February 27, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 27, 1991, President George H.W. Bush declared that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight.
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1807~ Henry W. Longfellow, poet, born.
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, and it is the wilderness and the sea that supplies his poetry, like Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, and the Courtship of Miles Standish, and their images and meaning.  He wrote poems as a young man during his years at Bowdoin College and then turned to academic writing and translation as a professor of modern languages at Harvard.  His store of languages included French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish, and some Finnish.
He finished his last poem, The Bells of San Blas, on March 15, 1882.  “Out of the shadows of night/The world rolls into light; it is daybreak everywhere.”  He died nine days later on March 24, 1882.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People sit on rocks with their tops off as they enjoy the sunshine at Woolacombe, North Devon. Credit: Ben Birchalla/PA Wire

A surfer males their way into the sea during sunrise at Boscombe beach in Dorset as Britain could experience more record-breaking temperatures this week after Monday became the warmest winter day on record. Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

A girl that studies in Cucuta, Colombia, points to the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge, closed by the Venezuelan Bolivarian National Guard, in Urena, Venezuelan children, who attend school on the Colombian side of the border, have been blocked from class after the border between both countries was closed indefinitely by the Venezuelan government. Credit: Fernando LLANO/AP
Market Closes for February 27^th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Most-active gold futures are on track for a fifth consecutive monthly increase. That would mark their longest such streak since December 2010, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Market volatility and Fed caution pushed the haven metal to a 10-month high earlier this month.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks managed to eke out a small gain Wednesday, recovering from a 0.46 percent decline as U.S. market eased about two-thirds of a percent .
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.04 percent to 16,074.30. Materials and health care (mainly marijuana) were the key laggards while information technology gained.
     Oil prices jumped by the most in almost a month after a plunge in U.S. stockpiles showed OPEC and its allies tightening global supplies despite President Trump’s protests.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Turquoise Hill Resources plunged 13.7% after Rio said it could take several months to understand potential delays to the expansion of the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia
* Laurentian Bank of Canada lost 9.8% as earnings missed, job cuts 
* Premier Gold Mines fell 8.2% amid materials sector weakness 
* Trulieve Cannabis lost 7.1% 
* Winpak fell 6.7% after a downgrade to hold at GMP Securities 
* Cannex Capital Holdings gained 16.7%, extending a four-day rally 
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $11.65 discount to WTI
* Gold fell about 0.1% to 1,325.10 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar gained 0.1% to C$1.3152 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose to 1.914%
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Reade Pickert
     (Bloomberg) — Stocks drifted lower after the top U.S. trade negotiator dialed back expectations for a sweeping deal with China and investors fixated on a Congressional hearing about President Donald Trump’s political controversies. The dollar was mixed and bond yields rose.
     The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped for a second day after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said America is also pushing for “significant structural changes” to the Asian nation’s economic model. Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney who is facing jail time, said that Trump committed crimes while in office.
     “And so hearing what Lighthizer has to say, I think is probably the most important in terms of learning new information for today, rather than obviously just watching Cohen, which is more a political spectacle than anything else,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.
     Equities had been trending lower before Lighthizer’s Congressional comments amid fresh headwinds from disappointing corporate earnings and geopolitical tension in Asia. Japan equities came off their highs and Hong Kong shares erased an advance after Pakistan downed two Indian jets. News of the worst escalation between the two nations since the 1971 war initially boosted the yen and weakened India’s rupee.
     Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified for a second day before Congress about monetary policy and the U.S. economy.
     Investors have added the India-Pakistan flare-up to a host of uncertainties they’re tracking, from the China trade talks to Brexit, that could rein in a recovery in global equities from December lows. Trump is in Hanoi for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
     The pound, which surged the most in more than three months on Tuesday, added to its gains following a report Wednesday that the European Union will insist on deferring the U.K.’s departure date by up to two years if London and Brussels fail to agree a deal. Oil jumped after a report showed an unexpectedly steep drop in U.S. crude supplies, with total weekly imports falling to the lowest level in more than two decades.
     India’s rupee reversed gains and Pakistan’s benchmark stock index plunged more than 3 percent in Karachi before recovering after the latest escalation in tensions. The Pakistani action came a day after India’s Air Force jets bombed what it said was a terrorist training camp inside Pakistan.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Thursday brings fourth quarter U.S. GDP.
* U.S. personal income and sending data is released Friday.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell less than 0.1 percent as of 4:05 p.m. New York time, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose less than 0.1 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.3 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 eased 0.3 percent, the first decrease in four sessions. 
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index dropped 0.3 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1 percent. 
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent, the first increase in four days.
* The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.1369.
* The British pound strengthened 0.4 percent to $1.3305, the third consecutive increase.
* The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index rose 0.1 percent.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose five basis points to 2.68 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed three basis points to 0.15 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose seven basis points to 1.27 percent, the third straight daily increase. 
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate rose 2.7 percent to $56.97 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,320 an ounce.
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose 0.5 percent, the first increase in three days.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness. -Leo Tolstoy, 1828-1910.

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