August 27, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
The full moon was officially last night, but it’ll still look full and beautiful tonight. The August full moon is often called the Sturgeon Moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, because sturgeon (a type of fish) are more easily caught in August and early September.

1979: Lord Mountbatten assassinated.
1910: Mother Teresa b.

Happy birthday
Katherine Johnson — whose story was told in the Oscar-nominated “Hidden Figures” — is 100 years old today.

Number of the day:
$48.4 million
That’s what a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for over the weekend, a record for any car ever sold at auction.

On Aug. 27, 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus the following December.
Go to article »
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Flags fly at half-mast in honour of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., frame the U.S. Capital daybreak in Washington. Credit: J. David AKE/AP

The Asylum Steampunk Festival is the largest and longest running steampunk festival in the UK, attracting participants from around the globe to Lincoln. Credit: Iconic Cornwall/Alamy Live News

Dance participants seen Performing on the street in Nagoya. Nippon Domannaka Festival in Nagoya, Aichi. One of the largest dace festival in Japan. The festival had 210 dance teams with 23,000 performers from inside and outside Japan, and about 2 million viewers. Credit: Zuma Press, Inc./Alamy Live News
Market Closes for August 27^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Carolina Wilson
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained on Monday after President Trump signed off on a bilateral agreement with Mexico to revamp Nafta and called on Canada to join the deal soon or risk being left out.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.5 percent to 16,444.39 in Toronto, the highest close in over a month. All sectors but utilities gained, with shares of health-care companies soaring above the rest. Canadian cannabis stocks advanced after BNN Bloomberg TV reported on Friday that beverage company Diageo is in talks with at least three major cannabis producers in Canada.
     In other moves:
                            Stocks
* Aphria Inc. gained as much as 16.6 percent, following other weed stocks higher, on Diageo discussions; Aurora Cannabis Inc. climbed 7.7 percent and Canopy Growth Corp. rose as much as 7.3 percent
* Linamar Corp. climbed 6.6 percent after Canadian auto suppliers underperformed on Friday as Nafta talks continued; Martinrea International Inc. advanced 7 percent, the most since May 1
* First Majestic Silver Corp. climbed 5.9 percent after an upgrade at BMO due to an improved risk/reward outlook following a selloff
                            Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $28.00 discount to WTI
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $2.69 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,217.40 an ounce
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.5 percent to C$1.2961 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield gained 1.38 percent to almost 2.3 percent
US
By Jeremy Herron and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose to fresh all-time highs and Mexico’s peso rallied versus the dollar as the Trump administration closed a bilateral trade deal with America’s southern neighbor. Treasuries fell.
     The S&P 500 Index closed just short of 2,900 and the Nasdaq Composite Index topped 8,000 for the first time as President Donald Trump unveiled details of the agreement that he says will replace Nafta. Shares of carmakers and parts producers in the equity benchmark surged more than 3.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 26,000 for the first since February. The peso rallied, and Canada’s dollar strengthened.
     European shares advanced, though a British holiday depressed volume. The strongest moves were in Asia after recent efforts by the Chinese central bank to shore up the yuan. That currency was largely stable in the offshore market as the dollar turned lower. The euro reversed a drop after a jump in German business confidence.
     “The stock market is confident that the trade war is closer to the end than the beginning,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York, said in an email. “One by one the trade war dominoes are starting to fall backwards and are off the table for risks that threaten the global economy.”
     The breakthrough on trade with Mexico captured investor attention amid yet another failure for U.S. and China trade talks. American stocks added to records amid strong earnings and domestic expansion, while Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s indication the U.S. will continue to follow a path of gradual tightening was interpreted as having a dovish tone.
    The trade news enabled investors to look past a host of other macro events, including President Donald Trump’s ongoing legal woes, fresh Russian sanctions, a war of words over Syria and faltering efforts to denuclearize North Korea. While Asian shares rallied on the back of the yuan’s stabilization, the PBOC’s moves to steady the currency threaten to be an unwelcome step backward in the longer term.
     Elsewhere, European bonds followed Treasuries lower. Turkey’s lira dropped as the country’s markets reopened following a holiday. Emerging-market stocks rallied. Oil was little changed.
     Here are some key events coming up this week:
* Earnings are due from companies including Canada’s largest banks and China Construction Bank Corp., ICBC, Pernod Ricard and Dollar General.
* China’s official factory PMI are due Friday.
* The U.S. economy probably grew in the second quarter at a slightly slower pace, economists predict ahead of Wednesday’s report.
* The Bank of Korea sets policy on Friday. Weak jobs growth has cooled speculation of an interest-rate increase.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                            Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 0.8 percent to 2,896.66 as of 4 p.m. in New York to the highest on record.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 percent to surpass 26,000.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5 percent to the highest in almost two weeks.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.2 percent to the highest in two weeks on the biggest climb in more than 11 weeks.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 1.8 percent to the highest in two weeks on the largest rise in more than six weeks.
                            Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.4 percent to 1,178.53.
* The peso rose more than 1 percent to 18.66 per dollar.
* The euro increased 0.1 percent to $1.1677.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1 percent to 111.086 per dollar.
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 2.85 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to 0.376 percent, the highest in two weeks.
* The spread of Italy’s 10-year bonds over Germany’s dipped one basis point to 2.7988 percentage points.
                            Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude gained less than 0.2 percent to $68.87 a barrel, the highest in more than three weeks.
* Gold futures added 0.2 percent to $1,216.10 an ounce.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Cormac Mullen and Samuel Potter. 

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

By nature, men are nearly alike;  by practice, they get to be wide apart.
                                                            -Confucius, 551 BC-479 BC

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