April 4, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

April 4^th, 1877, the world’s first regular telephone line, connecting Charles Williams’ metalworking shop on Court Street in Boston with his home in Somerville, Mass., went into service. “I went into his office this afternoon,” marveled Alexander Graham Bell, “and found him talking to his wife by telephone. He seemed as delighted as could be.”

April 4^th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated.

The Wall Street Journal is looking ahead with the podcast The Future of Everything, which examines what’s coming up for subjects from music to quantum computing to bitcoin.  A recent intriguing episode looked at artificial intelligence and what would affect decisions made by that technology.  You can find it at http://bit.ly/thefutureofeverything.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Nicholas Chow, deputy chairman for Sotheby’s Asia, holds an extremely rare Qing Dynasty bowl – one on only three known to exist – during a media preview at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. An extremely rare Qing Dynasty bowl made for the Chinese emperor Kangxi fetched 30.4 million USD, Sotheby’ said. 
Credit: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

A large mosaic of King Richard III, which is made out of LEGO, on display at the KRIII Visitor Centre in Leicester. The mosaic contains over 96,000 pieces of Lego and is 10m in length. 
Credit: Aaron Chown/PA

Cherry blossoms are pictured at the Yuantouzhu (Turtle Head Isle) scenic spot in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. 
Credit: Sipa Asia/Zuma Wire/Alamy Live News
Market Closes for April 4^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
1.8%
The level of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, which the Federal Reserve Bank of New York began publishing on Tuesday. A group of U.S. financial institutions selected the rate as an alternative meant to eventually supplant the Libor benchmark.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed slightly lower on a roller-coaster day as investors evaluated and re-evaluated a growing trade spat between the U.S. and China.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 16 points or 0.1 percent to 15,164.37, the lowest in nearly two months, after earlier falling as much as 1.3 percent. The rebound wasn’t as dramatic as the one in stocks south of the border, where the S&P 500 Index swung nearly three percentage points and closed higher.
     Losses in health-care stocks and miners were offset by gains in consumer and telecom shares. Cannabis stocks were some of the biggest decliners as investors fled risky assets, with Aurora Cannabis Inc. losing 5.6 percent and Canopy Growth Corp. down 1.3 percent.
     In other moves:
                           Stocks
* Magna International Inc. rose 1.9 percent after the U.S. softened a key Nafta demand for more North American content in vehicles, according to people familiar with the talks
* Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust added 2.2 percent after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock on improving employment trends in its main market of Alberta
* Eldorado Gold Corp. gained 3.5 percent after confirming a positive ruling from a Greek arbitration panel
                           Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $16.55 discount to WTI, the narrowest gap since November
* Gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,335.80 an ounce
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.3 percent to C$1.2772 per U.S. dollar, the strongest in more than five weeks
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 2.17 percent
US
By Jeremy Herron and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities stormed back from deep losses sparked by trade tensions as investors speculated the Trump administration won’t enact the most protectionist proposals and risk derailing economic growth.
     The S&P 500 Index saw the biggest two-day gain in five weeks as representatives from China and the Trump administration left the door open for a negotiated solution to avoid tariff proposals that wouldn’t take effect for months. Treasury yields turned higher to trade near 2.79 percent. The dollar fell as the Mexican peso strengthened after the U.S. president was said to have softened on his car-parts demand in North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
     Still, fear that the tensions could escalate at any time hit specific sectors after China said it would levy 25 percent tariffs on some U.S. imports. Boeing lost more than 1 percent, the Cboe Volatility Index held near double its level for the past year. Soybeans slumped and energy producers retreated.
     “Markets don’t like uncertainty, and this back and forth with what the U.S. is doing with tariffs and targeting specifically Chinese products and Chinese trade relationships and policies, they’re obviously not good,” Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer for equities at Charles Schwab Investment Management, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters.
     Markets have been buffeted in recent weeks by everything from a volatility spike and a tech selloff to fears of an all- out trade war, and developments on Wednesday suggest there may be more turbulence to come. Investors are having to weigh the growing protectionist rhetoric between the U.S. and China against the chances of measures having a meaningful effect on the still-upbeat global growth picture.
     “Trade uncertainty is the main headwind to the market,” Charles St-Arnaud, an investment strategist at Lombard Odier Asset Management in London, said by phone. “At this juncture we need to be careful. The macro picture hasn’t changed massively yet. Growth remains robust, unless we go into a bigger trade war.”
     Here are some key events coming up this week:
* U.S. employment data are due Friday; the jobless rate probably fell in March after holding at 4.1 percent for five straight months.
* The Reserve Bank of India decides on policy Thursday.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent to 2,644.74 at 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index rose 1.6 percent.
* Boeing’s 1 percent drop was the biggest in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.5 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 1.2 percent to the lowest in almost eight weeks.
                          Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1 percent.
* The euro was little changed at $1.228.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2 percent to 106.80 per dollar.
                          Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.79 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 0.49 percent, the lowest in 12 weeks.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 1.359 percent, the lowest in almost 11 weeks.
                         Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude was steady at $63.52 a barrel.
* Gold futures was little changed at $1,332.83 an ounce.
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index decreased 0.4 percent.
–With assistance from Samuel Potter and Cecile Gutscher.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
                                      -Martin Luther King, January 16^th,1929-April 4^th ,1968

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

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
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com