August 16, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: HAPPY FRIDAY!
On Aug. 16, 1977, singer Elvis Presley died at Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tenn., at age 42.  Go to article »

In 1977 I spent the summer travelling around  Europe.  I met an English woman in the south of Italy, in Brindisi to be exact, where there is a ferry terminal.  I was alone as was she and we started chatting.  I was waiting for the ferry to go to Crete and she was heading to Ios in the Cyclades.  She met friends there every summer.  They spent the winters in North Africa and the summers on the tiny island of Ios.  After a couple of hours hanging around the ferry dock together, she persuaded me to go with her to Ios and then move on to Crete from there.  It turned out that I was having such a great time on Ios,  I never left until that day in 1977 – August 16^th.  I headed back to Paris in order to get my flight back to Montreal so I could prepare to continue my undergraduate studies at university.  As I was hustling through the Athens airport, a young woman around my age, noticed my backpack, and rushing up to me asked tearfully if I had heard the news.  Of course, in those days, there were no smart phones or i-Pads for news and in fact, Ios didn’t even have cars, just donkeys.  I didn’t see a newspaper, television or even hear a radio while I was there – a sort of blissful reprieve.  I realized that I had heard no news for a couple of weeks.  She then told me that Elvis Presley was dead.  So it is now an indelible memory for me – where I was when I first heard that  Elvis had died.  I must admit, my musical affinity at the time wasn’t to Elvis, but to the Stones, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Steely Dan….but I instantly comprehended the profound significance of this tragedy.  He was an amazing musical iconoclast and he influenced many of the musicians I loved.

I don’t know anything about music.  In my line you don’t have to.  –Elvis Presley, 1935-1977

Weekend reading from Bloomberg:
Bugatti’s one-off La Voiture Noire debuted at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance. It’s already been sold , for $18.68 million.
Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, is exploring a startling clue that may help him find Amelia Earhart’s plane .  
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Firework explode in front of the full moon during celebrations marking the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady in Mosta, Malta
CREDIT: REUTERS/DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI

Icebergs are photographed from the window of an airplane carrying NASA Scientist as they fly on a mission to track melting ice in eastern Greenland. Greenland has been melting faster in the last decade and this summer, it has seen two of the biggest melts on record since 2012
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MSTYLAV CHERNOV

People gather during the Marian procession the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes during the annual Catholic pilgrimage of Lourdes
CREDIT: PASCAL PAVANI/AFP
Market Closes for August 16th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
For the first time, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange will allow investors to buy derivatives that pay out in Bitcoin.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks recovered some losses after a two-day slump, following U.S. stocks higher as investors got a break from a tumultuous week of concerns regarding trade.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.9% Friday. Pot shares led most of Canada higher, with only materials stocks lagging. TheScore Inc. jumped 10.2% after getting the green light to launch a mobile application for sports betting in New Jersey.
And, looking ahead, the Royal Bank of Canada is set to report earnings Wednesday morning. Despite pressure on rates, the bank is expected to post 3Q earnings gains above its targeted 7%, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF (HMMJ CN) gained 1.4% after plunging 7.3% Thursday
* Crescent Point Energy Corp. gained 7%
* Interfor Corp. rose 6.6%
* Enerplus Corp. advanced 5.2%
* Semafo Inc. fell 6.2%
* Osisko Mining Inc. dropped 3.9%
Ratings
* BB CN: Blackberry Rated New Neutral at Macquarie; PT $8
* BBD/B CN: Bombardier Downgraded to Neutral at Goldman; PT C$2
* BYD-U CN: Boyd Group Upgraded to Buy at Desjardins; PT C$195
* CG CN: Centerra Gold Upgraded to Outperform at Credit Suisse; PT C$14
* EXE CN: Extendicare Upgraded to Outperform at CIBC; PT C$9.50
* HR-U CN: H&R REIT Downgraded to Hold at Desjardins; PT C$24
* JE CN: Just Energy Group Downgraded to Underperform at CIBC; PT C$2
* LGO CN: Largo Resources Rated New Outperform at RBC; PT C$3.50
* WEED CN: Canopy Growth Cut to Market Perform at Cormark Securities
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12 discount to WTI
* Gold spot price fell 0.5% to $1,523.60 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar gained 0.3% to C$1.3272 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose to 1.15%
US
By Jeremy Herron and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for a second day as investors got a reprieve from trade posturing and speculation mounted that European officials will bolster stimulus if growth in the region continues to sputter. Treasuries nudged lower, lifting yields from multiyear lows.
The S&P 500 jumped more than 1%, notching its 13th straight session with an intraday move of that magnitude as August volatility persisted. The index lost 1% in the five days for a third straight drop. Bulls got ammunition when on a report Germany would engage in deficit spending in the event of a recession. A day earlier, a European Central Bank official said monetary stimulus would be greater than investors anticipated. Germany’s Dax surged and the region’s bonds retreated.
In the U.S., chipmakers paced Friday’s advance after Nvidia Corp.’s after quarterly sales and profit beat estimates. Banks also rose as the yield curve steepened, with two-year rates slipping and 10-years turning higher. Deere & Co. rebounded even after cutting guidance, blaming in part the trade war for undermining sales. In Asia, shares in Hong Kong rallied, Chinese stocks edged higher and Korean equities fell.
The prospect for strong European stimulus bolstered confidence that the U.S. economy would be spared some of the ill-effects of the slowdown in that region. Investors remained on edge over trade after a week of back-and-forth headlines delivered wild swings in the equity and bond markets. With traders gunning for more rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, chair Jerome Powell may give a hint of his thinking when he speaks Aug. 23 at the annual central bankers retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“The Fed, in order to keep this expansion going, needs to provide additional accommodation,” Tiffany Wilding, U.S. economist at Pacific Investment Management Co., told Bloomberg TV. “Whether they are able to arrest the downturn — there is some question around that. Ultimately we think that they will be able to.”
Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index gained 1.45% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 1.2%.
* The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.3%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index increased 0.7%, trimming the week’s loss to 1.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%, pushing its weekly advance to 0.5%.
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1092.
* The British pound jumped 0.5% to $1.2146.
* The onshore yuan dipped 0.1% to 7.04 per dollar.
* The Japanese yen declined 0.2% to 106.34 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 1.5454%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 1.48%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose three one basis points to -0.685%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield climbed six basis points to 0.466%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $54.76 a barrel.
* Iron ore climbed 0.3% to $86.75 per metric ton.
* Gold futures decreased 0.6% to $1,522.60 an ounce.
–With assistance from Nancy Moran, Adam Haigh and Yakob Peterseil.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
                                                               -Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

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