June 8, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On this day in 1916, Francis Harry Compton Crick was born in Northampton, England. In 1953, working with James Watson, he discovered the double-helix molecular structure of DNA, the building block of life.

Dylan Byer’s writes in today’s edition of PACIFIC:
In Memorium
Anthony Bourdain

“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be,” Bourdain once said. “The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough — to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.”

Bourdain was the genuine article. He gave you the sense — rare in writing, rarer still in person, and rarest of all in television — that he was totally himself. No affectation, no bullshit. And that self was so cool, so charismatic, so sincere that it was impossible, at least for me, not to envy and admire him for his ability to build a career on being himself and doing what he loved. He was a north star.

I couldn’t agree more.  A  lot of tears are being shed today.  RIP Tony.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A charity screening of “Gladiator” takes place at the Colosseum in Rome. Credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images

The Greenpeace ship Arctic sunrise in Hope Bay, the Antarctic Sound, conducting submarine-based research of the seafloor to identify Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems. Credit: Christian Aslund/Greenpeace

Thoren Ferguson plays the Il Mare Violin, which is made from driftwood, in the sea at Yellowcraigs in East Lothian, Scotland. Edinburgh-based violin maker Steve Burnett collected driftwood from the East Lothian coast to make the instrument which was unveiled ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8^th. The violin will be played at fundraising events and concerts to help raise money for environmental charities and is being endorsed by Marine Conservation Scotland. Credit: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

An ant drinks from a raindrop after a shower in Rottweil, southern Germany. Credit: Silas Stein/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for June 8^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
$3.3155
The price per pound for copper in the most active futures contract at its high point Thursday, just shy of the highest point since early 2014. Prices have risen around 6% this week.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed higher after spending much of the day in the red, notching a fifth straight gain to the highest since January.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 10 points or 0.1 percent to 16,202.69, bringing its weekly gain to 1 percent. Consumer staples led the way, rising 0.7 percent amid gains by grocery retailers. Health-care stocks added 0.5 percent with cannabis stocks mixed after the Canadian Senate approved an amended marijuana legalization bill.
     The energy sector was the biggest decliner, losing 0.4 percent as the discount for Canadian crude widened to the biggest spread this week. NuVista Energy Ltd. slid 4.6 percent.
     In other moves:
                          Stocks
* Enghouse Systems Ltd. jumped 8.1 percent to the highest since 2015 after second-quarter earnings beat the highest estimate
* Transcontinental Inc. added 5.3 percent to a record high.  Second-quarter revenue beat the highest analyst estimate
* Saputo Inc. lost 1.1 percent, adding to Thursday’s 4.3 percent decline. The stock was downgraded at Desjardins Securities amid challenging market conditions
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $17.80 discount to WTI
* Gold fell 0.1 percent to $1,290.10 an ounce
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.3 percent to C$1.2934 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose three basis points to 2.32 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Janine Wolf
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities held on to a Friday afternoon rally as the risk-off sentiment that gripped investors late in the week subsided. Brazil’s real surged after the central bank pledged to support the currency, helping to reduce fears of an emerging markets contagion.
     The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average all finished the week in positive territory. President Donald Trump traveled to Canada for the Group of Seven meeting, vowing before he left the U.S. that he won’t bend to longtime allies on tariffs. Treasury yields edged higher, while the dollar was little changed.
     “Market participants originally were reacting quite strongly to some of the trade rhetoric,” Sinead Colton, global investment strategist and portfolio manager for the Dreyfus Dynamic Total Return Fund for BNY Mellon, said by phone. “Now it seems to be built in as an expectation that this will be resolved before it ever becomes a big issue to hit GDP in particular areas.”
     After appearing to regain some swagger this week, global markets dropped back into risk-off mode Thursday as old worries moved to the forefront. Underwhelming data releases from France and Germany continued a run of poor economic news in the euro area, while growing cracks in the developing world are adding to concerns. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index followed Chinese and Hong Kong shares lower.
     Emerging markets remained turbulent. The real jumped as much as 4 percent, leading world gains, after the central bank pledged to flood the market with currency swaps. Investors earlier this week ignored central bank attempts to bolster the currency, sending the real to a two-year low. South Africa’s rand tumbled and bond yields soared as disappointing economic data this week persuaded traders that there’s no chance of a rate increase any time soon.
     Elsewhere, oil closed near $66 a barrel in New York amid signs OPEC nations may clash over production policy when they meet later this month.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,778.99, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3 percent to 25,316.53 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1 percent to 7,645.51 as of 4:05 p.m. in New York.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dropped for a second day, falling0.3 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index slumped 1.1 percent.
* Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.6 percent, the first decline in five days.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2 percent, the fourth straight decline.
                          Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell less than 0.1 percent.
* The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.1769, the first retreat in a week.
* The British pound weakened 0.1 percent to $1.3408, the first drop in four days.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2 percent to 109.46 per dollar.
* South Africa’s rand sank as much as 2.4 percent before trading at 13.06 per dollar, a 0.6 percent decline.                            
                          Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.94 percent.
* Italian 10-year yields rose seven basis points to 3.13 percent, , bringing to the rise for the week to 42 basis points.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell four basis points to 0.45 percent.
                          Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.5 percent to $65.65 a barrel.
* Gold climbed 0.1 percent to $1,298.87 an ounce.

Have a great weekend.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste.
                        -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, 1749-1832

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
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