April 26, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  HAPPY FRIDAY!
From today’s New York Times:
April is National Poetry Month. So we thought we’d look at a different kind of poet: Larry Eisenberg, a prolific commenter on nytimes.com who posted in verse, mostly limericks.
With more than 13,000 comments, beginning in 2008, Mr. Eisenberg became a cult figure. A former editorial page director called him “the closest thing this paper has to a poet in residence.”

Mr. Eisenberg was a biomedical electrical engineer by day who wrote science fiction (and limericks) by night. He died in December at 99.

He turned a decade of news into poetry, from the doings of President Barack Obama and President Trump to sports to TV reviews. In 2011, he took on the topic of social media:

Was there no Life before there was Twitter?
Was it stodgy, lackluster or bitter?
I find Life too fleeting
To spend time in Tweeting,
I’m a face-to-face kind of a critter!

Late-night comedy: The hosts had fun with Joe Biden’s campaign announcement. Trevor Noah was incredulous that Mr. Biden’s run in 1988 was cut short by an accusation of plagiarism: “That was a scandal?” -from The New York Times.

On April 26, 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 Soviets died immediately. Go to article »

1937 – Massacre, Guernica, Spain.
1785 – John James Audubon, artist, born.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

An aerial picture taken by a drone shows a tractor harvesting blooming tulips on a field in Grevenbroich, Germany. Tulip fields can be admired all over the Rhine district of Neuss. The tulips grow on about 100 hectares. The district offers one of the largest contiguous cultivation areas in whole of Germany with six farmers in the district breeding tulips. Tulips in North Rhine-Westphalia, Grevenbroich, Germany. CREDIT: SASCHA STEINBACH/EPA-EFE/REX

A Samaritan priest raises the Torah scroll as worshippers gather to pray a Passover ceremony on top of Mount Gerizim near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The Samaritans are a community of a few hundred people living in Israel and in the Nablus area who trace their lineage to the ancient Israelites led by the biblical prophet Moses out of Egypt.  FROM THE TELEGRAPH 04.26.2019

Bluebells Seasonal weather, Somerset, UK. The UK is home to about half of the entire global population of wild bluebells. The wetter the winter weather, the bright their colour. CREDIT: BRAD WAKEFIELD/REX
Market Closes for April 26^th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1973, the Chicago Board Options Exchange opened for trading with call options available on 16 U.S. common stocks. For the first time, stock options were listed on a dedicated exchange and registered for trading in standardized form, creating a “fair and orderly market.”
Canada
By Kristine Owram
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained amid stronger-than- expected U.S. economic growth and higher gold prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 16,613.46 Friday, ending the week little changed from last week’s closing level. Materials stocks were the biggest gainers, rising 2 percent as gold prices climbed the most in a month.
Health-care stocks also jumped, adding 1.3 percent due to strength in cannabis stocks. Hexo Corp. rose 8.5 percent to a record high after Desjardins Securities initiated coverage with a buy rating, bringing the number of bulls on the stock to 14.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Mullen Group Ltd. tumbled 13 percent to the lowest since 2009 after GMP FirstEnergy downgraded the stock to reduce, citing valuation concerns
* Aecon Group Inc. rose 7.1 percent, the most since October. The construction firm reported revenue that beat and a loss per share that was narrower than the average analyst estimate
* Bombardier Inc. fell 5.7 percent, bringing its two-day decline to 20 percent. The company cut its 2019 sales and profit forecast amid new problems at its train-making business
Ratings
* BBD/B CN: Bombardier Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James; PT C$3.50
* BCB CN: Cott Rated New Sell at Veritas
* CAE CN: CAE Downgraded to Sector Perform at National Bank; PT C$32.50
* CAE CN: CAE Inc. Falls as NBF Cuts on Valuation, Would Buy on Weakness
* CFP CN: Newmont Earnings, Containerboard Confidence: N.A. Materials Wrap
* CLS CN: Celestica Downgraded to Hold at Canaccord
* GIB/A CN: CGI Inc Downgraded to Neutral at CIBC; PT C$100
* MTL CN: Mullen Group Downgraded to Reduce at GMP; PT C$9.25
* MTL CN: Mullen Group Drops as GMP FirstEnergy Turns More Bearish
* WCN CN: Waste Connections Cut to Sector Perform at Alta Corp; PT C$130
* YRI CN: Yamana Gold Downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.50 discount to WTI
* Gold rose 0.7 percent to $1,288.80 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to C$1.3463 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 2 basis points to 1.69 percent
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks capped the week with a record close on better-than-forecast earnings. Treasury yields fell after data signaled tepid inflation.
The S&P 500 Index set an all-time high as positive surprises from Amazon and Ford overshadowed disappointments for Intel and Exxon Mobil. Ten-year government bond yields dipped to 2.5 percent following a report showing underlying weakness in the economy even amid faster growth in the first quarter. The dollar pared its second consecutive weekly increase. Oil tumbled.
At the end of a busy week for earnings, investors cheered better-than-expected results and took comfort in a not-too-hot, not-too-cold first-quarter gross domestic product report. U.S. GDP expanded at a 3.2 percent annualized rate in the January- March period, according to Commerce Department data Friday that topped all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. But underlying demand was softer than the headline number indicated, with weak consumer spending and a gauge of inflation coming in below policy makers’ target.
“We shouldn’t forget where we are in the business cycle,” said Mike Loewengart, vice president of investment strategy for E*Trade Financial Corp. “Many sectors are still tempering expectations for the future.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 edged higher as losses for energy producers were offset by gains in media companies. Shares were marginally lower in Asia as an unexpected tumble in Japanese industrial production underscored worries over the global expansion, while the yuan edged up after President Xi Jinping said China won’t engage in currency depreciation.
Elsewhere, developing-nation currencies and shares were slightly higher.
These are the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.5 percent at the close of trading in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 0.1 percent.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1 percent.
* The euro added 0.1 percent to $1.1148.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 111.6 per dollar.
* The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index rose 0.2 percent.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 2.5 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to -0.02 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield slipped one basis point to 1.14 percent.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index dipped 0.6 percent.
* West Texas oil fell 3.5 percent to $62.90 a barrel.
* Copper climbed 0.9 percent to $2.893 a pound.
* Gold climbed 0.7 percent to $1,285.67 an ounce.
–With assistance from Cormac Mullen, Eddie van der Walt and Liz Capo McCormick.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can’t imagine something that has never existed before, it’s impossible.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     -Rita Dove, b. 1952

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