March 13, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1781: Planet Uranus discovered

THE PROBLEM WITH SAPPHO
       -by Charles Rafferty

Only one complete poem remains. The rest of it is berries left in the
bramble after a visit from midday starlings. For years I couldn’t
understand how this redaction moved anyone to tears. She was a
dampness in the matchbook. But the world is patient. Eventually the
diamond travels from the mantle to the finger of the woman you love.
Eventually the light from an exploded star arrives to confirm the
emperor’s power. It’s clear now that a very old bruise can tell us how
hard someone was punched.  The detective solves a murder with the
help of a single hair. Archeologists find a molar and build a face to fit.

What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.
Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us.
                                                 -Sappho, 625 BC -527 BC

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man walks next to trees on a rainy day in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany.
Credit: Michael Probst/AP

A seal gets a rude awakening as its map on the sand is interrupted by a wave in Molokai, Hawaii.
Credit: Joanne Richardson/Solent News & Photo Agency

Chunks of ice fall from the Perito Moreno Glacier, at Los Glaciares National Park in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz. An arch of ice which formed at the tip of the Perito Moreno, between the glacier and the shore of the lake, started collapsing into the water on Saturday, a natural display that happens just once every several years.
Credit: Walter Diaz/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for March 13th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
6
At least six U.S. trading venues have jumped into cryptocurrency derivatives in recent months, including New York-based trueEX LLC, which announced plans to offer such products on Monday.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained for a fourth day while the loonie tumbled the most in five weeks after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz struck a dovish tone.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 42 points or 0.3 percent to 15,647.14, breaking through its 200-day moving average to the highest close in two weeks. Materials and energy stocks were boosted by the falling Canadian dollar, adding 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
     Consumer staples fell 0.9 percent, with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. down 2.8 percent. The loonie lost 1 percent, the most since Feb. 2.
     In other moves:
                          Stocks
* Canada Goose Holdings Inc. gained 1.2 percent to the highest in a month after Credit Suisse initiated coverage with a street- high price target of C$52
* Barrick Gold Corp. added 1.4 percent. Executive Chairman John Thornton bought about $3.6 million worth of shares this month
* Raging River Exploration Inc. rose 4.8 percent after CIBC said it sees good fundamental support for the stock at current levels
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $25.50 discount to WTI, unchanged from Monday
* Gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,327.10 an ounce
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 1 percent to C$1.2974 per U.S. dollar, the weakest since July
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell four basis points to 2.20 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities fell for the second straight day as markets took in Tuesday’s economic and political news. The 10-year Treasury yield fell while the dollar held steady.
     While an inflation report reinforced the sense that economic growth is picking up without runaway price increases, energy shares weighed on the S&P 500 Index as oil declined on concern that global demand might not absorb burgeoning U.S. supplies. Retail sales and crude inventory figures due out Wednesday may offer more clues on the future of the economy.
     Meanwhile, the sudden firing of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — to be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo — may have investors waiting for more shoes to drop at the White House, especially when it comes to trade policy.
     “We’ve got a new person filling the shoes of the Secretary of State,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners in Bethesda, Maryland. “Although the new person has been around in a different office previously, investors may just be concerned about what is this new person going to do? Could the new Secretary of State be more in line with Trump? Be more inclined towards protectionism?”
     Tillerson’s removal followed an executive order from Trump blocking Broadcom Ltd. from acquiring Qualcomm Inc., scuttling a $117 billion hostile takeover that had been the subject of scrutiny on national security grounds. Qualcomm’s shares fell as much as 5.9 percent, weighing down the Nasdaq 100 Index.
     The European stock benchmark also faded as its trading session wore on. Earlier, Japanese stocks fluctuated, but they closed higher as Hong Kong and Chinese shares slipped. The yen dropped as investors digested the political fallout from a scandal embroiling the country’s finance minister.
     Elsewhere, emerging-market equities gained for a fourth day. Bitcoin held above $9,000. Gold advanced.
     Here are some of the key things happening this week:
* China data on industrial production, retail sales and fixed- asset investment all out on Wednesday are likely to point to slower growth, according to Bloomberg Economics.
* Prices and factory output are focal points in the euro area.
* Also this week, Germany’s Angela Merkel is inaugurated to a fourth term, and EU27 government officials discuss the European Union’s Brexit position.
     And these are the main moves in markets:
                           Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.6 percent as of 4 p.m. New York time, its biggest decline in more than a week; the Nasdaq 100 Index fell 1.2 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1 percent, the first retreat in more than a week.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index declined 1.1 percent, the biggest drop in more than a week.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained less than 0.05 percent.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained less than 0.05 percent.
* The euro gained 0.4 percent to $1.2385.
* The British pound climbed 0.4 percent to $1.3959, the strongest in two weeks.
* The Japanese yen decreased 0.1 percent to 106.54 per dollar.
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased three basis points to 2.84 percent, the biggest drop in more than a week.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 0.62 percent, the lowest in almost seven weeks.
* Britain’s 10-year yield dropped one basis point to 1.487 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.2 percent to $60.63 a barrel.
* Gold gained 0.2 percent to $1,325.98 an ounce.
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 0.2 percent.
–With assistance from Brian Chappatta, Adam Haigh and Samuel Potter.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
                                                                 -Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

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
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com