August 20, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: St. Stephen’s Day, Hungary.
1942 – Plutonium first weighed.
1977 – The United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature. Go to article>>
 
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A thunderstorm moves across the Hudson Ricer over Hudson Yards and the Empire State Building in New York City as seen from Hoboken, New Jersey.
CREDIT: GARY HERSHORN/GERRY IMAGES

Long time exposure photo shows an aircraft flying over the buildings of banking district in Frankfurt, Germany.
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MICHAEL PROBST

Gaia is a seven metre diameter sphere, featuring 120 dpi detailed NASA imagery of the earth’s surface. The artwork provides the opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating in three-dimensions. The artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the real earth with each centimetre of the internally lit sculpture describing 18km if the earth’s surface. By standing 211m away from the artwork, viewers will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon in Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, UK
CREDIT: TERRY HARRIS
 Market Closes for August 20th, 2019

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1982, the stock market closed out a historic week with the Dow rallying more than 10% for the period and shattering volume records in four out of five trading sessions. The index finished the week at 869.26 and has risen by around 2900% since then.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
(Bloomberg) — Canada’s equity benchmark fell as bank stocks retreated ahead of the start of their fiscal third- quarter earnings season.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 0.6% to 16,213.31 after two sessions of gains. Royal Bank of Canada fell 1.1% before it kicks off bank earnings Wednesday morning. Analysts expect headwinds from rate cuts, lower capital markets revenue and weakening credit conditions, offset by slower expense growth.
Energy stocks slid 1.1% as the discount for Canadian crude widened the most in a month. Precision Drilling Corp. fell 6.4%, offsetting some of Monday’s 18% gain.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Organigram Holdings Inc. gained 2.7%. The pot stock will graduate to the Toronto Stock Exchange at the start of trading on Aug. 22
* Birchcliff Energy Ltd. rose 6.3% and Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. gained 3.8% on speculation of a potential vote Thursday regarding changes to shipping rules on TC Energy Corp.’s NGTL system
* Cameco Corp. added 1.1% after Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium miner, said it will extend production cuts
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.50 discount to WTI
* Gold rose 0.4% to $1,517.30 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.3318 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 3 basis points to 1.16%
US
By Rita Nazareth and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell and Treasuries climbed as investors assessed the latest news on trade talks and awaited more clues on monetary policy.
The S&P 500 Index halted a three-day rally after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told CNBC that Huawei Technologies Co. isn’t the only Chinese company that poses risks. He also sees the U.S. and China continuing their talks — at least by phone — over the next week or 10 days. Later Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he’s not ready to make a deal with China and cited the need for a “big” Federal Reserve rate cut. Benchmark 10-year yields slumped while the dollar
dropped from this year’s high. Italian bonds jumped as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned. Just a day after markets cheered progress on trade negotiations, investors took a more cautious approach. Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, speaks with business leaders this week amid concerns about a recession, the trade war and whipsawing markets. Pacific Investment Management Co. has reduced its positions in government debt on bets that a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks could trigger a violent sell-off, the Financial Times reported. Traders are also gearing up for a keynote speech from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium Friday.
“It’s kind of a choppy environment,” Dan Skelly, head of equity model portfolios at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a phone interview. “The liquidity in August is going to be pretty poor, so that certainly in my view caps the potential upside, but it does raise the risk that you do have a more pronounced sell-off at some point.” Wall Street watchdogs handpicked by Trump eased the Volcker Rule’s controversial ban on banks making speculative investments, wrapping up a top deregulatory priority that’s long been sought by the financial industry. Still, bank stocks joined broader market losses.
In corporate news, Home Depot Inc. surged after its results broadly cleared investor expectations — or at least, were no worse than expected by Wall Street. Beyond Meat Inc. jumped after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. Baidu Inc. soared after the China-based Internet company unexpectedly reported revenue growth in its June quarter. Kohl’s Corp. fell on sales that fell short of expectations.
Here are some notable events coming up:
* Minutes of the Fed’s July meeting will provide details on the discussions leading to the first interest-rate cut in a decade when they are released on Wednesday.
* Thursday brings the Bank Indonesia rate decision and press conference with Governor Perry Warjiyo.
* Flash PMIs are due for the euro area on Thursday.
* Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank hosts its annual central banking symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, starting Thursday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will give remarks on Friday.

Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index dipped 0.8% to 2,900.53 as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 0.7%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.3%.
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1102.
* The Japanese yen increased 0.4% to 106.21 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries slid six basis points to 1.55%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell four basis points to -0.69%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.452%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index was little changed.
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.2% to $56.34 a barrel.
* Gold increased 0.3% to $1,516.70 an ounce.
–With assistance from Sybilla Gross, Andreea Papuc, Todd White
and Laura Curtis.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Common sense is not so common.
                -Voltaire, 1694-1778

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