August 1, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
August 1^st is Lammas, 1^st harvest, Wicca. The first day of August was one of the regular quarter days (the days on which certain payments are traditionally due and tenancies begin and end, so called as they fall at quarter-yearly intervals) in Scotland and a half-quarter or cross-quarter-day in England, the day on which, in Anglo-Saxon times, the first fruits (the first profitable results of labour. In husbandry, the first corn that is cut at harvest, which was offered to Jehova by the ancient Hebrews. Such offerings became customary also in the early Christian church. Annates were also called first fruits). Bread for the Lammas Day Eucharist was made from the new corn of the harvest.  The name derives from Old English, hlâfmæsse, “loaf mass”. It is also the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula.

On this day in….
1819 ~ Writer Herman Melville was born.
1924~ The first cross word puzzle in the world was published by London Sunday Express.
1936~ Designer Yves St. Laurent was born.
1942~ Guitarist Jerry Garcia was born.
1990~ World Wide Web was established.

Also on August 1, 1936, 100,000 saluted Adolf Hitler on his entrance at the opening of the Berlin Olympics.  Go to article »

From CNN today: A woman who celebrated her 107th birthday shared her secret for long life. Spoiler alert: It involves staying single.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Hasan Baglar, from Cyprus, came first in the Moments in Nature Category in the Glanzlichter photo contest for a photo of European mantis insects dancing on a stalk.
CREDIT: GLANZLICHTER/ HASAN BAGLAR

This is the adorable moment a baby gorilla pokes out his tongue to the camera. The hilarious image was captured at Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois.
CREDIT: LINCOLN PARK ZOO/ MEGA

An Iceberg floats in Disko Bay behind houses during unseasonably warm weather in Ilulissat, Greenland. The Sahara heat wave that recently sent temperatures to record levels in Europe is arriving in Greenland. Climate change is having a profound effect in Greenland, where over the last several decades summers have become longer and the rate that glaciers and the Greenland ice cap are retreating has accelerated.
CREDIT: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

Market Closes for August 1st, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1973, the International Business Machines Corp. was fined $150,000 a day—an estimated 5% of its daily profits—by a Federal District Court judge for contempt of court. IBM, which was being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for violating federal anti-trust law, refused to turn over sensitive documents requested by the government, claiming that they would give competitors unjustified access to IBM’s business secrets.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks erased earlier gains to close lower, along with U.S. markets, after President Donald Trump abruptly escalated his trade war with China announcing that he would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese imports that aren’t yet subject to U.S. duties. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.2% to 16,377.04 in Toronto. Technology was the best performing sector, led by Shopify Inc. The e-commerce company shares continued their record-breaking rally after it reported second-quarter sales that beat analysts’ average estimate and gave a more optimistic full-year outlook
Healthcare was the worst performing sector led by mainly pot stocks. New cannabis stock Sundial Growers Inc. tumbled after its IPO, as investors grew more skittish about the cannabis sector following disappointing earnings reports.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Hudbay plunged 21% after a decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona halted construction of its Rosemont mine
* Bombardier tumbled about -16% after lowering its 2019 financial forecasts because of new costs in its troubled rail-equipment division
* Base metal miners such as First Quantum, Turquoise Hill Resources, Sherritt fell after metal prices tumbled on trade war worry
* Gold miners such as Detour Gold, Kinross and Alamos Gold benefitted from the trade war jitters after prices climbed back from yesterday’s decline
* Tourmaline Oil dropped -12% after Tudor Pickering downgraded shares to hold from buy on a 2Q earnings update
* Spin Master climbed +12% after reporting a second quarter adjusted EPS that beat the highest estimate
Ratings
* AKT/A CN: AKITA Drilling Downgraded to Sector Perform at Alta Corp; PT C$3
* ARX CN: ARC Resources Upgraded to Buy at Eight Capital; PT C$11
* CRH CN: CRH Medical Upgraded to Buy at Bloom Burton & Co
* GIB/A CN: CGI Inc Downgraded to Sell at SocGen
* GWO CN: Great-West Lifeco Downgraded to Neutral at CIBC; PT C$32.50
* PONY CN: Painted Pony Cut to Speculative Buy at Industrial Alliance
* PONY CN: Painted Pony Downgraded to Neutral at Eight Capital; PT C$1.55
* PONY CN: Painted Pony Cut to Underperform at National Bank; PT 75 Cents
* RME CN: Rocky Mountain Dealerships Downgraded to Hold at TD; PT C$8.50
* RMX CN: Rubicon Minerals Rated New Speculative Buy at Cormark Securities
* SNC CN: SNC-Lavalin Group Raised to Buy at Laurentian Bank Securities
* SRT-U CN: Slate Retail REIT Cut to Hold at Echelon Wealth; PT C$12.75
* WDO CN: Wesdome Gold Mines Cut to Buy at Industrial Alliance; PT C$7.50
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.40 discount to WTI
* Gold spot price rose 2% to $1,441.73 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar retreated 0.2% to C$1.3220 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell to 1.392%
US
By Randall Jensen and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — A fresh salvo in the U.S.-China trade war from President Donald Trump roiled financial markets a day after the Federal Reserve delivered the first interest-rate cut in a decade in part to combat the spat’s effects on global growth. The S&P 500 saw the biggest two-day drop since May, with stocks swinging 2% from gains to losses, after Trump said America will levy a 10% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods starting Sept. 1. After markets closed, the president said the new levies could be raised beyond 25%. The 10 year Treasury yield dropped to the lowest level since 2016, while two-year rates plunged as much as 18 basis points as traders increased bets on Fed cuts to another half point this year. The yen rose the most in two months versus the dollar, while crude slumped 8%, its worst day in four years.
Lenders led losses on benchmarks with Bank of America falling the most in more than two months. The declines spread across sectors as slumping global industrial company Caterpillar Inc., consumer brand Nike Inc. and tech giant Apple Inc. slammed the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A draft list of $300 billion worth of targets published by the Trump administration in May included a raft of consumer and technology goods, including most of Apple’s major products such the iPhone, along with toys, footwear and clothing. “Any way you slice it, escalations of the whole megillah, meaning the additional $300 billion starting with 10%, means it’s only going to get worse and that’s going to be a defining moment in this trade war where it starts showing up with the consumer,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. “This is not good news for the market.
We’re just seeing the beginning of what the market reaction’s going to look like.” Stocks had been rebounding from Wednesday’s Fed-induced sell-off before Trump put trade back at the center of investor minds. The tariffs come after U.S.-Sino talks earlier in the week ended with no major progress, prompting the American president to push forward with tariffs in addition to the 25% on $250 billion that has been in place for months.
Here are some of the key events to watch as the week unfolds:
* The U.S. July jobs report is due Friday.

Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.5%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%.
* The euro rose 0.1% at $1.1086.
* The Japanese yen gained 1.28% to 107.39 per dollar, the biggest rise since May 31.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell 12 basis points to 1.89%.
* The two-year rate lost 12 basis points to 1.73%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.59%.
Commodities
* Gold rose 1.2% to $1,454.50 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 7.9% to $53.95 a barrel, the biggest decline since February 2015
–With assistance from Laura Curtis, Vildana Hajric, Sophie
Caronello and Olivia Rinaldi.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Keeping your body healthy is an expression
of gratitude to the whole cosmos – the trees,
the clouds, everything.
                     -Thich Nhat Hanh,  b. 1926

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