the valuation issue, and at the same time, global investors are looking at bond yields which have risen, maybe making global bonds a little more attractive. At some point you would expect to see a rotation out of one and into another.”
     Janet Yellen’s final policy meeting as Federal Reserve chair will be the main focus of investor attention in what’s shaping up to be another active week for markets still finding their feet after the recent dollar selloff. There’s a string of fresh economic data due, as well as a State of the Union address from President Donald Trump and earnings releases from the world’s biggest tech companies.
     The greenback advance came after it capped a seventh week of losses on Friday, while the yen weakened as the Bank of Japan downplayed Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s comments on stronger inflation, and the British pound declined as pressure built on Prime Minister Theresa May over Brexit. 
     Elsewhere, U.S. oil fell, though it’s at about its strongest level in five months relative to global benchmark Brent crude as a weaker dollar and falling stockpiles boost the American marker. Metals advanced amid optimism over global growth and the impact of the softer greenback, with zinc soaring to the highest level in more than a decade.
    Bitcoin climbed, holding its value above $11,000 even after a heist of about $500 million in a different digital token spurred calls for more cryptocurrency regulation.
      
     Here are some important things to watch out for this week:
* Federal Reserve policy makers gather for Chair Janet Yellen’s final meeting on interest rates Wednesday before her term ends
* President Trump delivers his first State of the Union address.
* Tech giants Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc., SAP SE, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.,Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. will announce earnings. Large-caps McDonald’s Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Merck & Co. Inc., Roche Holding AG, Daimler AG, Deutsche Bank AG and Boeing Co. also report.
* U.S. employers probably added more jobs in January than a month earlier, economists forecast before the Friday report.
* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will speak before the U.K. Parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee in London Tuesday.
* The sixth round of North American Free Trade Agreement talks conclude in Montreal.
* Gauges of Chinese manufacturing and services industries are due Wednesday.
* The euro area’s twin obsessions — growth and inflation — are on display this week. On Tuesday, data may show the economy with a solid expansion at a 0.6 percent quarterly rate. On Wednesday, the core euro-zone inflation report may show an uptick from a year ago to 1 percent this month.
     
     These are the main moves in markets:
                         Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index sank 0.67 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.67 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.5 percent as of 4:18 p.m. New York time.
* The MSCI World Index of developed countries sank 0.5 percent, the first retreat in more than a week and the biggest dip in more than two weeks.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.3 percent.
* Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell less than 0.05 percent to the lowest in more than three weeks.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 0.4 percent, the first retreat in more than two weeks and the largest decrease in almost three weeks. 
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index gained 0.1 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2 percent.
                         Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index jumped 0.3 percent, after posting the biggest increase in more than six weeks.
* The euro fell 0.4 percent to $1.2376, after seeing the largest drop in more than a week.
* The British pound declined 0.7 percent to $1.4068.
* The Japanese yen declined 0.4 percent to 109.02
                          Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 2.70 percent, the highest in almost four years on the biggest rise in more than a week.
* Germany’s 10-year yield jumped six basis points to 0.69 percent, the highest in more than two years on the largest surge in almost three weeks.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 1.458 percent, the highest in a year.
                          Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1 percent to $65.40 a barrel, the largest fall in more than a week.
* Gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,342.08 an ounce.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.
            -Charles Reade,  1814-1884

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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