July 13, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  HAPPY FRIDAY 13^TH!
July 13, 1930: First World Cup Soccer Championship.
1985: Live Aid Concert
On July 13, 1977, a 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area after lightning struck upstate power lines. 
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Prime Numbers:

1 BILLION
People who are using social media photography platform Instagram.  The app now sits in an elite tier of those with a billion or more users.

25 MILLION
Funds (in US $) raised by a California couple to help reunite immigrant children separated from their parents by US border agents.  Their initial goal was $1,500.

20 MINUTES
During which a kangaroo halted a women’s soccer match in Canberra, Australia.  The kangaroo bounced among players and lay down in the goal before official chased it away.

1.6 BILLION
Estimated payment (in US$) that AT & T is expected to pay for AppNexus in a bid to create a first-of-its-kind market place for TV and digital ads and to compete with Facebook and Google.

Sources: The New York Times, Axios, The Wall Street Journal, UPI.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Huge swarms of dazzling jellyfish have turned the seas off the British coast into a multi-coloured marvel. Boatmen thought the thick sea of purple and pink was actually an oil spill – but turned out to be thousands of the creatures. The massive group of moon jellyfish is believed to stretch for some 40m across the waters off the coast of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. Credit: Wales News Service/Vanessa Bridget

IceCube laboratory at the South Pole, where scientists made the first ever detection of a high-energy neutrino. A single ghost-like sub-atomic particle captured on Earth after a journey of four billion light years could help solve a cosmological conundrum that has vexed scientists for more than 100 years. Credit: Erik Beiser/The Icecube Collaboration/PA Wire

Hot-air balloons flies during the 22th European Balloon Festival in Igualada, near Barcelona. The European Balloon Festival is the largest one in the country and one of the biggest in Europe. Credit: AFP Photo/Josep Lago
Market Closes for July 13^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks posted their best week in two months despite a small decline Friday, with consumer staples and technology shares leading the weekly gains.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 percent Friday to 16,561.12, bringing the benchmark’s weekly gain to 1.2 percent. Health-care stocks led Friday’s decline, falling 2.3 percent as Bausch Health Companies Inc., formerly Valeant Pharmaceuticals, fell 3.3 percent.
     Energy stocks were the biggest gainers, adding 0.4 percent as crude prices rebounded 1 percent following two days of steep declines. CES Energy Solutions Corp. rose 3.2 percent and PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. gained 2.9 percent.
     In other moves:
                            Stocks
* Callidus Capital Corp. tumbled 29 percent to a record low after the embattled lender eliminated its dividend
* Pattern Energy Group Inc. lost 8.2 percent. Macquarie warned that Ontario’s push to renegotiate wind and solar contracts would be “painful” for the company
* Kinross Gold Corp. fell 1.4 percent after TD securities downgraded the stock to buy from action list buy
                            Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $16.80 discount to WTI, the narrowest gap since early June
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.86 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,241.20 an ounce, the lowest since December
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.3153 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 2 basis points to 2.13 percent
US
By Randall Jensen
     (Bloomberg) — Stocks edged higher, while Treasuries advanced as an ongoing pause in trade tensions outweighed a mixed start to earnings season.
     The S&P 500 Index rose for a second week, breaking through the key 2,800 level for the first time since March. Big banks opened earnings with mixed results, while AT&T Inc.’s stock slumped after the Justice Department said it will appeal an antitrust ruling in favor of the company. Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. tumbled after reports Amazon.com Inc. is considering becoming a competitor, dragging down networking- equipment companies.
     The dollar saw its largest weekly gain in a month, while the 10-year Treasury yield clung to its first weekly advance in five. The ruble declined after Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian spies for hacking. West Texas crude climbed to above $70 a barrel.
     “Trade issues aren’t going away, investors are going into areas perceived to be safer. And as long as you’ve got a market where there is rotation, that’s telling you investors are still prepared to be exposed to the stock market,” Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial Inc., said by phone.
     Traders may get some relief as earnings season gets underway in earnest. Trade tensions seemed to ease somewhat, with officials in Beijing appearing to moderate their responses to Trump’s tariff threats amid a slowing economy, falling stock market and weakening currency. Still, China’s monthly trade surplus with the U.S. rose to a record in June and exports to the nation also soared, underlining the cause of the escalating trade war.
     Meanwhile, most metals declined, with gold heading for the lowest close in a year. Emerging-market shares extended gains to head for a first weekly advance in five.
     And here are the main market moves:
                            Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1 percent to 2,801.22 as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.2 percent
* The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.2 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 0.4 percent.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1 percent.
* The euro was steady at $1.1671.
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3201.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1 percent to 112.42 per dollar. 
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped two basis points to 2.83 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield sank two basis points to 0.34 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield dipped one basis points to 1.273 percent.
                           Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index declined 0.3 percent.
* West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 0.5 percent to $70.68 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,241.29 an ounce.
–With assistance from Sarah Ponczek, Richard Richtmyer and Eddie van der Walt. 

Have a great weekend.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
                                                      -Lao Tzu, 601 BCE-531 BCE

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