June 3, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday, happy month of June!
The Month of June
The sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days.

The Roman poet Ovid provides two etymologies for June’s name in his poem concerning the moths entitled the Fasti.  The first is that the month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera.  Whilst the second is that the name comes from the Latin word iuniores, meaning “younger ones” as opposed to maiores “elders” for which the preceding month May is named.

June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.

June in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to December in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa.  The month of June – in the Northern Hemisphere – is in spring until the 21^st, when the first day of summer begins.

The traditional June birthstone is the pearl.

The June birth flower is the rose, or the honeysuckle, as roses and honeysuckles bloom throughout June.  June is also sometimes called the “rose month.”

June is known for the large number of marriages that occur over the course of the month.  Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple’s household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month.

This is for June, and all the summers it brings
For the chiming of bells….from a steeple ring
Olde songs of wedlock over top hat, and lace
‘Fore June passes torch, to July’s scarlet face.

Trees are full jackets, in multi-shades of green
The last pink magnolia leaf…still can be seen
There’s a breeze in the air, that carries a scent
Of her sweet honeysuckle… full efflorescence

Still nights cast a chill, but June has its motives
An inviting warm flame…bright amorous votive
Moonlight romance, ‘neath a nautic June breeze
Makes love in June sparkle, by shore or by sea.

                                  -Frank James Ryan Jr.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

‘The Runner’ created by Faith Bebbington, part of the weekend River Festival, which features several neon illuminated orange figures apparently running on water.
CREDIT: MEDIAWORLDIMAGES/ ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Spitfire pilots practise formation-flying over the White Cliffs of Dover in preparation for this week’s 75^thanniversary of D-Day.
CREDIT: CHARLOTTE GRAHAM FOR THE TELEGRAPH

Fred Brunt, who on D-Day was the coxswain of a landing craft, is returning to France for the first time on board MV Boudicca
CREDIT: PAUL GROVER FOR THE TELEGRAPH
Market Closes for June 3^rd, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a fifth day, reaching their lowest point since March as oil prices approached a bear market.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 0.1% to close at 16,015.89. Energy stocks lost 2% along with falling West Texas Intermediate crude, even as Alberta oil prices rose the most since December amid wildfires in the region. Technology and cannabis stocks also retreated.
     A fourth straight gain in gold prices helped to moderate the decline, with the materials sector adding 3%, the most since November. The seven biggest gainers on the benchmark were gold miners, with Semafo Inc. jumping 13% and Eldorado Gold Corp. rising 12%.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Enbridge Inc. fell 4.7% to the lowest in three months. A decision by a Minnesota appeals court has thrown a pipeline replacement plan into doubt
* Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. lost 8.1% to the lowest since January after Eight Capital downgraded the pot stock to neutral from buy
* Teck Resources Ltd. rose 1.8%. The company will sell a “significant volume” of copper concentrates from its Quebrada Blanca mine to German miner Aurubis AG over 10 years
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $13 discount to WTI, a 21% improvement over Friday’s spread
* Gold rose 1.3% to $1,322.70 an ounce, the highest since February
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.6% to C$1.3444 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 6 basis points to 1.42%, the lowest in two years
US
By Rita Nazareth, Vildana Hajric and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — Technology giants newly in the crosshairs of regulators led U.S. stocks lower, while speculation the Federal Reserve will warm up to rate cuts spurred a Treasury rally. The Nasdaq-100 Index extended losses from a record in May to more than 10% as the FAANG cohort of tech companies was said to potentially face federal probes on antitrust activity. Treasury two-year yields dropped to their lowest since 2017 and the dollar fell after James Bullard became the first Fed board member to publicly call for a rate cut amid the trade war.
     Selling was heaviest in Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. as the companies appeared set to undergo antitrust probes after the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to split up oversight of technology giants. For investors, any such investigation would represent broadsides at companies that sit at the heart of the bull market.
     “The regulatory situation is an overhang and it has long- term negative implications,” said Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. “It creates another headwind in a situation where we have a long list of headwinds.”
     After a brutal month for most asset classes except bonds, June began with no let-up in market risks. Besides concern over sweeping investigations into tech behemoths, the latest signs of factory weakness in major economies weighed on investor sentiment. A measure of American manufacturing activity fell in May to the lowest since October 2016.Bank of America and Citigroup have lowered their U.S. corporate profit forecasts while pointing out the risk of a recession amid a trade war. They’re among the first Wall Street strategists to lower their estimates since President Trump last month escalated a dispute with China and threatened tariffs on all Mexican goods unless the country steps up its fight against illegal immigration.

Here are some notable events coming up:
* U.S. President Donald Trump meets U.K. Prime Minister Theres May in London Monday. 
* Tuesday sees the Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting, with many expecting an interest-rate cut. 
* China President Xi Jinping begins a two-day visit to Russia on Wednesday. 
* Theresa May steps down on Friday as leader of the Conservative Party. 
* Friday’s U.S. jobs report is projected to show payrolls rose by 190,000 in May, unemployment held at 3.6%, a 49-year low, and average hourly earnings growth sustained a 3.2% pace.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index declined 0.3% to 2,744.45 as of 4 p.m. New York time, the lowest in more than 12 weeks.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.3%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%.
* The euro jumped 0.7% to $1.1244.
* The Japanese yen increased 0.2% to 108.07 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell five basis points to 2.08%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield increased less than one basis point to -0.20%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.862%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index dipped 0.3%.
* Gold climbed 1.3% to $1,327.90.20 an ounce.
–With assistance from Paul Allen, Benjamin Purvis, Adam Haigh,
Gregor Stuart Hunter, Christopher Anstey, Yakob Peterseil and Todd White.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

                                                                      -Thomas Alva Edison, 1847-1931

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