April 27, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!
On this day in 1994, South Africa held the first election in which citizens of all races were allowed to vote. An overwhelming majority chose anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela to head a new coalition government, making him South Africa’s first black head of state.

1813 – War of 1812 – American Invasion Fleet Captures York (Toronto), Burns the Parliament.

1967 – Prime Minister Lester Pearson officially opens l’Exposition universelle de Montréal – Expo ’67

In today’s New York Times:
Mary Wollstonecraft — an English philosopher, author and feminist — was born on this day in 1759 into a financially unstable London household with a violent alcoholic father. 

Wollstonecraft rejected the notion that women were incapable of reason, and she promoted women’s education. She also opposed marriage, which she considered a form of slavery.

Mary Wollstonecraft, in a painting circa 1797.
John Opie/National Portrait Gallery, London

In the end she did marry — her husband was William Godwin, now seen as one of the first modern proponents of anarchism — when she was pregnant with her second child. (Wollstonecraft had a daughter from an affair with an American.)

She died at 38, less than two weeks after giving birth to a second daughter, Mary, who would grow up to write “Frankenstein.”

Among the works for which Wollstonecraft is known are two public letters: “A Vindication of the Rights of Men” (published anonymously in 1790) and “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” published in 1792.

Her goal for women: “I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.”

Claire Moses wrote today’s Back Story.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A new transforming robot called “J-deite RIDE” that transforms itself into a passenger vehicle, developed by Brave Robotics Inc, Asratec Corp and Sansei Technologies Inc, demonstrates during its unveiling at a factory near Tokyo, Japan. Credit: Toru Hanai/Reuters

Kofukuji temple chief priest Bungen Oi offers a prayer for Sony’s pet robot AIBOs displayed on an altar prior to hold the robot’s funeral at the Kofukuji temple in Isumi, Chiba. More than a hundred robot dogs from different years were sitting next to each other in Japan – it was not for a tech fair for their “funeral”. Credit: Nicolas Datiche/AFP/Getty Images

A woman walks through the Tai Haku Cherry Tree Orchard at the Alnwick Garden in Alnwick, Northumberland. Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA

Landscape photographer Matthew Pinner captured this stunning rainbow over Portland Bill just before Sunset. Credit: Matthew Pinner/Cover Images
Market Closes for April 27^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
563,100
Amazon had 563,100 employees in the first quarter, up 60% from the previous year. The e-commerce giant has tried to differentiate itself from other tech companies through job creation.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — TMX Group Ltd. was forced to shut down the Toronto Stock Exchange and its derivatives market early after the owner of Canada’s largest bourses experienced technical problems for most of the afternoon. Trading is expected to resume Monday.
    Trading stopped at 1:39 p.m., and the exchange operator later said on Twitter that the bourse won’t re-open for the day.  Fewer than 575 million Canadian shares traded Friday, the slowest session since July 24, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
    “All users are equally impacted and unable to connect,” the Toronto-based company said. TMX Group operates the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange, Montreal Exchange and TSX Alpha Exchange. TMX said it has identified the “internal technical issue” and expects to resume regular trading on Monday, according to a statement.
     TMX-owned exchanges accounted for about 61 percent of the value of stocks traded in Canada last month, according to data from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. Trading normally closes at 4 p.m.
     “In my 42 years in the business, this may have happened in the past, but if it did, I can’t remember it,” said Norman Levine, managing director at Toronto-based Portfolio Management Corp.
     Traders turned to rival exchanges to place orders, including Nasdaq Inc. Canadian equity trading is spread out across a variety of trading platforms, as it does in the U.S., meaning that when one exchange breaks, others can pick up the slack.
     “Our systems have ample spare capacity, and run off the same technology as Nasdaq in the U.S.,” Nasdaq said in a statement, referring to its three exchanges in Canada.
                       Diverse Options
     Craig Basinger, chief investment officer at Richardson GMP, said Friday’s trading problems show the upside of having multiple exchanges.
     “There’s a lot of downsides to having all these different exchanges because it obviously increases operational costs and quote costs and that kind of thing, but it’s times like this that I suppose it’s a very positive thing,” Basinger said. “If you go back a number of years when everything was traded on Toronto then we really would be shut down.”
     Levine said he just sold C$100,000 ($77,900) worth of stock for a client this morning, including preferred shares.
     “There have got to be people out there who need things sold today and they’re screwed,” he said.
     Before trading stopped, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 0.2 percent to 15,668.93, on track for a third straight gain and its highest close since March 21. TMX Group shares fell 1.4 percent to C$76.82.
     The problem follows trading issues at the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week. The NYSE said Wednesday afternoon that Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. wouldn’t trade for the rest of the day, citing a technical problem.
–With assistance from Nick Baker.
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Janine Wolf
     (Bloomberg) — Most U.S. stocks edged higher as the debate continued over whether better-than-forecast corporate earnings are enough to offset signs the economy may be cooling. Yields on benchmark Treasuries declined for a second day after reaching a more than four-year high.
    “Signs of slowing global economic growth, rising interest rates, higher commodity prices and lingering trade uncertainty are all fueling concern profit margins may be peaking,” Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell, said in an email.
     After reporting strong results, tech giants including Microsoft, Intel and Amazon.com had a tough time holding on to all their gains. At its high of the day, the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector was up 1 percent, but by midday it dropped into the red before closing slightly higher. It’s a pattern that’s plagued this earnings season: Even though companies are beating earnings predictions at the fastest rate ever, stocks have remained relatively flat since JPMorgan kicked off reports.
     The slew of first quarter growth figures are the latest clues on the health of the global economy, which is preoccupying investors amid growing signs of a peak in the cycle and against a backdrop of rising rates. The murky outlook is threatening to outweigh the impact of both a solid earnings season and easing geopolitical tension.
     Yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped and the dollar declined from recent highs as the American economy slowed less- than-expected in the first quarter. The U.K. posted the worst quarterly GDP figures since 2012 and lackluster numbers also came out of France and Spain.
     “Interest rates, the 10-year, is the biggest issue that kind of hangs over the market,” said Kim Forrest, senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC in Pittsburgh. “It can bring the party to an end — and by party, I mean the actual economic activity on Main Street that is driving Wall Street right now.”
     Elsewhere, crude oil held above the $68-a-barrel level as a geopolitical risk premium in the market limited losses. Prices have been supported by investors waiting to see whether the nuclear accord that Iran signed with world powers in 2015 will remain.
     And these are the main moves in markets:
                         Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1 percent to 2,669.96 as of 4:03 p.m. New York time, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped less than 0.1 percent to 24,311.32 and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased less than 0.1 percent to 7,119.80.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.9 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index gained 1.1 percent, the most in more than a week.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 1.2 percent.
                          Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2 percent.
* The euro gained 0.2 percent to $1.2131.
* The British pound fell 1 percent to $1.3782.
* The Japanese yen gained 0.2 percent to 109.07 per dollar.
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 2.96 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to 0.57 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell six basis points to 1.44 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2 percent to $68.08 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,323.43 an ounce, the first increase in three days. 

Have a great weekend.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Action is the foundational key to all success.
                      -Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973

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