April 15th, 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends, 

 Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)

• He had a keen eye and quick mind that led him to make important scientific discoveries, yet he never published his ideas.
• He was a gentle vegetarian who loved animals and despised war, yet he worked as a military engineer to invent advanced and deadly weapons.
• He was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, yet he left only a handful of completed paintings.

 Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci 

April 15, 2011

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

 April 15 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks headed toward their first weekly decline in five weeks as banks fell after Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland’s credit rating by two levels and Bank of American Corp. missed analysts’ profit forecasts.

 Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, dropped 0.8 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-biggest energy company by market value, climbed 1.9 percent as crude oil rallied. Iamgold Corp., which produces gold in Africa and South America, lost 6.2 percent after agreeing to sell its stake in two Ghanaian mines.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.65 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,823.45 at 3:25 p.m. in Toronto. The equity benchmark has declined 2.7 percent this week.

The S&P/TSX retreated this week after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and concern mounted that China will further tighten credit to restrain inflation. The index has been outgained by the S&P 500 this year, 4.9 percent to 2.8 percent, after outperforming its U.S. counterpart for seven straight years.

 US

 By Michael P. Regan and Rita Nazareth

 April 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, trimming a second straight weekly drop for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and oil rallied after data on consumer confidence and manufacturing topped economist estimates. Treasuries gained and the dollar advanced versus the euro amid concern over Europe’s debt crisis.

 The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent to 1,319.68 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring its weekly loss to 0.6 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields slid nine basis points to 3.41 percent and the euro slumped 0.4 percent to $1.4426, while gold rose to a record and silver touched a 31-year high. Ireland’s 10-year yield added 37 basis points to 9.71 percent after the nation’s credit rating was downgraded. Oil jumped to almost $110 a barrel in New York.

 Optimism about the health of the economy grew after a gauge of consumer sentiment rebounded from a 16-month low, U.S. industrial production rose more than forecast and the Federal Reserve’s measure of New York-area manufacturing reached the highest level in a year. The data helped the market reverse an early drop spurred by lower-than-estimated profit at Google Inc., which slid 8.3 percent for its worst drop since 2008.

 “The economy continues to expand and the recovery is sustaining,” said Russ Koesterich, the San Francisco-based head of investment strategy for scientific active equities at BlackRock Inc., which oversees $3.56 trillion as the world’s largest asset manager. “It’s not going to be a bad earnings season. It’s just that a lot of the good news is already baked in. It’s going to be a choppy market with an upward bias.”

 S&P 500 Gains

 Utilities and health-care stocks led gains in nine of 10 industries in the S&P 500. Only technology companies retreated as Google dragged the group lower even as 54 of 75 companies in the S&P 500 Information Technology Index gained. Merck & Co. and DuPont Co. climbed at least 1.4 percent to lead the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s advance.

 Stocks turned higher after the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 69.6, above forecasts. The gauge was projected to climb to 68.8, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Fed Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to 21.7, topping estimates.

 Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes capped their first weekly gain in a month after President Barack Obama pledged this week to cut the deficit by $4 trillion within 12 years. Two-year Treasury note yields slipped eight basis points to 0.69 percent today.

 Dollar, Euro

 While climbing against the euro, the dollar fell versus 10 of 16 major peers. The currency slipped more than 0.4 percent against the New Zealand dollar and Japanese yen.

 The euro weakened versus all 16 major peers and Greece’s 10-year yield climbed to a record high of 13.84 percent, with costs to protect the nation’s debt also reaching an all-time high. A Greek debt restructuring “would not be a disaster” and Germany would back a voluntary effort to ease the struggling euro member’s payment terms, German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer said.

 Moody’s Investors Service signaled it may reduce Ireland to junk after cutting the rating two levels to the lowest investment grade.

 European stocks climbed, boosted by results at companies from Nestle SA to Syngenta AG and the U.S. consumer confidence report. Nestle rallied 2.4 percent after the world’s largest food company reported first-quarter organic sales growth that topped analyst estimates.

 Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 Be magnificent!

 It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
                           –Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)

As ever,

 Nishma for Carolann

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