August 2, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
TODAY IN HISTORY
1943 – PT-109, a Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew.
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My doctor gave me two weeks to live.  I hope they’re in August. – Ronnie Shakes.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Queensferry Crossing, the new road bridge over the Forth Estuary, viewed from South Queensferry as final works progress ahead of its opening in South Queensferry, Scotland. The bridge is due to open on August 40, 2017, and will be the highest bridge in the UK and the longest three-tower cable-stay bridge in the world.
CREDIT: KEN JACK – CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES

A member of Head First Acrobats performs inside the giant kaleidoscope at Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, Edinburgh, ahead of their Fringe Festival show Elixir.
CREDIT: JANE BARLOW/PA

Jamie Russell captured a stunning colourful sky over St Catherine’s Obratory on St Catherine’s Down, Isle of Wright. He believes that the colours came from the chine below and caused the sky to be filled with colour resembling the Northern Lights.
CREDIT: ISLANDVISIONS/BNPS
Market Closes for August 2nd, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. The U.S. stock market falls 19% over the next two-and-a-half months. A year later, the U.S. stock market has rebounded and is up 27%.

Number of the Day
380 points
A massive run-up in Boeing Co. shares in recent days means that the company has been responsible for 380 points on the Dow Jones Industrial Average since it first closed above 21000 five months ago. That’s more than twice as much as the next biggest contributor in the Dow, McDonald’s Corp., which has added 171 points. The Dow closed at 21964 Tuesday.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canada’s equity benchmark closed higher, boosted by strength in energy, financial and consumer staples stocks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 64 points or 0.4 percent to 15,265.63, its highest close since June. Energy shares gained 0.6 percent despite a brief plunge in the price of crude following U.S. government data that showed oil inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels last week.
     The financials index added 0.5 percent as Genworth MI Canada Inc. gained 3.5 percent and Intact Financial Corp. rose 2.3 percent. Both reported second-quarter results that beat analyst estimates.
     Consumer staples stocks jumped 0.8 percent as Saputo Inc. gained 2.1 percent, the cheese maker’s second day of gains following results that beat the highest estimate.
     In other moves:
* Cineplex Inc. tumbled 8.2 percent, the most since 2009, on disappointing earnings across the theater sector
* Guyana Goldfields Inc. jumped 9.8 percent following Tuesday’s 15 percent decline. The company was upgraded at BMO on operational issues that are expected to be transient
* Bombardier Inc. jumped 5.5 percent. The company has reportedly reached a rail joint-venture deal with Siemens AG.
US
By Robert Brand and Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — Most U.S. stocks fell, though Apple Inc. dragged major indexes higher, propelling the Dow Jones Industrial Average past 22,000 for the first time. Renewed weakness in the dollar weighed on small caps, while crude failed to hold above $50 a barrel.
     Apple’s 5 percent gain, sparked by an optimistic sales forecast, took the Dow to a record, boosted the Nasdaq 100 Index and left the S&P 500 Index little changed even as most groups fell. European equities slid as a drop in industrial metals weighed on miners. The euro, coming off its best month since March 2016, continued its surge versus the ailing dollar. Oil rose as record gasoline demand allayed shale boom worries, though it settled off highs for the day.
     Weakness in the dollar and the corresponding euro rally have started to dominate market moves, with the common currency’s longest rally since 2013 sustained by interest-rate differentials as investors lose faith in Donald Trump’s spending plans. U.S. stocks have benefited, with multinationals delivering outsize earnings at the same time European exporters have taken a hit.
     Read more about the euro’s remarkable run.
     Friday’s report on the American labor market may provide the next inflection point, as investors look for clues on the strength of the world’s largest economy and the Federal Reserve’s next policy move.
     Here are some key upcoming events:
* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney may signal a more hawkish tone at its quarterly Inflation Report on Thursday.
The central bank will likely keep rates on hold.
* U.S. jobs data on Friday will probably show employers added about 180,000 workers in July.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
                             Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose less than 0.1 percent to 2,477.17 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow was higher by 0.2 percent to 22,010.30 as Apple jumped 5.5 percent.
* The Russell 2000 Index lost 1.1 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.4 percent.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index was flat.
                             Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1 percent.
* The euro climbed 0.4 percent to $1.1852, the highest level since January 2015.
* The British pound advanced 0.2 percent to $1.3224, the strongest in more than 10 months.
                              Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 2.27 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield climbed two basis points to 1.24 percent, the highest in a week.
* Germany’s 10-year yield gained less than one basis point to 0.49 percent.
                              Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9 percent to settle at $49.59 a barrel. Record demand for gasoline helped ease concerns that increasing crude production from America’s shale fields will worsen a global glut.
* Gold futures retreated 0.5 percent to $1,272.20 an ounce.
* Copper was essentially unchanged at $2.88 a pound.                            

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Expansion is life; contraction is death.
Love is life, hatred is death.
We began to die the day we began to contract, to hate others
and nothing can prevent our death,
until we come back to life, to expansion.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

Carolann

Endurance is patience concentrated.
            -Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881

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