August 30th, 2011 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Tangents:
Birthday: August 30, 1797, Mary Shelley, writer. Shelley was the authoress of Frankenstein, which she wrote at the age of 18. She wrote six more novels in her lifetime. She led an audacious life. Having met Percy Bysshe Shelley at 16, they declared their love and ran away to France. When Percy drowned while sailing, she had his heart removed before his body was cremated on the shores of Italy and she kept it with her until her death on February 1, 1851, at the age of 54.
Introduction to Frankenstein, ed.3, 1831:
“We will each write a ghost story,” said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us…Have you thought of a story? I was asked each morning, and each morning I was forced to reply with a mortifying negative…On the morrow I announced that I had thought of a story…At first I thought but of a few pages – of a short tale; but [Percy Bysshe] Shelley urged me to develop the idea at greater length.
Search for the stars
Turn off the porch lights Canada!
This weekend marks the start of the best stargazing time of the year. It’s a new moon, the Milky Way is at its prime, and heighted solar activity is adding flare to the Northern Lights.
So advised the Globe & Mail last Saturday, August 27th, 2011. Canadian astronomy expert and editor of SkyNews magazine Terence Dickinson shared some of his stargazing secrets. Among them:
What advice do you have for beginners?
Check your timing – you don’t want to go anywhere between the first quarter and last quarter moon. That’s because the moon is nice to look at, but it blocks the light of the stars. If you really want a stargazing experience, you want to go after the last quarter through new moon to a couple of days before first quarter. Also, solar activity is starting to ramp up and the Northern Lights and the aurora is going to get better. The odds are it’s going to get better through 2013. And for that, your best way of seeing the Northern Lights is to get a dog and walk it religiously the last thing you do at night. Even if you live in the city.
TOP SITES:
SKYNEWS.CA
For weekly updates on what’s going on in the night sky, articles for amateur astronomers and upcoming coverage on dark sky parks. Check the extensive list of clubs across Canada (under Resources) to find a contact to inquire about guided tours in destinations you plan to visit.
HEAVENS-ABOVE.COM
For predictions on satellites and iridium flares. (You know the experience of seeing a star appear out of nowhere, only to have it diappear a few seconds later? Dickinson explains that’s an iridium flare – the reflection off panels on communications satellites).
APOD.NASA.GOV/APOD
For a picture of the day, on a site run by two U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronomers.
Photos of the day
August 30, 2011
A man wades into the waves of a storm surge created by the passing of Hurricane Irene at Lawrencetown beach, Nova Scotia, Canada. Paul Darrow /Reuters
Tibetan Buddhists and tourists view a giant thangka, a religious silk embroidery or painting unique to Tibet, during the Shoton Festival at Drepung Monastery on the outskirts of Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Jacky Chen/Reuters
Market Commentary:
Canada
By Matt Walcoff
Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a third day, led by precious-metals producers, as gold and silver gained after an index of U.S. consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since April 2009.
Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, advanced 1.7 percent as the metal rallied as much as 2.5 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-biggest lender by assets, climbed 2.1 percent after reporting earnings that beat the average analyst estimate. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. increased 6.6 percent, rallying for a second day after an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. raised his price estimate on the shares.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 124.54 points, or 1 percent, to 12,629.39 at 2:27 p.m. in Toronto.
Precious metal prices rallied on investor demand for a haven after the Conference Board’s index had the biggest point drop since October 2008 as the Americans’ outlooks for employment and incomes soured.
“We will know over the next three or four weeks whether we are seeing end-of-cycle indicators or whether we are going to continue a rebound,” Keith McLean, a managing partner at GMP Investment Management in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. McLean oversees C$200 million ($204 million). “People that were projecting a mid-cycle slowdown are now questioning that.”
The S&P/TSX lost 3.4 percent this month through yesterday and is heading for its sixth-straight monthly retreat. Energy stocks in the index sank 8.6 percent, which would be their biggest monthly plunge since 2008, as crude oil tumbled on concern the global economic recovery is slowing.
Earlier today, the European Commission said its index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 17-country euro region dropped the most since December 2008.
The S&P/TSX Gold Index extended what would be its biggest monthly rally since August 2010. Barrick gained 1.7 percent to C$49.84. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, advanced 1.3 percent to C$50.94. Romarco Minerals Inc., which is developing a gold project in South Carolina, surged 9.7 percent to C$1.47.
Silver Wheaton Corp., Canada’s fourth-biggest precious- metals company by market value, increased 2.5 percent to C$38.84 as silver surged as much as 2.8 percent. Silvercorp Metals Inc., which operates in China, jumped 9 percent to C$8.60.
Scotiabank increased 2.1 percent to C$53.43 after its third-quarter profit surpassed the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 2.2 percent, excluding certain items. National Bank of Canada, the country’s sixth-biggest lender by assets, climbed 1.4 percent to C$71.59.
RIM gained 6.6 percent to C$31.96, extending its August surge to 33 percent. The company is heading for its biggest monthly advance since April 2009 as analysts including Kevin Smithen of Macquarie and Shaw Wu of Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. have said that its new smartphones may help stop the long-term decline in its share price. Shares of the Waterloo, Ontario- based company remain down 45 percent on the year.
Energy stocks advanced as crude oil futures increased as much as 2.2 percent. Cenovus Energy Inc., Canada’s fifth-largest energy company, climbed 2.3 percent to C$34.66. Suncor Energy Inc., the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, rose 1.1 percent to C$30.89.
Americas Petrogas Inc., which explores for oil and gas in Argentina, soared 22 percent to C$2.08 after agreeing to form a joint venture with Exxon Mobil Corp. Exxon Mobil will help fund the Los Toldos shale-oil and gas project. Earlier today, shares of the Calgary-based company jumped as much as 39 percent, the most since December 2008.
Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, increased 3.1 percent to C$42.94 as copper advanced to a three-week high.
Bombardier Inc., the maker of trains and airplanes, rallied 5.7 percent to C$5.21. The company is scheduled to report second-quarter financial results before markets open tomorrow.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the owner of Mac’s and Circle K convenience stores, sank 5.9 percent, the most intraday since March 2010, to C$27.97. The company’s first-quarter earnings trailed the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 4.8 percent, excluding certain items.
US
By Rita Nazareth
Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, rebounding from a 1.2 percent drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after the Federal Reserve said some policy makers wanted to take more action to stimulate the economy during their meeting this month.
Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. rose at least 1.9 percent, pacing gains among companies most-tied to the economy. Monster Worldwide Inc., the provider of help-wanted ads, advanced 21 percent, building on its 13 percent rally during the past two days. Bank of America Corp. fell 3.2 percent as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. objected to the lender’s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage-bond settlement with investors.
The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to 1,212.92 at 4 p.m. in New York, recovering from earlier losses driven by consumer confidence sinking to a 28-month low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.70 points, or 0.2 percent, to 11,559.95.
“The Fed has definitely not raised the white flag,” Bruce McCain, who helps oversee $22 billion as chief investment strategist at the private-banking unit of KeyCorp in Cleveland, said in a telephone interview. “They have not accepted the idea that they ran out of tools. They recognize that the economy is far too weak and that they will do whatever is necessary to boost growth. It’s reassuring.”
The S&P 500 rose to the highest level since Aug. 3 yesterday after surging 7.7 percent in six days. Equities gained 8.1 percent between Aug. 8 and yesterday after the loss of the U.S. government’s AAA credit rating left the S&P 500 trading for 12.2 times earnings, the lowest level since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
When Fed policy makers met on Aug. 9, the S&P 500 had plunged 17 percent since July 22, including a 6.7 percent drop the previous day that was the biggest slump since 2008. The Fed said those members, who weren’t identified, “felt that recent economic developments justified a more substantial move” beyond the pledge adopted at the Aug. 9 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee to hold its key interest rate at a record low until mid-2013.
The report indicates that Fed officials will more fully debate their options when they meet next month for a two-day meeting that was originally scheduled to last one day. Fed officials at the August meeting discussed a range of tools, including buying more government bonds, to bolster the economy.
They didn’t come to an agreement on what the Fed’s next step might be should the economy continue to weaken.
The S&P 500 slumped earlier today after the Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence fell to 44.5, the lowest level since April 2009, from a revised 59.2 reading in July, the research group said. It was the biggest point drop since October 2008. Economists predicted the gauge would fall to 52, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
“The consumer sentiment number was so low that it could have marked a bottom,” Mark Bronzo, who helps manage $26 billion at Security Global Investors in Irvington, New York, said in a telephone interview. “The market has sold off so violently, and right now the selling pressure is drying up.”
The S&P 500 has fallen 6.1 percent since the end of July and was headed for its fourth straight monthly decline, the longest streak since March 2008. Financial, energy and industrial shares had the biggest losses during so far in August, slumping at least 7.4 percent.
The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to economic growth added 0.4 percent after sinking 1.4 percent. Boeing gained 2.2 percent to $66.03. Caterpillar rose 1.9 percent to $89.83.
Monster Worldwide surged 21 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $9.91. Three top executives led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Salvatore Iannuzzi bought 87,237 shares, regulatory filings showed today.
The shares were “overdue for a bounce” after other Internet companies including professional-networking firm LinkedIn Corp. have surged in recent weeks, said Douglas Arthur, an analyst at Evercore Partners Inc. in New York who rates the stock as “equalweight.”
Clorox Co. rallied 2.8 percent to $70.52. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said today he’d buy Clorox Co. for $10.3 billion if a companion proposal to elect his slate of directors and sell the company fails.
The KBW Bank Index of 24 stocks fell 1 percent, snapping a two-day rally. Bank of America slumped 3.2 percent to $8.12. The FDIC, the receiver for failed banks, owns securities covered by the settlement and said it doesn’t have enough information to evaluate the accord, according to a filing yesterday in federal court in Manhattan.
Bearish bets by hedge funds on S&P 500 futures increased to the highest level since before the financial crisis three years ago, Bank of America Corp.’s Mary Ann Bartels said.
“Readings are a ‘crowded short’ for the first time since June 2008,” Bartels, the New York-based head of technical and market analysis at Bank of America, wrote in a note yesterday.
Large speculators boosted net wagers that the benchmark index of U.S. equities will fall to $24.6 billion in the week ended Aug. 23 from $21.5 billion a week earlier, said Bartels, citing data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Bartels said she considers short positions to be “crowded” at about $25 billion. The last “crowded short zone” on S&P 500 futures came three months before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse spurred a 46 percent plunge in equities.
Have a wonderful evening 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 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, 1861-1901
As ever,
Carolann
Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith
in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent,
but with great inner drive, go much further than people
with vastly superior talent.
-Sophia Loren, 1934-