August 25, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday! 

UNTITLED
-by Emily Dickinson
To make a prairie it takes
A clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few. 

Birthdays:
1939 – The Wizard of Oz was released.
1918 – Leonard Berstein, b.
1930 – Sean Connery, b.
1954 – Elvis Costello, b.
1970- Claudia Schiffer, b.

On Aug. 25, 1944, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

British landscape photographer John Finney captured this dramatic shot of sun rays cutting through approaching storm clouds and bathing the landscape below in golden sunlight, highlighting the orange, red and blue colours of rock in the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. CREDIT: JOHN FINNEY/COVER IMAGES

Two beautiful male birds fight each other in a territorial battle over an area of stunning wetland. Pictured in a moment of engagement, the two aim to dive above the other and attach with their long pointed beak. The birds are Black Tailed Godwits and are known for their tendency to fight over land to impress a female. The photos were taken on the wetlands of Mangalajodi, a small village located on the northern banks of Chilika Lake in Odisha State, India. CREDIT: SUJAY SANKAR ROY/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

A woman buys flowers at a flower market on the eve of the Hindu Elephant headed God Lord Ganesha or Ganesha Chaturthi festival, in Bangalore, India. Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the biggest Hindu festivals which is celebrated in honor of the God Ganesha for ten days throughout India. During the festival, idols of Ganesha are installed and worshipped in temporary public shrines as well as at home before they are immersed in water bodies after a gala street procession. CREDIT: JAGADEESH NV/EPA
Market Closes for August 25th, 2017 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1995, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.  announced a $2.3 billion cash deal to buy the 49% of car insurer Geico Corp. it didn’t already own.
Number of the Day
-8.1%
Grocery chain Kroger Co. dropped 8.1% on heavy volume Thursday, after Amazon.com Inc. announced that it would cut prices at Whole Foods Market Inc. when it closes on its acquisition of the company on Monday.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, ending a three-day advance, pressured by energy shares as Hurricane Harvey approached the Texas coast.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 20 points or 0.1 percent to close at 15,055.99. The benchmark was up 0.7 percent on the week.
     Energy shares fell 0.5 percent even as West Texas Intermediate crude prices gained 0.9 percent. Pipeline stocks including Enbridge Inc. and TransCanada Corp. led the index to the downside amid investor fears of the damage Harvey could wreak on their networks.
     Healthcare stocks fell 1.8 percent as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. lost 5.4 percent. The drug company is facing a new, potentially costly lawsuit.
     In other moves:
* Aecon Group Inc. jumped 20 percent, the most since 2004; the construction company confirmed Friday that it has hired advisers to explore a potential sale
* Tahoe Resources Inc. tumbled 19 percent to a record low after a constitutional court in Guatemala upheld an earlier ruling to suspend a license for its Escobal mine
* Hudson’s Bay Co. gained 14 percent; Reuters reported the retailer is reviewing its strategic options.
US
By Randall Jensen
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks and Treasuries rose while the dollar sank after Janet Yellen’s speech didn’t take the hawkish tone some expected. Oil gained as Hurricane Harvey churned toward the energy-rich Texas coast.
     The S&P 500 Index had its best week in over a month as the measure held earlier gains sparked by comments from the president’s top economic adviser. The euro touched the highest in two and half years versus the greenback as traders showed signs of relief after Mario Draghi didn’t talk down the value of the currency in his Jackson Hole speech. Bloomberg’s dollar gauge fell to its lowest level since January 2015.
     Earlier, stocks jumped on remarks by Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, who said in an interview that he expects tax reform to pass this year and that he didn’t intend to resign in protest over the president’s reaction to riots in Charlottesville, Virginia.
     Investors are keeping their eyes on strengthening Hurricane Harvey, which was upgraded to Category 3 and is set for landfall in Texas overnight Friday. Oil refiners in the Gulf Coast, home to as much as half of the nation’s refining capacity, began halting operations amid warnings of deadly floods and storm surges. It will be the strongest storm to hit the U.S. since Wilma in 2005.
     “We think that the flooding impact of Hurricane Harvey could make it more destructive to U.S. crude and product supplies as well as port facilities than the market is currently assuming,” Barclays energy analyst Michael Cohen wrote in a note Friday.
          Here are the main moves in markets:
                             Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2 percent to 2,443.09 as of 4 p.m. in New York, for a weekly gain of 0.7 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1 percent, set for a third monthly loss.
* The MSCI World Index of developed countries advanced 0.4 percent.
                           Currencies
* Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.7 percent, touching the lowest since January 2015.
* The euro advanced 1.1 percent to $1.1923, biggest gain since July and touched the highest level since January 2015 at $1.1941.
* The British pound increased 0.7 percent to $1.2884, set for its first weekly gain this month.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3 percent to 109.25 per dollar.
                             Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 2.17 percent, touching its lowest level since June during the day.
* Britain’s 10-year yield is steady at 1.053 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield gained less than one basis point to 0.38 percent.
                          Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed about 1 percent to settle at $47.87 a barrel, its fourth weekly slide in a row.
* Gold futures rose 0.5 percent to settle at $1,297.90 an ounce.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. 

Be magnificent!

At one pole of my existence,
I am one with the stones and the tree branches.
Thus, I must submit to the yoke of the universal law.
It is this, in the end, that is the very basis of my life.
And that force comes from that which is closely bound up in the unity of the world,
which is in full communication with all things.
But at the other pole, I am distinct from all of the rest.
Here, I have broken the barriers of equality and I find myself alone, as an individual.
I am absolutely unique, I am me, I am incomparable.
The whole of the mass of the universe can not crush this individuality that is mine.
I maintain it, despite the formidable gravitation of all that exists.
It is small in appearance, but great in reality.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

Carolann

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.
                                       -Georg Lichtenberg, 1742-1799 

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