April 1, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

APRIL is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
They called me the hyacinth girl.”
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Öd’ und leer das Meer.”

-T.S. Eliot

Photos of the day

Two drake Mallard ducks fly over Lake Erie near the Cleveland shoreline. Warming temperatures have brought a variety of waterfowl to the area as they stage for the northern migration. Mark Duncan/AP

Visitors take pictures of illuminated cherry blossoms in full bloom along the Chidorigafuchi moats in Tokyo. Yuya Shino/Reuters

Market Closes for April 1^st, 2014

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

April 1 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, after the benchmark index posted its third straight quarterly advance, as health-care and consumer companies led gains.

Longview Oil Corp. added 5.1 percent after Surge Energy Inc. agreed to buy the Calgary-based company. Amaya Gaming Group Inc. dropped 15 percent as fourth-quarter earnings and revenue missed analyst estimates.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Index rose 45.24 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,380.55 at the close in Toronto, gaining for a third straight day. The gauge jumped 5.2 percent in the first quarter, increasing 0.9 percent in March after a 3.8 percent rally in February.

The market is starting to recover after the rally slowed in March, said John Kinsey, a fund manager at Caldwell Securities Ltd. in Toronto. He helps manage about C$1 billion ($907.4 million).

“It looks like it’s starting to claw its way back up again,” he said in a phone interview.  Economic data today showed manufacturing in the U.S. expanded at a faster pace in March as gains in production and orders showed the industry was mending at the close of a winter- depressed first quarter. Growth in euro-area manufacturing stayed close to the highest level in almost three years in March. Manufacturing indexes pointed to weakness in China’s economy as leaders contemplate whether to add stimulus.

Consumer-discretionary stocks led gains among the main industries in the benchmark index, adding 1.3 percent. Six of the 10 groups advanced, with raw-materials companies falling the most.

Longview Oil added 5.1 percent to C$5.77 after Surge Energy agreed to buy the company for C$429 million.

Amaya Gaming dropped 15 percent to C$6.30 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings and sales that fell below analyst predictions.

Kinross Gold Corp. increased 0.4 percent to C$4.59 after it released a new feasibility study for its Tasiast mine expansion project in Mauritania.

“The project has a strong probability of proceeding,” Tony Lesiak, a Toronto-based analyst with Canaccord Genuity Corp., wrote in a note to clients. Lesiak has a buy rating on the stock.

Dynasty Metals & Mining Inc. rose 7.3 percent to C$1.47 after the company said it had started production at its Zaruma gold mine in Ecuador.

Athabasca Minerals Inc. fell 4.5 percent to C$1.71 after reporting lower per-share earnings for the year ended Nov. 30 compared with the previous year.

US
By Callie Bost and Joseph Ciolli

April 1 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, as consumer and technology shares pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an all-time high, after an increase in a manufacturing index boosted optimism the economy withstood severe winter weather.

Cisco Systems Inc. jumped 3.9 percent, the most since May, to lead technology shares higher. Celgene Corp. rallied 5 percent to pace gains among biotechnology stocks after entering a cooperation with a cancer-drug research firm. MGM Resorts International added 2.6 percent to lead casino stocks higher after Macau gambling revenue increased last month. Ford Motor Co. climbed the most since 2012 after March sales topped estimates.

The S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent to 1,885.52 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.95 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,532.61, the highest close this year. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.6 percent for a third day of gains. About 6.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 6 percent lower than the three-month average.

“As we head into April and new highs potentially on the horizon, it is looking like the bulls once again are taking control,” Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research in Cincinnati, wrote in an e- mail. “March was a tale of two markets, as the S&P 500 held up well, but areas like tech and small caps were hit very hard.  After a very rough March, those areas are seeing well-deserved, oversold bounces.”

Today marks the fifth time in the past month the S&P 500 climbed above 1,880. The gauge was unable to maintain that level by the end of the session in the prior four times. The index reached its previous closing high of 1,878.04 on March 7.

Eight of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 advanced today, with consumer-discretionary shares adding 1.4 percent to lead gains.

TripAdvisor Inc. and Expedia Inc. rallied more than 4.7 percent. Priceline.com, which changed its name today to Priceline Group, jumped 5 percent.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology exchange-traded fund jumped 2.2 percent, adding to a 3.1 percent rally yesterday. The fund had surged 89 percent to a record in the 12 months ended Feb. 25 before sinking 5.1 percent through March 28.

The Russell 2000 Index of small companies added 1.3 percent after a 1.8 percent rally yesterday. The gauge sank 3.5 percent last week and lost 0.8 percent in March.

The Nasdaq Composite Index’s rally comes after the gauge of technology stocks plunged 2.5 percent in March for its worst month since October 2012.

The Institute for Supply Management’s index increased to 53.7 in March from 53.2 a month earlier, showing the industry was mending at the close of a winter-depressed first quarter, according to a report today.

Reports from hiring to factory output had shown weakness this year as freezing temperatures and mountains of snow kept shoppers indoors, grounded flights and made it harder for shippers to fill product orders.

The signs of economic improvement come as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen yesterday signaled the central bank’s unprecedented monetary stimulus would be needed for “some time” because of “considerable slack” in the labor market. She cited large numbers of partly unemployed workers, stagnant wages, lower labor-force participation and longer periods of joblessness.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent yesterday on Yellen’s remarks, capping a 1.3 percent gain in the first three months of 2014 for a fifth straight quarterly advance. The government’s monthly jobs report for March is due April 4.

“People are looking for confirmation that the weakness we saw earlier in the year was, in fact, weather-related,” Walter Todd, who oversees about $990 million as chief investment officer of Greenwood Capital Associates LLC in Greenwood, South Carolina, said by phone. “Seeing better data confirms that it was a temporary slowdown in the economy and we should see a pickup.”

Equities began the day higher as data from China and Europe boosted optimism about growth prospects. In China, a purchasing managers’ manufacturing index by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics fell to its lowest level since July. The weakness in the world’s second-biggest economy could prompt the Communist Party leadership to roll out additional support measures.

Growth in euro-area manufacturing stayed near a three-year high in March, according to another report.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge for U.S. stock volatility known as VIX, retreated 5.6 percent to 13.10. The index has fallen four straight days and closed at the lowest level since January.

Casino stocks advanced after a report indicated that revenue from Macau’s gambling industry rose 13.1 percent last month, topping estimates.

MGM Resorts added 2.6 percent to $26.53, while Las Vegas Sands Corp. advanced 2.4 percent to $82.75 and Wynn Resorts Ltd. climbed 2.3 percent to $227.18.

Celgene gained 5 percent to $146.60. The pharmaceutical company announced a 3.5-year strategic collaboration with Forma Therapeutics Inc., according to a statement today.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. soared 13 percent to $493.60 for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The maker of surgery tools said the Food and Drug Administration cleared a new system for use in the U.S.

Ford jumped 4.6 percent to $16.32, the highest since January. The second-largest U.S. carmaker said deliveries rose 3.3 percent to 243,417 cars and light trucks last month. Ford’s F-Series pickups gained 5.1 percent to 70,940, while Fusion sales rose 8.8 percent to 32,963.

General Motors Co. fell 0.2 percent to $34.34 after losing 16 percent in the first quarter. The automaker yesterday announced a new recall of 1.5 million vehicles for faulty power steering, doubling recall-related charges to $750 million.

Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra testified today before the U.S. House today in hearings focused on the automaker’s faulty ignition switches that led to a recall of 2.6 million vehicles linked to the deaths of 13 people. She said the company has retained Kenneth Feinberg as a consultant to explore options for families of accident victims.

GM March U.S. sales rose 4.1 percent, topping the 0.8 percent increase estimated by analysts. The company had earlier delayed the release because of a systems issue.

United Continental Holdings Inc. added 5.1 percent to $46.90. UBS raised its rating on the carrier to buy from neutral, predicting a benchmark measure for revenue will grow at a faster pace, starting in the second quarter of this year.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

I have always fought not to project but to be myself.

To retain my own scale, which is a dot, but a vibrating dot. A pulsating dot that is what I’d like to be.

I would like to remain that pulsating dot which can reach out to the whole world, to the universe.

Chandralekha, 1929-2006

As ever,

Carolann

Even the gods love jokes.

-Plato, 424 BC-348 BC

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7