May 15, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Hump Day!
1893 – First Stanley Cup presented to the Montreal Hockey Club (MHC).
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Henry James, writer, b. 1843.

Live all you can – it’s a mistake not to.  It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life.  If you haven’t had that, what have you had? –Henry James, 1843-1916.

L. Frank Baum, b. May 15, 1856
When L. (Lyman) Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for children, it was no so much as a piece of fiction, but as a real tale they could lose themselves inf.  Baum di many things until he joined illustrator Maxfield Parish in 1897 to create his first book, Mother Goose in Prose.  In 1900, he wrote the instantly successful story of the Dorothy and the Tin Man, Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West, Toto and Aunt Em – the characters now familiar to an astonishing number of people all over the world.  Baum followed up with thirteen more books about Oz until his death in 1919. See www.thewizardofoz.warnerbros.com/#/

We’re off to see the Wizard,
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You’ll find he is a whiz of a Wiz!
If ever a Wiz! there was…
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A pride of lions appear to replicate and image of the rock band Wueen from their Bohemian Rhapsody album cover in Serengeti National Park, Tazania
CREDIT: DANIEL ROSENGREN/CATERS NEWS

Hot air balloons glide over Goreme district during early morning at the historical Cappadocia region, located in Central Anatolia’s Nevsehir province, Turkey. Cappadocia is known as a region which attracts tourists with hot air balloon rides over its cone-shaped rock formations.
CREDIT: ALPASLAN KORUKCU/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

Cricket players from the Ship Inn and Borderers team hold the first match of the season at the beach in Elie, Scotland. The Ship Inn pub is the only cricket team in the United Kingdom to play their matches on a beach. Over the course of a season they hold regular fixtures against Scottish clubs as well as touring teams from across the world.
CREDIT: JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for May 15^th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1995, the Foundation for New Era Philanthropy—which had claimed to match the money it raised for charities from such wealthy donors as investor Sir John Templeton, former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon and ex-Goldman Sachs co-chairman John C. Whitehead—filed for bankruptcy protection as founder John G. Bennett confessed the whole thing was a Ponzi scheme.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks bounced back with global equities amid signs that the Trump administration is working toward easing tensions with trade partners.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index erased earlier losses, and closed Wednesday’s trading session 0.2% higher to 16,318.14 in Toronto. Technology was the best sector, led by Shopify. Communication services fell 0.4%
     Meanwhile, annual inflation accelerated in Canada for a third consecutive month as gasoline costs continue to escalate, in part due to new taxes on energy. Annual consumer price inflation rose to 2.0% in April, Statistics Canada said Wednesday in Ottawa, up from 1.9% a month earlier.
     In other moves:
Stocks
* Fortuna Silver fell 9.1% after reporting first quarter earnings
* Corus Entertainment dropped 17% after holder Shaw Communications entered an agreement to offer of 80.6m shares of the entertainment company at C$6.80 per share
* Boyd Group rose 6.6% after reporting first-quarter adjusted Ebitda that beat estimates
* Keyera climbed 5.1% despite the co. reporting first quarter basic EPS that missed the lowest estimate
* CCL Industries gained 6.6% after reporting better-than- expected profits.
Ratings
* AIM CN: Aimia Downgraded to Hold at TD; Price Target C$5
* CIA CN: Champion Iron Reinstated at Macquarie With Outperform
* CLR CN: Clearwater Seafoods Raised to Buy at Cormark Securities
* WJA CN: WestJet Airlines Downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT C$31
* WPM CN: Wheaton Precious Metals Rated New Buy at Industrial Alliance
* WSP CN: WSP Global Upgraded to Outperform at National Bank; PT C$79
* WSP CN: WSP Global Upgraded to Outperform at Alta Corp; PT C$86
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $14.80 discount to WTI
* Gold spot prices were flat at $1,296.40 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.2% to C$1.3442 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield retreated to 1.662%
US
By Randall Jensen and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rebounded for second day on signs the Trump administration is working toward easing tensions with trade partners. Treasuries advanced.
     The S&P 500’s two-day gain was the biggest in more than a month after Bloomberg reported President Donald Trump would postpone by up to six months a decision on car tariffs that was due by Saturday. The benchmark is still down over 3% since the trade war with China flared last week. American and German carmakers jumped on the news. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said negotiators were close to a deal with Mexico and Canada on removing metals tariffs, helping to boost indexes.
     The two-year Treasury yield touched the lowest level since February 2018 early Wednesday before paring losses, while the 10-year rate fell to 2.37%. The dollar erased its advance against major peers to trade little changed. Oil rose above $62 a barrel.
     The possibility that the president will delay penalties on cars and end steel and aluminum tariffs helped calm investors’ concerns about Trump’s protectionist turn against major trade partners, outside of China. However, anxiety still hovered over markets after unexpectedly weak U.S. and Chinese economic numbers Wednesday heightened worries the trade war could weigh on a global economy that’s already staggering.
     “We just had political talk out today about not taking on another region of the world at the same time in regards to autos,” said Matt Forester, chief investment officer at BNY Mellon’s Lockwood Advisors. “Any news from the administration around lessening of trade disputes is going to be received pretty well, and we’re seeing that today.”
     Here are some notable events coming up this week:
* Earnings this week include Cisco, Nvidia.
* Bank of Indonesia has an interest rate decision on Thursday.
* Australian unemployment is out on Thursday.
     And here are the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time, the biggest two-day advance since April 1.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index increased 1.4%. 
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5%.
* Germany’s DAX Index advanced 0.9%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index added 0.3%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.6%, the biggest gain in six weeks.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed.
* The euro was steady at $1.1208.
* The British pound dipped 0.5% to $1.2842.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 109.56 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell four basis points to 2.37%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped three basis points to -0.1%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 1.063%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to $62.21 a barrel.
* Gold advanced 0.1% to $1,296.90 an ounce.
–With assistance from Charlotte Ryan, Vildana Hajric and Todd White.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.

                                -Georgia O’Keeffe, 1887-1986

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