April 20, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Earth Day is Sunday.

On this day in…
1534 – Jacques Cartier departs St-Malo on his first voyage to Canada. 
1968 – Pierre Trudeau sworn in at Rideau Hall as Canada’s 15th Prime Minister.
2008 – 26-year-old Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Montegi in Montegi, Japan, making her the first female winner in IndyCar racing history.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fireworks are set off during celebrations for Israel’s 70^th Independence Day, at Rabin square in Tel Aviv, Israel. 
Credit: AP Photo/Oded Balilty

Visitors attend a cinema theatre during an invitation-only screening, at the King Abdullah Financial District Theatre, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia held a private screening of the Hollywood blockbuster “Black Panther” to herald the launch of movie theaters in the kingdom.
Credit: AP Photo/AMR Nabil

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket transporting the Tess satellite lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The satellite known as Tess will survey almost the entire sky, staring at the brightest, closest stars in an effort to find any planets that might be circling them. 
Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux
Market Closes for April 20^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
CANADA
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks posted a rare weekly outperformance against their U.S. counterparts, helped Friday by the biggest gain in shares of Rogers Communications Inc. in 15 months.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 30 points or 0.2 percent to 15,484.32, bringing the benchmark’s weekly gain to 1.4 percent. The S&P 500 Index, by contrast, rose 0.5 percent on the week.
     Telecom shares were the biggest gainer Friday as Rogers jumped 6.2 percent after reporting its best wireless subscriber results since 2009. Energy stocks fell 0.6 percent after a tweet from President Trump slowed crude’s recent rally.
     In other moves:
                         Stocks
* Superior Plus Corp. fell 3.2 percent, the most since early February, after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to sector perform, citing a lack of near-term catalysts
* Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. lost 3.2 percent. It now expects second-quarter production to be lower than earlier estimates
* Cascades Inc. slid 5 percent to the lowest since December.  Competitor Clearwater Paper Corp. earnings missed the lowest estimate due to a soft tissue market
                         Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $17.25 discount to WTI
* Gold fell 0.8 percent to $1,336.70 an ounce, the lowest in nearly two weeks
                         FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.7 percent to C$1.2754 per U.S. dollar after inflation and retail sales excluding automobiles rose less than forecast in March
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 2.34 percent
US
By Jeremy Herron and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks stumbled into the weekend, as renewed selling in technology shares overshadowed what has so far been a solid earnings season. Inflation concerns sent the dollar higher and Treasury yields topped 2.95 percent.
     Major American equity benchmarks fell at least 0.8 percent on Friday, paring gains from earlier in the week. Makers of computer chips and hardware bore the brunt of the selling, with Apple Inc. capping for its biggest rout since early February following a downgrade based on its deteriorating outlook in China. Trade also remains in focus, with Treasury considering an emergency law to curb Chinese investments in sensitive technologies.
     U.S. Treasury yields rose for a third session even as the stock selloff worsened. While investors debate the cause of the decline in sovereign debt, bond market gauges showed an increase in expectations for inflation after recent torrid gains in metals from aluminum to nickel. American oil bounced back from a decline sparked by Donald Trump’s complaint that prices are too high to settle above $68 a barrel.
     “Interest rates are once again rising which is raising peoples’ concerns about the impact of rising rates on the U.S. economy and markets,” Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co., said by phone.
     General Electric Co. rose on solid results, one of just four gainers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company joined the 85 percent of S&P 500 companies that’ve topped earnings estimates so far this season by an average of 7.1 percent Alphabet Inc. reports Monday in what will be one of the busiest weeks for first-quarter results.
     Still, the late-week selloff in equities damped the mood among investors looking to earnings season to break stocks out of a two-month range. While companies that have beaten estimates pushed higher, those that missed were punished far more severely. The chipmaker selloff also highlighted market risks, from a potential slowdown in global growth to the implications of the ongoing trade dust-up between the U.S. and major economies.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
                           Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent at 4 p.m. in New York. The index is higher by 0.5 percent for the week.
* The Nasdaq 100 slumped 1.6 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.8 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1 percent. Japan’s Topix index added less than 0.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.9 percent.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.5 percent to the highest in a month.
* The euro declined 0.5 percent to $1.2287, the weakest in two weeks.
* The British pound dipped 0.4 percent to $1.4035, the weakest in more than two weeks.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2 percent to 107.59 per dollar, the weakest in almost two months.
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed five basis points to 2.9583 percent, reaching the highest in eight weeks.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 0.59 percent.
* Japan’s 10-year yield increased two basis points to 0.06 percent, the highest in seven weeks.
                            Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.1 percent to settle at $68.38 a barrel.
* Gold futures slumped 0.9 percent to $1,338.20 an ounce.
–With assistance from Sophie Caronello.

Have a great weekend.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.
-Lorraine Hansberry, 1930-1965

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