July 22, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Rat Catcher’s Day
July 22, 1376 – Pied Piper of Hamelin, Germany.
The story is that the town of Hamelin (Hameln), in Westphalia, was infested with rats in 1284, and that a mysterious piper in a  parti-colored suit appeared in the town and offered to rid it of vermin for a certain sum, which offer was accepted by the townspeople.  The Pied Piper fulfilled his contract, but payment was not forthcoming.  On the following St. John’s Day, he reappeared and again played hi pipe.  This time all the children followed him and he led them to a mountain cave, where all disappeared save two: one blind, the other dumb and lame.  Another version is that they were led to Transylvania where they formed a  German colony.  The story, familiar in England from Robert Browning’s poem (1842), appeared earlier in James Howell’s Familiar Letters (1645-55).  The legend has its roots in the story of the Children’s Crusade

-from  THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN
  BY Robert Browning
Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.

Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks’ own ladle’s,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women’s chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats…

At last the people in a body
To the town hall came flocking:
“‘Tis clear,” cried they, ‘our Mayor’s a noddy;
And as for our Corporation–shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can’t or won’t determine
What’s best to rid us of our vermin!
You hope, because you’re old and obese,
To find in the furry civic robe ease?
Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking
To find the remedy we’re lacking,
Or, sure as fate, we’ll send you packing!”
At this the Mayor and Corporation
Quaked with a mighty consternation…

ICYMI
Archaeologists find a perfectly preserved, 500-year-old shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Thousands of people watch a fireworks display, as the UK’s finest fireworks companies compete during the Fireworks Champions at Newby Hall in Yorkshire.
CREDIT: DANNY LAWSON/PA

Window of Autumn by Hasan Baglar taken in Nicosia, Cyprus, which has come first in the All About Plants Section for the RHS Photographic Competition 2019.
CREDIT: HASAN BAGLAR/RHS/PA

Families enjoy the evening sunshine around the Lavendar Fields of Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque in Provence.
CREDIT: CHARLOTTE GRAHAM FOR THE TELEGRAPH
Market Closes for July 22th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1946, the Bretton Woods Agreement was signed in Mount Washington, N.H., pegging major foreign currencies to the U.S. dollar, fixing the gold price at $35 per ounce, and laying the groundwork for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, with tech companies including Shopify Inc. and Sierra Wireless Inc. leading the way as their U.S. counterparts rallied in anticipation of earnings reports.The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.2% to 16,518.88 on Monday in Toronto. Health care stocks were the worst performers, led by marijuana companies as pot policy review in the U.S. weighed on producers.
Meanwhile, wholesale sales in Canada pulled back by the most since 2016 in May on declines in motor vehicles, while a measure of sales to inventories rose to the highest in more than two decades. The value of wholesales fell 1.8% on the month, the biggest decrease since March 2016, Statistics Canada said. That missed the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey for a gain of 0.5%.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Torex Gold Resources and First Majestic Silver Corp. climbed as gold and silver prices stayed elevated
* AltaGas climbed more than 6.1 after company said that it will sell U.S. generation assets to TerraForm for $720m
* Shopify rose 2%, leading the tech stock rally
* Husky Energy, Kelt Exploration and Precision Drilling were among the energy outperformers on higher oil price
* SNC-Lavalin fell 6.7% after company said it will take $1.45 billion charge as reorganization ramps Up
* Methanex fell 6% after it said will build methanol plant in Geismar for $1.4 billion
Ratings
* CNQ CN: Canadian Natural Resources Downgraded to Neutral at Goldman
* DGC CN: Detour Gold Downgraded to Hold at GMP; PT C$20.50
* ELD CN: Eldorado Gold Downgraded to Hold at GMP; PT C$10.30
* EQB CN: Equitable Group Upgraded to Outperform at RBC; PT C$96
* FN CN: First National Financial Raised to Sector Perform at RBC
* IFC CN: Intact Financial Downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC; PT C$135
* IMG CN: Iamgold Downgraded to Hold at GMP; PT C$5.30
* SJR/B CN: Shaw Communications Upgraded to Buy at Canaccord; PT C$30
* SLF CN: Sun Life Financial Reinstated Outperform at Evercore ISI
* T CN: Telus Downgraded to Hold at Canaccord; PT C$50
* TKO CN: Taseko Mines Downgraded to Hold at TD; PT 85 Cents
* U CN: Uranium Participation Downgraded to Hold at TD; PT C$5
* WPM CN: Wheaton Precious Metals Upgraded to Buy at GMP; PT C$41.50
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $14.75 discount to WTI
* Gold spot price flat at $1,424.61 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell about 0.4% to C$1.3115 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell to 1.48%
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Technology shares led gains among U.S. stocks following mixed sessions in Europe and Asia as investors looked ahead to a busy week of corporate earnings. Oil gained amid tensions in the Persian Gulf. Apple rallied after Morgan Stanley boosted its price target, while Micron Technology was lifted to buy from neutral by Goldman, as were Lam Research and Applied Materials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed. Stocks slipped throughout Asia, led by declines in Shanghai and Hong Kong as traders watched escalating tensions there. Treasuries advanced after traders pared bets the Federal Reserve will slash rates by a half-point this month.
“We will start to get results from some of the big multi-national industrials and tech firms, which should shed more light on the effects of the trade war and therefore could move markets on a broad scale,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote in a note to clients. Oil rose again, posting its biggest gain in more than a week, after Iran’s seizure of a British tanker fanned concerns of a confrontation that could disrupt Middle East supplies.
Investors will be eyeing earnings this week for signs of economic slowdown and any indication that trade strife is affecting companies’ bottom lines. On the trade front, Chinese state media reported face-to-face negotiations with the U.S. may resume soon, as Beijing considers a plan to boost American soybean purchases to sweeten a deal, people familiar with the matter said.
“It’s nice to see it’s restarting,” said Michael Kelly, global head of multi-asset at PineBridge Investments, which manages more than $90 billion. “I think it will provide plenty of room for both sides to get something and for us to avoid the worst case of tariffs on another $300 billion.”
Elsewhere, core European government bonds gained, while the pound slumped after a forecast showed Brexit may have already pushed the U.K. into a technical recession, and as Conservative Party members vote on new leadership.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Earnings season rolls on with companies including: Amazon.com, Alphabet, Unilever, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Boeing.
* U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s successor is announced on Tuesday, with Boris Johnson expected to become the new Conservative leader and PM.
* Thursday brings the European Central Bank policy decision. Economists widely expect officials to signal their readiness to cut interest rates and potentially broaden stimulus. Some see the chance of an immediate rate cut. ECB President Mario Draghi holds a briefing afterward.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3% as of 4:03 p.m. New York time. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average less than 0.1%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.1%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index eased 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.5%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%, the second consecutive gain.
* The euro was little changed at $1.1209, while the yen weakened 0.2% to 107.88 per dollar.
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2476.
* The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index was little changed.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries eased 1 basis point to 2.05%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dropped 2 basis points to -0.35%, the fourth straight decline.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell 3 basis points to 0.71%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate rose 1.1% to $56.22 a barrel.
* Gold was little changed at $1,425 an ounce.
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index fell 0.3%.
–With assistance from Laura Curtis.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement
that something else is more important than fear.
                                    -Ambrose Redmoon,  1933-1996

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