April 23, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

St. George’s Day today.

It was on this day in 2005, the first video was uploaded to YouTube by the site’s co-founder Jawed Karim. The 19-second video is a shot of Mr. Karim at the San Diego Zoo. It has more than 14 million views.

William Shakespeare was born on April 23^rd, 1564.  To celebrate his 450^th birthday, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is making all the world a stage and taking its production of Hamlet around the world:

Globe Theatre starts worldwide ‘Hamlet’ tour on Shakespeare’s 450th birthday

By Daniel S Levine, 4/23/2014

Last year, the Globe Theatre announced an ambitious plan to bring Hamlet to every country in the world – over 200 of them – to celebrate William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday. Today is Shakespeare’s birthday, marking the start of the tour.

The group said last July, when it announced the plan, that the actors will use every mode of transportation available to reach every country. Artistic director Dominic Dromgoole completely understands why some may consider this a crazy idea.

In an interview with NPR, Dromgoole even called it a “bold and stupid” idea.

“And the great thing about bold and stupid ideas is that people understand them very swiftly,” Dromgoole said. “So when we go out to people around the world and say, very simply, ‘We are taking Hamlet to every country in the world,’ they immediately get the fun of it and the ambition of it.”

Dromgoole said that they will adapt to whatever environment they have, since they’re not bringing along any huge sets. “We’re going to be very free and open. The set is basically the suitcases that the whole thing travels around in, so it spills out of its own suitcases,” he told NPR, later adding, “The idea is that it’s infinitely adaptable to wherever we want to put it up.”

According to The Associated Press, Dromgoole said that the tour will start in Amsterdam and will go to the Arctic Circle before Scandinavia. It will continue for two years, ending at the Globe in England on April 23, 2016. That day will mark the exact 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.

“Shakespeare wrote these plays to tour,” Dromgoole told the AP. “So these plays weren’t written to sit smug and proud in London. They were written to charge around the world.”
You can check out our list of best Shakespeare adaptations here.

When daffodils begin to peer

When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh! the doxy, over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,
With heigh! the sweet birds, O, how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth on edge,
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,
With heigh! with heigh! The thrush and the jay,
Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
While we lie tumbling in the hay.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Autoclucus’ Song from The Winter’s Tale

Photos of the day

A Golden Pheasant walks amongst bluebells at Kew Gardens in west London. Toby Melville/Reuters

Javier Montes, 96-years old, looks at books beside a bunch of red roses, on International Book Day, in Pamplona northern Spain. Book sellers continue a Spanish tradition on St. George’s Day, to give a rose to all people who buy a book, but the origins of the tradition are shrouded in antiquity.Alvaro Barrientos/AP

Market Closes for April 23^rd, 2014

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

April 23 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, erasing an earlier advance in the last half hour of trading, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. tumbled to overshadow gains among commodity shares.

Valeant slid 2.8 percent, with almost half of the loss coming in the final minute of trading. The shares rallied yesterday following its offer to acquire Allergan Inc. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest energy company, rose 2.6 percent to its highest in almost three years. Alacer Gold Corp. and Detour Gold Corp, added more than 3.9 percent as the metal rose from a 10-week low. Callidus Capital Corp. jumped 20 percent on its first day of trading.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Index dropped 22.58 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,533.39 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after gaining as much as 0.2 percent earlier.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals fell 2.8 percent to C$145.25. The drug company jumped 7.7 percent yesterday as it teamed with hedge fund manager Bill Ackman to bid for Allergan Inc.

Crew Energy Inc. rose 4.8 percent to C$12.51, its highest in more than two years, to pace gains among energy companies. Crew has increased 96 percent this year. Suncor rose 2.6 percent to C$41.37.

“The energy sector continues to outperform and lead the market,” said Youssef Zohny, a portfolio manager at Stenner Investment Partners of Richardson GMP Ltd. “Gold and silver is balancing after its recent correction,” he said. Richardson GMP manages about C$26 billion ($23.6 billion).

Consumer-staples companies climbed 1 percent as a group after Canadian retail sales rose 0.5 percent in February, in line with analyst estimates.

Callidus Capital rose 20 percent to C$16.77. The financial services company raised C$252 million in an initial public offering price priced at $14 a share.

US
By Joseph Ciolli

April 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined, halting the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s longest winning streak since September, after disappointing earnings reports from AT&T Inc.and Amgen Inc. and an unexpected drop in home sales.

The Nasdaq 100 Index lost 0.9 percent as Netflix Inc. dropped after Amazon.com Inc. reached a deal to stream old episodes of HBO series. Amgen, which is in the technology-heavy gauge, plunged after sales for its best-selling arthritis drug missed analysts’ estimates. AT&T Inc. fell 3.8 percent as more customers opted to pay full price for smartphones in exchange for lower bill in the future. Boeing Co. added 2.4 percent after profit topped forecasts. Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. each advanced in late trading after reporting results that surpassed estimates.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to 1,875.39 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 12.72 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,501.65. The Russell 2000 Index sank 0.7 percent. About 5.7 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 18 percent below the three-month average.

“The market has been moving up rather well, but it can get a little tired,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview. “And the economic news today was not anything that would drive the market higher at this point. Apple and Facebook report after the close today, and everyone will be watching that, as they can be market movers.”

The U.S. equity benchmark gauge advanced 3.5 percent during its six-day rally, climbing to within six points of a record, as earnings from Netflix to Citigroup Inc. topped estimates and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated the bank’s commitment to supporting the economy.

The Commerce Department data today showed that sales of new homes unexpectedly plunged in March to the lowest level in eight months, reflecting a broad-based retreat that signals the industry is facing bigger challenges than just bad weather.  Sales dropped 14.5 percent to a 384,000 annualized pace.  Economists predicted a 450,000 annualized pace.

A report from Markit Economics showed a preliminary U.S. manufacturing index decreased to 55.4 in April from a final reading of 55.5 a month earlier. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 56. Readings greater than 50 signal expansion.

Emerging-market equities dropped and European shares snapped the biggest three-day rally since June after the Markit gauge for China signaled continuing weakness in the world’s second-largest economy.

The S&P 500’s six-day rally damped volatility, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell in each of the sessions to the lowest since April 2. The gauge known as the VIX added 0.6 percent to 13.27 today.

Of the 150 companies in the S&P 500 that have released earnings this season, 75 percent have exceeded analysts’ profit estimates, while 50 percent beat sales projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some 41 members of the index posted today.

Profit for S&P 500 companies probably increased 0.7 percent in the first quarter, analysts estimated. They had predicted a 6.6 percent gain at the beginning of this year.

“These next few days are the most important of the earnings season as some big bellwethers report,” Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, an equity market strategist at Deutsche Postbank AG, said by phone from Bonn, Germany. “Earnings have not been great this quarter. Expectations had already been brought down quite dramatically and profit growth is weak year-on-year. The S&P 500 is holding up, but investors will need more of a signal to start buying into the market.”

Facebook rose 2.9 percent at 4:46 p.m. in New York. The company’s sales and profit blew past analysts’ estimates. It also said Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman is leaving. The stock fell 2.7 percent to close the regular session at $61.36.

Apple Inc. surged 8.3 percent to $568.52 in late trading.  The world’s largest company by market value also boosted its buyback to $90 billion and raised its dividend. The iPhone maker said it will do a seven-for-one stock split.

Greenlight Capital Inc., the $10.3 billion hedge-fund firm run by David Einhorn, said it was betting against a group of technology stocks as evidence grows of a bubble.

“There is a clear consensus that we are witnessing our second tech bubble in 15 years,” the New York-based firm said in a letter to clients yesterday. “The current bubble is an echo of the previous tech bubble with fewer larger capitalization stocks and much less public enthusiasm.”

Discovery Capital Management LLC, the $15 billion macro- economic hedge-fund firm run by Robert Citrone, slumped in April to bring its losses this year to 12 percent, according to an e- mail the firm sent to investors.

Discovery has struggled in 2014 after predicting at the start of the year that a crisis in emerging markets would worsen and shares of technology companies would rise, according to a 2014 outlook letter to clients, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.

The broader Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 0.8 percent and technology shares were the second-worst performer among the 10 main S&P 500 groups today with a 0.9 percent slide. Intuitive Surgical Inc. sank 11 percent for its 12th drop in 13 sessions and the biggest loss in the S&P 500.

EMC Corp. declined 3.2 percent to $25.91. The world’s biggest maker of storage computers cut its earnings forecast for 2014 after reporting a drop in first-quarter profit. The company said some businesses are slowing purchases.

AT&T, which had rallied 14 percent from a low on March 3, sank 3.8 percent to $34.92. Customers who signed up for installment plans helped the company boost profit, but were rejecting AT&T’s older model of offering discounts on smartphones in exchange for a two-year contract with higher fees. While the change is padding profits now, though the company won’t be able to spread the revenue from device sales over time.

Phone stocks in the S&P 500 fell the most, dropping 2.2 percent as Verizon Communications Inc. also retreated.

Amgen lost 5 percent to $113.32, the steepest slide in a year. Quarterly sales of Enbrel, its best-selling arthritis medicine, declined 5 percent to $988 million, missing the $1.11 billion average analyst projection. Total revenue increased 6.6 percent to $4.52 billion from a year earlier, less than the $4.75-billion average estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Netflix dropped 5.2 percent to $353.50. Amazon’s deal with Time Warner Inc.’s HBO network gives the company exclusive programs that Netflix doesn’t have. Netflix has used original programs such as “House of Cards” to draw online viewers. Amazon shares slipped 1.4 percent.

An S&P index of homebuilders lost 1.6 percent after the housing report. D.R. Horton Inc. sank 2.2 percent to $21.35 for among the biggest declines.

Procter & Gamble Co. slid 0.3 percent to $80.36. The world’s largest consumer-products company posted third-quarter revenue that missed expectations because of declines in its beauty and grooming businesses, as well as a strong dollar that reduced the value of its revenue abroad.

Boeing added 2.4 percent to $130.63 for the biggest rise in the Dow. The world’s largest planemaker reported profit that beat analysts’ estimates, buoyed by rising commercial-jet deliveries as the company stepped up the production tempo.

Delta Air Lines Inc. was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500, increasing 6.1 percent to $37.09 for a sixth day of gains. The third-largest U.S. airline’s first-quarter profit more than tripled, topping analysts’ estimates, as increased traffic and lower fuel prices trumped winter storms that ground 17,000 flights.

FMC Technologies Inc. had the second-biggest advance in the S&P 500, rising 4.2 percent to $57.75 and helping to pace a 0.5 percent increase in the benchmark gauge’s energy index. The largest U.S. maker of subsea equipment for energy producers reported earnings that exceeded estimates.

Gilead Sciences Inc. advanced 1.4 percent to $73.86 for an eighth day of gains that left the stock at a two-month high.  Sales of its hepatitis C pill, Sovaldi, topped estimates by more than $1 billion. Profit excluding certain items also exceeding projections.

Illumina Inc. rose 3.9 percent to $153.69. The maker of DNA sequencing equipment said first-quarter sales increased 27 percent to $421 million, more than the $392 million projected by analysts.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Only the intelligence of love and compassion can solve all problems of life.

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

Carolann

We don’t see things as they are, we see things

as we are.

-Anaïs Nin, 1903-1977

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7