March 8, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!
1965 – March 8, 1965 – The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam as 3500 Marines land at China Beach to defend the American air base at Da Nang. They join 23,000 American military advisors already in Vietnam.   Go to article »

Today is International Women’s Day, a day of celebration and solidarity.

Many scholars trace its origins to 1909, when the Socialist Party of America declared a Woman’s Day. The idea spread.

In 1915, Clara Zetkin, a German Marxist who had promulgated the day, used it to protest World War I. In Russia in 1917, revolutionary women used the day to demand bread and peace

The Women’s Suffrage Demonstration in Petrograd, Russia, on March 8, 1917.  Heritage Images/Getty Images

In many countries, the celebration these days is less political and more commercial, a holiday marked by candy and flowers.

In your Back Story writer’s youth in a Bosnian household in St. Louis, it was a day when the women celebrated one another and all that they had overcome. Gifts from husbands and children played a part, but the focus was on women’s bonds with one another.

It raises the question: Who gets to shape a holiday? As Temma Kaplan, a history professor at Rutgers University, put it, “Commemorations and holidays are like clay — you can define what they will mean.”

Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s longest-reigning living monarch, passed another milestone on Thursday: her first post on Instagram

–from The New York Times, March 8^th, 2019.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Artist Pascale Marthine Tayou’s “Plastic Bags” is on display at The Armory Show in New York, staged on Manhattans Piers 90, 92 and 94. The Armory Show is New York City’s premier art fair, and a leading cultural destination for discovering and collecting the worlds most important 20th– and 21st- century art. Credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Tourists ride in a vintage car at the seafront Malecon in Havana, Cuba. Credit: Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini

Commuters at London Victoria Station were surprised to see the BI Mayflower steam train on the platform as it comes into London for the first time since its major refurbishment on its way from London Victoria to Bath and Bristol with over 240 passengers. Credit: John Nguyen for The Telegraph
Market Closes for March 8^th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1955, Harvard economics professor John Kenneth Galbraith testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, warning that the market was overheating with “a substantial element of speculation.” With radio stations carrying his remarks live, the market dropped as Galbraith talked. The ticker ended up running nine minutes late, and the Dow closed down 2%. When Galbraith broke his leg skiing later that week, he got letters from angry investors saying their “prayers had been answered.”
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks suffered their first weekly loss since late December despite staging a late rally on Friday.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.4 percent to 15,996.21. Energy stocks weakened as crude plunged in early trading, while materials led the way. Marijuana stocks managed to gain ground with the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences (HMMJ CN) up 0.6 percent.
     Additionally, a new stock hit Canada’s market Friday. Lightspeed POS Inc., a software maker for retailers and restaurants, soared 19 percent in its trading debut after raising C$240 million. Separately, employment increased by 55,900 in February, all full-time jobs, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa, building on a 66,800 gain in January.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Maxar Technologies gained 13%, bucking a 7-day slide 
* Village Farms International rose 11% after announcing its 50%- owned Canadian cannabis JV, Pure Sunfarms, entered into a wholesale supply pact 
* Kinross Gold climbed 6.1%, a leader among materials stocks 
* Enghouse Systems fell 8.7% after 1Q EPS missed lowest estimate
* Paramount Resources dropped 7.6% as NBF downgraded the stock to sector perform 
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $11.20 discount to WTI
* Gold rose 1 percent to about $1,300.40/ounce 
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar gained 0.4% to C$1.3404 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell to 1.763 percent
US
By Reade Pickert
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slumped with the dollar after a report showed American hiring was the weakest in more than a year while wage gains were the fastest of the expansion.
     The S&P 500 Index closed slightly lower for its fifth straight drop and worst week of the year, and Treasury yields fell to a two-month low amid concern the labor market is starting to slow. Shares pared declines late in the day as some analysts focused on the longer-term positive trend for jobs. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank the most in a month after Asian shares dropped. The euro climbed after closing at its lowest level since 2017 on Thursday, when the European Central Bank slashed growth forecasts.
     Investors had been waiting for the jobs report to provide more clues on the state of the world’s biggest economy and were surprised to learn U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 20,000 last month, trailing estimates for a 180,000 increase. The news came a day after ECB President Mario Draghi delivered fresh stimulus as he downgraded the outlook for the euro area. This week, China cut its goal for economic expansion, the Bank of Canada dialed back its expectations for policy tightening and the OECD lowered its global outlook.
     “Taken at face value, it didn’t look like a very good number,” said Charlie Ripley, senior market strategist for Allianz Investment Management. “But looking into the details, and understanding that weather could have been a factor and the shutdown could have played a factor, brought some noise into this report. I think people realized it’s not that bad overall.”
     The S&P 500 closed near a four-week low. Its weekly decline of 2.2 percent was the worst since December. China’s stock market slumped the most since October as traders interpreted a rare sell rating from the nation’s largest brokerage as a sign the government wants to curb gains. Weak Chinese trade data added to the negativity.
     Elsewhere, the yen climbed with gold as investors sought havens. The pound slipped as Prime Minister Theresa May appealed to members of Parliament to back her deal or risk seeing Brexit canceled. West Texas oil futures fell as the weakening outlook for the global economy and rising crude stockpiles signaled that markets will remain comfortably supplied. Stocks in emerging markets dropped.
These are the latest moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.2 percent at the close of trade in New York.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 percent; its fifth consecutive decline was the longest losing streak since June
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 0.9 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.7 percent.]
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 1.3 percent to the lowest since January.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.3 percent, the first retreat in more than a week.
* The euro increased 0.4 percent to $1.1233, the first advance in more than a week.
* The British pound fell 0.6 percent to $1.3005, its seventh consecutive decline.
* The Japanese yen advanced 0.4 percent to 111.12 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 2.62 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 0.07 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose two basis points to 1.19 percent.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 1 percent to $56.11 a barrel.
* Gold climbed 1.2 percent to $1,300.48 an ounce.
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index fell 0.1 percent.
–With assistance from Scarlet Fu, Adam Haigh, Christopher Anstey, Robert Brand and Todd White.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Women are like teabags.  We don’t know our strength until we’re in hot water. -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962.

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