April 5, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

A poem for Spring

Why Did My Plant Die?
      -by Geoffrey B. Charlesworth
You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it.
You hoed it down. You weeded it.
You planted it the wrong way up.
You grew it in a yogurt cup
But you forgot to make a hole;
The soggy compost took its toll.
September storm. November drought.
It heaved in March, the roots popped out.
You watered it with herbicide.
You scattered bonemeal far and wide.
Attracting local omnivores,
Who ate your plant and stayed for more.
You left it baking in the sun
While you departed at a run
To find a spade, perhaps a trowel,
Meanwhile the plant threw in the towel.
You planted it with crown too high;
The soil washed off, that explains why.
Too high pH. It hated lime.
Alas it needs a gentler clime.
You left the root ball wrapped in plastic.
You broke the roots. They’re not elastic.
You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it.
You splashed the plant with mower oil.
You should do something to your soil.
Too rich. Too poor. Such wretched tilth.
Your soil is clay. Your soil is filth.
Your plant was eaten by a slug.
The growing point contained a bug.
These aphids are controlled by ants,
Who milk the juice, it kills the plants.
In early spring your garden’s mud.
You walked around! That’s not much good.
With heat and light you hurried it.
You worried it. You buried it.
The poor plant missed the mountain air:
No heat, no summer muggs up there.
You overfed it 10-10-10.
Forgot to water it again.
You hit it sharply with the hose.
You used a can without a rose.
Perhaps you sprinkled from above.
You should have talked to it with love.
The nursery mailed it without roots.
You killed it with those gardening boots.
You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

People view the new ‘Musical City’ cultural center on the Island of Sequin in Boulogne-Blillancourt, outside Paris, on Wednesday. The center on the Seine river, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and French architect Jean de Gastines, will open on April 22. Michel Euler/AP

People gather at Trocadero plaza as the lights of the Eiffel Tower fall dark at midnight in Paris on Wednesday. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo says the Eiffel Tower will fall dark overnight to honor the victims of the St. Petersburg subway bombing. Michel Euler/AP

A man presents a self-made robot, that is able to carry a person, in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, China, on Wednesday. China Daily/Reuters
Market Closes for April 5^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
$79.1 billion
Pimco’s Income Fund had $79.1 billion in assets under management as of March 31, surpassing TCW Group’s Metropolitan West Total Return Bond Fund as the biggest actively managed bond fund.
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell as gains sparked by a bullish U.S. payrolls report failed to persist amid a drop in oil prices and the latest Federal Reserve minutes.
     The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2 percent to 15,642.99 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, reversing an increase of as much as 0.6 percent. The benchmark measure has advanced in all but two days since March 21, rebounding from its 2017 low, as crude prices climbed above $50 a barrel.
     Stocks opened higher after a private report showed American companies added workers to payrolls in March at the fastest pace since December 2014. The index started coming off those levels as oil fell amid government data that U.S. stockpiles unexpectedly climbed to a record last week. The retreat picked up momentum as Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed officials continue to see gradual rate hikes, with some seeing equity prices as “quite high.”
In other movers:
     Hudson’s Bay Co. surged 7.7 percent. The company said on a conference call that it intends to sell its real estate in an initial public offering.
     Raging River Exploration Inc. rose 3.9 percent. The oil and gas exploration company has hired GMP FirstEnergy to explore a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter.
     Telus Corp. rose 1.2 percent to a record close. The phone service provider was raised to outperform from neutral by CIBC World Markets analyst Robert Bek.
     Imperial Oil Ltd. fell 1.6 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Neil Mehta downgraded it to sell from neutral.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Stocks tumbled in the last 90 minutes of trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up a 198- point gain as traders assessed the path for interest rates and weighed the likelihood of tax reform by the Trump administration.
     The S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 2,352.95 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark was little changed on Tuesday, with volatility dropping for the first time in four sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% to 20,648.15.
* Banks and energy companies paced the late-session swoon, with the S&P 500 Financial Index going from up more than 1% at around 10 a.m. in New York to down 0.7% by the close
* Utility and real-estate firms only groups higher as 10-year Yield drops 3 basis points after Federal Reserve minutes released
* House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a Q&A event that tax reform could take longer than health care overhaul, according to Reuters
* Volume in SPY jumped to highest of day between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. to almost three times the average during that period
** Total shares traded: 7.5 billion, most in more than two weeks
* Potential that Fed will halt reinvestments sooner than expected, as well as continued discord in Washington, weighing on investors, says Jonestrading global strategist Yousef Abbasi
* China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled to meet today
* “The U.S. market looking expensive compared to its global peers,” Citigroup Inc.’s chief U.S. equity strategist Tobias Levkovich wrote in a report to clients. Still, valuations “look more reasonable compared to bond yields. While a strong U.S. dollar may prove a drag on profits, easing credit conditions bode well for future economic growth, he says
** S&P 500 has traded above 17.6 times its estimated earnings in April, near a 15-year high, while the ratio stands at about 16 times for the MSCI ACWI Index
* Bloomberg Intelligence Equity Strategists Gina Martin Adams and Peter Chung mirror Levkovich’s view, saying that stocks are becoming expensive relative to historical valuations, but they remain cheaper than bonds based on earnings and interest rates
* ECONOMY
** Most Federal Reserve officials said they backed a policy change that would begin shrinking the central bank’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet
** Private payrolls climbed by 263,000 (forecast was 185,000) on solid gains in construction and manufacturing and at small businesses
** American service companies expanded in March at the slowest pace in five months; ISM’S non-manufacturing index eased to 55.2 (forecast was 57)
* EARNINGS (S&P 500)
** After-market Wednesday: Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY)
** Pre-market Thursday: Constellation Brands (STZ), CarMax (KMX)
* Europe Market
** Stoxx Europe 600 inched higher for second gain this week as oil companies and basic resource suppliers climbed, offsetting a 1% decline in carmakers

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly.
The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

Spring makes its statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems
to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.
                                     -Geoffrey B. Charlesworth, 1920-2008

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

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