April 4, 2014 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Tangents:
This weekend at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel marks the last weekend of the Dinner Theatre – Tribute to Nashville. It’s from 5:30-8 in the David Foster Theatre and admission is $89.00. Join them for a very unique opportunity to bring a different Nashville star to the stage every weekend. A Tribute To Nashville dinner theatre will bring audiences a little taste of what it is to live, work and play in the recording capital of the world. Buddy Greene himself has selected some of Nashville’s most renowned recording artists to join with him on our stage. Having been to Dinner Theatres in the past, I highly recommend checking one out!
A contrail is seen as India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C24), carrying the second navigation satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System IRNSS-1B, lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, about 100 km (62 miles) north of the southern Indian city of Chennai, India. Babu/Reuters
Skydivers form a missing man formation in Eloy, Arizona, April 3. A German skydiver, who was among 222 people trying to set a world record with a group-formation jump was killed in the Arizona desert when her main parachute malfunctioned, police and a spokeswoman for the skydiving facility said. Henry Wiggers/Reuters
Market Closes for April 4th, 2014
Market
Index |
Close | Change |
Dow
Jones |
16412.71 | -159.84
-0.96% |
S&P 500 | 1865.09 | -23.68
-1.25% |
NASDAQ | 4127.727 | -110.013
-2.60% |
TSX | 14393.10 | -9.11
|
-0.06%
|
International Markets
Market
Index |
Close | Change |
NIKKEI | 15063.77 | -8.11
|
-0.05%
|
||
HANG
SENG |
22510.08 | -55.00
|
-0.24%
|
||
SENSEX | 22359.50 | -149.57
|
-0.66%
|
||
FTSE 100 | 6695.55 | +46.41
|
+0.70%
|
Bonds
Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
CND.
10 Year Bond |
2.493 | 2.546 |
CND.
30 Year Bond |
2.999 | 3.034 |
U.S.
10 Year Bond |
2.7225 | 2.7972 |
U.S.
30 Year Bond |
3.5854 | 3.6291 |
Currencies
BOC Close | Today | Previous |
Canadian $ | 0.91067 | 0.90613 |
US
$ |
1.09810 | 1.10359 |
Euro Rate
1 Euro= |
Inverse
|
|
Canadian
$
|
1.50466 | 0.66460 |
US
$
|
1.37025 | 0.72979 |
Commodities
Gold | Close | Previous |
London Gold
Fix |
1303.53 | 1286.69 |
Oil | Close | Previous
|
WTI Crude Future | 101.24 | 100.29 |
BRENT | 109.360 | 109.360 |
Market Commentary:
Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck
April 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day, erasing gains in the afternoon as a selloff in U.S. technology shares dragged down BlackBerry Ltd., overshadowing better-than-expected jobs data.
BlackBerry slumped 2.7 percent, closing at a three-month low. Hydrogenics Corp. dropped 11 percent after reporting first-
quarter revenue that missed estimates because of the timing of deliveries. Air Canada jumped 27 percent after raising its
first-quarter forecast.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index slipped 9.11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,393.10 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The
benchmark index has rallied 0.9 percent this week, and is up 5.7 percent for the year.
Stocks rose earlier in the day as data showed that employment rose by 42,900, the most in seven months. The jobless
rate fell to 6.9 percent from 7.0 percent, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa.
“I don’t read this through to a stronger Canadian economy, I think it’s decent,” said Kevin Headland, a fund manager with
Manulife Asset Management Ltd, by phone. Manulife manages about C$250 billion ($227.8 million). “As long as we see positive news, things are getting better, improving slowly but surely.”
BlackBerry retreated 3.3 percent to C$8.77, the lowest close since Jan. 6, as information technology shares sank 1.1
percent as a group. Five of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX fell on trading volume 6 percent lower compared with the 30-day average.
Air Canada rose 27 percent to C$7.29. The airline increased its outlook for first-quarter earnings. The company has risen
124 percent over the last year.
Hydrogenics, which makes hydrogen fuel cells, fell 11 percent to C$26 after saying first-quarter revenue would miss estimates.
DHX Media Ltd. rose 8 percent to C$5.23, the biggest increase since December, as analysts at the Royal Bank of Canada
said the company’s purchase of Epitome Pictures Inc. could add about 10 percent to DHX’s earnings in 2015.
Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.8 percent to C$39.52. The company’s shares have underperformed this year compared with
other oil companies despite its “extremely strong” balance sheet, according to a research report from Canaccord Genuity
Corp.
Eldorado Gold Corp. rose 2.7 percent to C$6.55 after Canaccord analyst Tony Lesiak said in a note to clients the
company was “now worth the risk” after the shares recently underperformed. Lesiak raised his recommendation on the stock to
buy from hold.
US
By Joseph Ciolli, Callie Bost and Lu Wang
U.S. stocks tumbled, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling the most in two
months, as investorscontinued a selloff of the bull market’s biggest winners. Treasuries rallied as jobs data boosted speculation the Federal
Reserve will remain accommodative on rates.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.6 percent at 4 p.m. in New York as technology shares slumped. The Standard & Poor’s 500
Index fell 1.3 percent after rallying as much as 0.5 percent to a record earlier in the day. The yield on five-year Treasury
notes dropped nine basis points, the most in two months, to 1.70 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6 percent, advancing
for a ninth day. The dollar slid for the first time in seven days against the yen.
Gold jumped 1.5 percent.
Employers hired more workers last month and the unemployment rate held at 6.7 percent, Labor Department figures
showed today. Europe’s central bank signaled yesterday it may use quantitative easing to ward off deflation. The value of
global stocks rose to a record $63.2 trillion this week as Fed Chair Janet Yellen said accommodative policies will be needed
for “some time.”
“There’s a little bit of nervousness about some of the high multiples in the biotech area and computer and Internet-
related stocks,” John Carey, a fund manager at Pioneer Investment Management Inc., a Boston-based firm that manages about $220 billion worldwide, said in a phone interview.
“You’re having another wave of selling in that very high- momentum group.”
The S&P 500 erased gains after climbing to a record 1,897.28 earlier in the day. The gauge trimmed its advance for
the week to 0.4 percent, and is up 0.9 percent for the year. The gauge trades at 17.2 times reported earnings, the highest level
since 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average touched an intraday record of 16,631.63, briefly erasing losses for the year, before
retreating. It gained 0.6 percent this week.
Large technology stocks from Google Inc. to Yahoo Inc. plunged as investors resumed a selloff of the bull market’s
biggest winners. Google Class A shares sank 4.6 percent.
Facebook Inc. lost 4.6 percent, bringing its two-day slide to 9.5 percent. Yahoo declined 4.2 percent to the lowest since
November.
“This has been in the making for a few weeks,” Rick Fier, director of equity trading at Conifer Securities LLC in New
York, said a phone interview. “Managers were positioned very heavily last year with the winners. They killed in 2013 and
money started to pour in them. Today is kind of like the panic day that they couldn’t stand it any more and now they’re just
puking these names.”
The Nasdaq Composite has fallen 0.7 percent in the past five days after losing 2.8 percent last week. The gauge is down
1.2 percent in 2014. It rose 38 percent last year.
Isolated lurches in the Nasdaq 100 have become more common in the last two months as investors reassessed equities that
have posted annual gains of 25 percent since 2009. The gauge twice tumbled more than 1.8 percent over two-day stretches last
week and lost 2.1 percent on March 13 and 14.
All but nine of the 121 stocks in the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index dropped. The gauge plunged 7 percent last week after
rallying 79 percent in the 12 months through Feb. 28. Netflix Inc. sank 4.9 percent today for a third straight decline. The
stock nearly quadrupled in 2013.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge for U.S. stock volatility known as VIX, rose 4.4 percent
to 13.96. Five- and seven-year notes led gains among Treasuries after the government’s March jobs report.
Payrolls rose 192,000 last month after a 197,000 gain in February that was larger than first estimated, the Labor
Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey projected a 200,000 gain. Private employment,
which excludes government jobs, surpassed the pre-recession peak for the first time.
Employment in January and February was revised higher, showing the effect on the labor market from inclement winter
weather was less severe than previously thought.
“We like this number because it is not too high,” David Roda, the Miami-based regional chief investment officer for
Wells Fargo Private Bank, said in a phone interview. His firm manages $170 billion. “If this number were too big and
unemployment was declining faster than expected, we would have anticipated faster Fed moves, partially in short-term rates.’
U.S. debt had declined this week on speculation the central bank would further cut its debt-purchase stimulus and raise
interest rates next year. The Fed has reduced its monthly bond purchases to $55 billion, citing an improving economy. Yellen
signaled during a press conference last month that a rate increase may come six month after the central bank completes its
bond buying.
The Fed uses the jobs report to help determine the timing and pace of further cuts to its monthly bond-buying program. The
central bank also looks to the unemployment rate as a factor in deciding when to raise its benchmark interest rate.
Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said the pace of employment growth in the U.S. means the Federal Reserve
will continue to wind down bond purchases and then consider raising interest rates.
‘‘Two-hundred thousand jobs plus or minus is probably reflective of 2.5 percent growth in the short term,” said Gross
said in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene and Michael McKee. The Fed’s quantitative easing should
“end at the end of October or November. Then, as Janet Yellen has suggested, six months plus or minus, we can begin to talk
about higher policy rates.”
Yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped seven basis points to 2.73 percent. The rate on seven-year notes lost 10 points to 2.29 percent.
The Stoxx 600 rallied to the highest level since 2008. Almost three shares advanced for every one that declined, with trading volumes 8.7 percent lower than the 30-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gauge increased 1.6 percent this week, a third straight weekly gain.
European bond yields from Ireland to Italy fell to records on speculation that inflation at a four-year low will push the European Central Bank to expand stimulus measures. President Mario Draghi said yesterday officials have discussed further
options, including asset purchases, or quantitative easing.
Italy’s 10-year yield tumbled as much as 11 basis points to 3.15 percent, dropping below the previous record of 3.196
percent set in 2005. The yield on Spain’s two-year note declined
as much as six basis points to a record-low 0.59 percent. Ireland’s 10-year yield dropped to 2.91 percent, the least on
record.
The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of a basket of 10 leading global currencies against
the dollar, slipped 0.3 percent, snapping a three-day rally.
The U.S. currency fell 0.7 percent to 103.24 yen, trimming a third weekly gain to 0.4 percent. The dollar rose 0.1 percent
to $1.3701 per euro after climbing to $1.3673, the strongest since Feb. 27. It advanced for a third week, the longest since
the period ended July 5. The euro weakened 0.8 percent to 141.46 yen today.
The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities climbed 0.4 percent. Gold jumped 1.5 percent, the most in three weeks, after the jobs
report triggered concern the economy may not be expanding as fast as forecast, boosting demand for bullion as a store of
value.
West Texas Intermediate oil added 0.8 percent to $101.14 a barrel, trimming a weekly decline to 0.5 percent.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.2 percent, extending its third weekly gain
to 1.7 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7 percent as benchmark moneymarket rates declined. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland
companies listed in Hong Kong added 0.2 percent.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Be magnificent!
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
As ever,
Amanda Parnham
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7