March 27, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
March 27, 1975 – First flight of the de Havilland Canada Dash 7 airliner.  Go to article »

On March 27, 1802, Dorothy Wordsworth wrote in her Journal:
A divine morning.  At breakfast William wrote part of an ode.  Mr. Oliff sent the dung and William went to work in the garden.  We sat all day in the orchard.
The ode referred to became “Intimations of Immortality”, of which Gerard Manley Hopkins said:  “For my part I should think St. George and St. Thomas of Canterbury wore roses in heaven for England’s sake on the day that ode not without their intercession, was penned.”

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Will Gadd climbing an iceberg near Ilulissat, Greenland. Credit: Red Bull/SWNS.COM

Alain Robert, the French urban climber dubbed Spiderman, climbs French Energy group Engie’s building in the La Defense business district outside Paris. Credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

Arthur Brand, Dutch art detective dubbed the “Indiana Jones of the Art World’ has struck again, finding a Picasso painting worth 25 million euros stolen from a Saudi sheikh’s yacht on the French Riviera in 1999. The discovery of the rare portrait of Maar, one of Pablo Picasso’s most influential mistresses, is the culmination of a four-year investigation into the burglary on the luxury yacht Coral Island, as she lay anchored in Antibes. Credit: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for March 27^th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
About 6.45 billion shares changed hands on exchanges operated by the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Tuesday, the second-lowest number so far this year.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks dropped Wednesday as pot- sector weakness stole the spotlight. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.1 percent to 16,132.53.
     The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF (HMMJ CN) fell 3.7 percent, most since February 6. Energy stocks also underperformed.
     Separately, Newmont Mining Corp. announced that Glass, Lewis & Co. has joined Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. as the second independent proxy advisory firm to recommend that Newmont and Goldcorp shareholders vote for the proposed combination.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Cronos Group Inc. fell 8.5% after getting third downgrade in two days 
* Village Farms International Inc. dropped 6.4% after 
* NuVista Energy Ltd. lost 5.6% 
* Largo Resources Ltd. gained 6.9% after 4Q earnings
* Interfor Corp. advanced 4.1% 
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9.30 discount to WTI
* Gold fell 0.5% to $1,315.30 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2 percent to C$1.3410 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell to 1.540 percent
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
     (Bloomberg) — The rally in bonds gained momentum as traders turned their focus to a worrying global economic outlook. Stocks fell and the dollar rose.
     Treasury 10-year yields dropped to the lowest since December 2017, and rates on benchmark German bunds sank further below zero after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said an accommodative stance is still needed. Energy companies in the S&P 500 Index joined a slide in oil, while industrial shares gained. The pound climbed as several pro-Brexit Tories, including Boris Johnson, were said to back U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal.
     Traders piled into bonds amid concern about a slowdown in global growth. Recent data showed weakness from U.S. housing to retail sales and consumer sentiment, prompting a more dovish tone from the central bank. A closely watched segment of the yield curve inverted last week — a gauge that’s served as a recession warning. Fed funds futures are now pricing in more than 30 basis points of easing by the end of 2019.
     “The performance of risk depends ultimately on what growth is,” Binky Chadha, Deutsche Bank’s chief global strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “The current message from the last three weeks is easier monetary policies spook the markets about growth.”
     Speculation that the Federal Reserve will consider lowering rates is spreading, with Legg Mason Inc. unit Brandywine Global Investment Management forecasting a cut this year. Stephen Moore, President Donald Trump’s pick for an open Fed board seat, said in a New York Times interview that the central bank should immediately cut rates by half a percentage point. 
     Elsewhere, the Brazilian real led losses among major peers as investors see a bumpier road for a key pension overhaul. New Zealand’s dollar tumbled as policy makers joined the shift away from tighter policy. The cost of borrowing liras overnight on the offshore swap market touched 1,000 percent after Turkey orchestrated a currency crunch before an election that will test support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule.
Here are some key events coming up:
* U.S.-China trade talks resume, with a cabinet-level American delegation due in China.
* U.K. Parliament set to stage several key votes on Brexit on Wednesday.
* Fed official Randal Quarles will speak Friday to the Shadow Open Market Committee on “Strategic Approaches to the Fed’s Balance Sheet and Communications.”
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.5 percent to 2,805.35 at 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.3 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.6 percent.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent.
* The euro declined 0.1 percent to $1.125.
* The Japanese yen increased 0.1 percent to 110.49 per dollar.
* The British pound climbed 0.3 percent to $1.3251.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 2.38 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell seven basis points to -0.08 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased one basis point to 1.013 percent.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index declined 0.5 percent.
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9 percent to $59.41 a barrel.
* Gold dipped 0.3 percent to $1,316.90 an ounce.
–With assistance from Stephen Spratt, Adam Haigh, Robert Brand, Todd White and David Wilson.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

There is nothing that people bear more impatiently,
or forgive less, than contempt; and an injury is 
much sooner forgotten than an insult.
                   -Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773

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