Author: Carolann

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I will be writing the newsletter on Carolann’s behalf, as she is out of town.

Photos of the Day

Costa Rica’s Bryan Ruiz celebrates after scoring his side’s first goal over Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon during the group D World Cup soccer match between Italy and Costa Rica at the Arena Pernambuco.

A soccer fan reacts to Brazil’s scoreless tie against Mexico during their 2014 World Cup Group A soccer match in a public viewing area in Sao Paulo, June 17.

Market Closes for June 20^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16947.08	+25.62
		+0.15%
S&P 500	1962.87	+3.39    +0.17%
NASDAQ	4368.037	8.710    -0.20%
TSX	15108.97	-3.25
		-0.02%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15349.42	-11.74
		-0.08%
HANG   SENG	23194.06	+26.33
		+0.11%
SENSEX	25105.51	-96.29
		-0.38%
FTSE 100	6825.20	+17.09
		+0.25%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.294	2.262
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.835	2.825
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.6052	2.6206
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4337	3.4660

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92961	0.92420
US   $	1.07572	1.08201
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.46288	0.68358
US   $	1.35991	0.73535

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1314.85	1321.54
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.26	106.43
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Ari Altstedter

June 20 (Bloomberg) — Canada’s dollar climbed to the strongest level since January and the nation’s bonds fell as a gauge of inflation exceeded the central bank’s target for the first time in two years, fueling bets the economy is picking up.

The loonie, as the currency is called, rose against most major counterparts as bankers’ acceptance contracts signaled investors were boosting wagers on higher interest rates. The currency fell to the weakest level since 2009 in March after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz told reporters he couldn’t rule out a rate cut if the economy worsened.

“If these numbers persist, you can’t deny it’s there, and then maybe you have to change your rhetoric a little bit,” Darcy Browne, managing director of currencies at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said of inflation by phone from Toronto. “While there’s a threat of hiking, the Canadian dollar is going to strengthen.”

The loonie, nicknamed for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, appreciated 0.6 percent to C$1.0758 per U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. in Toronto. It touched C$1.0752, the strongest since Jan. 7, after weakening on March 20 to C$1.1279. One loonie buys 92.95 U.S. cents. The Canadian dollar gained 0.9 percent this week in its second five-day advance.

The currency is the top performer for the past three months in a basket of 10 developed-market currencies tracked by the Bloomberg Correlation Weighted Index, strengthening 4.5 percent. It has lost 2 percent this year. Hedge funds and other large speculators cut wagers on Canada’s dollar weakening against the greenback, known as net shorts, to the least in seven months. The difference in the number of bets on a decline in the loonie versus those on a gain was 21,533 as of June 17, the least since Nov. 22, figures from the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. Net shorts numbered 24,108 on June 10.

The Canadian government’s two-year note dropped, pushing the yield to as high as 1.15 percent, the most since Jan. 6. Benchmark 10-year bond yields rose as much as seven basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, the most since March 19, to 2.33 percent before trading at 2.29 percent. The 2.5 percent security maturing in June 2024 lost 29 cents to C$101.84.

The loonie strengthened past its 200-day moving average of C$1.0781, a technical signal it may gain more, after a report showed the consumer price index gained 2.3 percent in May from a year earlier. Core CPI, which leaves out eight volatile products including food and energy, increased 1.7 percent, from 1.4 percent the previous month. A separate report showed retail sales rose more than forecast in April.

The central bank’s goal for inflation is 2 percent. Economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast today’s data would show the CPI held at that level, which it reached in April for the first time since April 2012. It last exceeded 2 percent in February 2012.

“The Bank of Canada had communicated all along any uptick in inflation is transitory, it’s just energy and food, don’t worry about it,” said Greg Anderson, head of global foreign exchange strategy at Bank of Montreal, by phone from New York.

“Well, here it is, CPI, stripped of energy and food, and it’s surging higher. It is untenable, they’re going to have to change their forecasts massively.”

The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 1 percent on June 4, with policy makers reiterating concern that low inflation and weak exports are hindering the nation’s economy. Poloz said “the downside risks to the inflation outlook” remain, even after data two weeks earlier showed consumer prices rose at 2 percent. Since taking over at the Bank of Canada last June, Poloz shifted policy statements from cautioning about the need for interest-rate increases to a neutral view that leaves open the possibility of a cut, increasing pressure on the nation’s dollar. Poloz’s references to the importance of a weaker currency to support exports and persistent warnings about the threat of low inflation have kept up the pressure.

“The Bank of Canada will replace talking about uncomfortably low inflation with instead talking about uncomfortably weak recovery of the export sector,” Bank of Montreal’s Anderson said. “That’s the only way they can take a little more hawkish stance on rates without having the currency appreciate.”

Poloz said March 18 at a press conference that “if the balance of risks were to shift so that the risks on the downside for inflation were increased, then we would need to reconsider” lowering the rate.

The yield on June 2015 bankers’ acceptance contracts reached 1.46 percent today, the highest since April 4, suggesting investors are moving up their expected date for the Bank of Canada to begin raising interest rates.

Canadian retail sales increased 1.1 percent to C$41.6 billion ($38.5 billion), Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast a 0.6 percent increase, based on the median of 19 projections, and the gain exceeded the 1 percent highest forecast.

USA

By Callie Bost and Jeremy Herron

June 20 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with benchmark indexes extending records amid optimism over the economy, as deal activity spurred a rally in health-care shares and energy producers gained with oil prices. Copper advanced a sixth day.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2 percent to 1,962.91 at 4 p.m. in New York and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2 percent to an all-time high. Shire Plc surged 17 percent as AbbVie Inc. weighed a higher offer for the European drugmaker. Emerging-market shares completed their first weekly drop in June on concern higher oil costs will curb growth. Copper capped the longest rally in six months and coffee advanced for its best day in a month.

U.S. and European stocks rallied this week after the Federal Reserve said interest rates will remain low as the economic recovery shows signs of accelerating. Commodities led by oil rose for a second week as President Barack Obama said he’s sending U.S. military advisers to assist the Iraqi army battle an insurgency and is prepared to take more action.

“This is an energy bunny sort of market that wants to keep marching higher and for a good reason,” Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees $120 billion, said by phone. “The U.S. economy is showing varying signs of improvement. Earnings are rising, interest rates are low and inflation is elevated, but not at extremes. That’s a favorable environment for equities to march higher.” The S&P 500 has climbed 1.4 percent this week. The index has closed higher six straight days, its longest streak since April. The gauge is trading at 16.6 times the projected earnings of its members, up from 15.5 times at the beginning of the year.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen emphasized the need to put more Americans back to work and downplayed concerns about asset-price bubbles and incipient inflation.

Among stocks moving, CarMax Inc., the biggest U.S. auto dealer by market valuation, surged 17 percent after its profit and revenue topped estimates on higher vehicle sales. AutoNation Inc. added. 5.1 percent. Oracle Corp. slid 4 percent to lead an index of technology shares lower after reporting fourth-quarter profit and sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates.

Five out of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 advanced today, with energy shares adding 1 percent for the biggest increase. Drug companies rallied amid the AbbVie discussions. Cross-border deals are accelerating as U.S. companies seek lower taxes and ways to spend almost $2 trillion protected from U.S. taxes in cash abroad. Merck & Co. increased 1.1 percent and Eli Lilly & Co. climbed 3.6 percent to pace gains. The Stoxx 600 finished little changed, paring gains in the final minutes of trading to trim a weekly gain to 0.3 percent. AbbVie Inc. is considering raising ts takeover bid for Shire Plc a fourth time after the European drugmaker rejected its latest offer for about $46.5 billion, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

TSB Banking Group Plc rallied 12 percent on its first day of trading. Lloyds Banking Group Plc sold a 35 percent stake in the lender, more than the 25 percent it had planned, because of strong demand from investors.

“We’re still overweight global equities,” said Kelvin Tay, chief investment officer for South Asia Pacific at UBS Wealth Management. “Where risk assets are concerned, you tend to benefit from low interest rates, and from the Fed’s statement, we don’t think that interest rates are going to go up anytime soon. There is some concern that the situation in Iraq could escalate and bring oil prices up another notch.” The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slid 0.5 percent, bringing this week’s loss to 0.4 percent. Russia’s equities ended two days of gains as fighting erupted between Ukrainian government troops and insurgents.

The Micex fell 0.6 percent, pushing its weekly decline to 1 percent. After the market closed, Ukraine announced a week-long unilateral cease-fire in its easternmost regions. Earlier, NATO condemned Russia for massing new troops in a move that cast a pall over talks.

Gilts fell as Barclays Plc brought forward its forecast for the first increase in Bank of England interest rates to this year from the second quarter of 2015. The 10-year yield increased three basis points to 2.76 percent, after reaching 2.79 percent on June 13, the highest since March 11.

German 10-year yields increased two basis points to 1.34 percent. Italy’s rose three basis points to 2.95 percent.

The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities added 0.1 percent for a seventh day of gains, the longest streak in 11 months that left the gauge at the highest level since February 2013. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.8 percent to $107.26, the highest settlement since Sept. 18. Brent crude slipped 25 cents to close at $114.81 a barrel in London, trimming a second weekly gain.

Copper for delivery in three months rose 1.4 percent to settle at $6,820 a metric ton in London, the biggest gain since May 12. Zinc rose to a 16-month high on concern supply will remain tight amid shrinking inventories.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

“Always do your best; what you plant now you will harvest later.” – Og Mandino

 

As ever,

 

Brianna

“With the New day comes new strengths and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I will be writing the newsletter on Carolann’s behalf, as she is out of town.

Photos of the day

Tibetans on horseback throw praying papers as they gather for a traditional festival called ‘Wei Sang,’ in Hongyuan county, Sichuan province, China.

A vendor walks down the stairs as fans watch the 2014 World Cup Group C soccer match between Ivory Coast and Colombia at the national stadium in Brasilia, Brazil

Market Closes for June 19^th, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16921.46	+14.84
		+0.09%
S&P 500	1959.48	+2.50   +0.13%
NASDAQ	4359.326	-3.510   -.08%
TSX	15112.22	+2.97
		+0.02%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15361.16	+245.36
		-1.62%
HANG SENG	23167.73	-13.99
		-0.06%
SENSEX	25201.80	-44.45
		-0.18%
FTSE 100	6808.11	-29.55
		+0.44%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.262	2.292
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.825	2.813
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.6206	2.5970
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4660	3.3958

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92420	0.92228
US $	1.08201	1.08426
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.47245	0.67914
US $	1.36085	0.73484

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1321.54	1272.67
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.43	106.90
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

June 19 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks have rallied to a record amid a resurgence in energy producers and gold mining shares, delivering investors the second-best returns among the world’s largest markets this year.

About $1.5 trillion in value has been restored to Canadian equities since March 2009, with the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gaining 100 percent. The S&P/TSX Composite closed yesterday at 15,109.25, topping the previous high of 15,073.13 reached six years earlier on June 18, 2008. It is up 11 percent this year, trailing only the 19 percent advance in India’s S&P BSE Sensex among the world’s 10 biggest markets.

The Canadian government’s June 17 approval of Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipeline to British Columbia’s Pacific coast will potentially open up new markets for oil producers. As well, sectarian violence in Iraq, escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia and the harshest North American winter in three decades have fueled concerns about energy supply and boosted oil and natural gas prices this year.

“It’s about time, is what I would say,” Barry Schwartz, fund manager at Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, said in a phone interview. His firm manages about C$700 million ($646 million). “It’s the resource stocks that had been sliced in half and are finally waking up.”

The S&P/TSX rose 2.56 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 15,111.76 at 9:40 a.m. in Toronto, extending the record with a sixth day of gains. Raw-materials producers plunged 49 percent in the previous three years for the worst performance among 10 industries in the S&P/TSX. Energy stocks lost 7.1 percent in that time as the price spread between local Western Canadian Select oil widened to record levels against global benchmarks, hurting profits for local producers.

Oil producers and mining companies have since rallied 20 percent and 13 percent this year respectively, the top two performers in the S&P/TSX. Detour Gold Corp., the worst stock in 2013 as gold slumped the most in more than 30 years, has rebounded this year with a 239 percent advance. Gold prices have risen 6.4 percent in 2014.

Natural gas producers Birchcliff Energy Ltd. and Crew Energy Inc. have jumped more than 77 percent this year after frigid weather stoked demand for gas to heat homes and businesses in the Northeast and Midwest. Natural gas futures have surged 44 percent since Aug. 9.

A year after U.S. stocks surged to a record, Canada has caught up. Foreign investors are pouring cash into equities and the weakening Canadian dollar is helping earnings for exporters, such as New Gold Inc. and Osisko Mining Corp.

“The comeback has taken longer due to our exposure to resources,” said Gareth Watson, vice president of investment management and research at Richardson GMP Ltd. in an interview. His firm manages C$28 billion.

The Canadian benchmark took more than 63 months to climb from its March 2009 low and surpass its pre-crisis high. The S&P 500 Index achieved the same feat in less than 49 months.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., the Laval, Quebec-based drugmaker, have soared almost 900 percent since 2009 amid an acquisition spree including an $8.7 billion purchase of eye-care firm Bausch & Lomb Inc. and its continued $54.2 billion hostile pursuit of rival Allergan Inc.

Canadian stocks aren’t likely to rise much further because the global economy isn’t strong enough to drive commodity prices higher, according to Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at Sun Life Global Investments Inc. The World Bank cut its global growth forecast earlier this month amid weaker outlooks for the U.S., Russia and China.

“The TSX will have a hard time keeping its gains as the fundamentals in Canada are not strong,” Adatia said in a phone interview. His firm manages C$8.1 billion. “Because they have such high levels of debt, the Canadian consumer can’t sustain the economy.” Canadian household debt levels climbed to a record 164.2 percent of disposable income in the third quarter last year, according to data from Statistics Canada. Valuations are at a three-year high, with the benchmark equity gauge trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.2, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The S&P/TSX has risen almost twice as much as the S&P 500 this year, helping attract international investors looking for better returns. Foreigners bought C$3.64 billion in shares during April, an eighth month of purchases and the most since November, according to data from Statistics Canada. Earnings are forecast to continue improving. Per-share profit for companies in the S&P/TSX will probably rise 26 percent in 2014, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Profits are being helped by declines in the Canadian dollar, which are making domestic goods cheaper compared with competition from abroad. The currency has fallen 2 percent this year against the U.S. dollar, reaching the lowest level since 2009 in March.

New Gold, Osisko Mining and oil producer Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. cited the exchange rate for reducing costs or boosting profit in the first quarter. The Canadian economy will expand 2.2 percent this year and 2.5 percent in each of the following two years, economists predict. Those would be the strongest growth rates since 2011.

“As long as the economy is rising, earnings go higher, it’s a fertile environment for increasing stock prices,” said Schwartz at Baskin Financial. “There seems to be in our minds no end to this rally in sight.”

USA

By Jacob Barach and Jeremy Herron

June 19 (Bloomberg) — Gold rose the most since September as the dollar weakened, while global stocks advanced to a record after the Federal Reserve said rates will remain low as the economy grows. Emerging-market currencies climbed.

Gold futures rallied 3.3 percent and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped to its lowest level in almost a month. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.1 percent to extend an all- time high at 4 p.m. in New York, and the MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 0.5 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields added four basis points to 2.63 percent after plunging yesterday. Brent crude rose to a nine-month high.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said yesterday she expects rates to stay low for a “considerable time” after monthly bond purchases end. Policy makers reduced long-term estimates for growth and interest rates, while also cutting purchases by $10 billion. Reports today showed signs of steady progress in the U.S. labor market and improving consumer confidence. President Barack Obama said he’s sending as many as 300 U.S. military advisers to assist the Iraqi army battle an insurgency.

“People perceived what Yellen said yesterday as less hawkish, and that’s bringing in money to the gold market,” Scott Gardner, who helps manage $450 million at Verdmont Capital SA in Panama City, said in a telephone interview. “The dollar is moving lower, and gold is gaining because of that.”

Gold futures for August delivery rose 3.3 percent to settle at $1,314.10 in New York. Last year, gold fell 28 percent after some investors lost faith in the precious metal as a store of value amid an equity rally and muted inflation. Silver surged to a 13-week high. Yellen told reporters at the end of a two-day meeting in Washington yesterday that accommodative monetary policy, rising home and equity prices and the improving global economy should help stoke above-trend growth in the U.S. Yellen emphasized the need to put more Americans back to work and downplayed concerns about asset-price bubbles and incipient inflation.

The Conference Board’s U.S. leading economic indicators gauge, a measure of the outlook for the next three to six months, increased 0.5 percent in May after a 0.3 percent gain in April, the New York-based group said today.

Other reports todays showed fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment insurance payments last week and consumer confidence improved.

The MSCI All-Country World Index, one of the broadest measures of global equities, added 0.5 percent to a record. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6 percent as all 19 industry groups in the regional benchmark advanced. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index added 1.2 percent.

Among stocks moving in the U.S. today, BlackBerry Ltd. jumped 9.7 percent after reporting a narrower loss than analysts had projected. Red Hat Inc. advanced 2.9 percent after increasing its annual revenue forecast. Starbucks Corp. climbed 2.2 percent after UBS AG boosted its rating on the world’s largest coffee-shop chain.

“People are really taking a more constructive view to see what happens with the market here going forward,” Bill Schultz, who oversees $1.2 billion as chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, said by phone. “I think you have to see if the trend continues.”

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of S&P 500 options prices known as the VIX, fell yesterday to the lowest since February 2007. It was little changed today at 10.66.

Commodities rallied for a sixth day, with the S&P GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials climbing 0.7 percent to the highest since August. Zinc for delivery in three months climbed 0.8 percent to the highest level in almost 16 months in London on concern production will fail to keep up with demand amid supply curbs and shrinking inventories. Aluminum and lead rose.

Crude advanced after a government report showed U.S. inventories shrank and amid concern that violence in Iraq will disrupt supplies.

Iraqi security forces expelled the rebel Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda breakaway, from the Baiji refinery after overnight fighting, according to a police command statement. Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc began removing employees from the country. Brent’s premium over WTI increased for a fourth day.

U.S. equities briefly extended losses today after Obama said he is prepared to take additional “targeted, precise” action in Iraq if necessary. The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent last week as violence in Iraq pushed oil prices higher.

“The market is digesting the information regarding the Federal Reserve,” Chad Morganlander, a money manager at St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., which oversees about $160 billion in assets, said by phone. “We think this is a seriously dovish statement from the Federal Reserve and that the Fed is willing to accept inflation well above 2 percent before any action will be taken. The overall broader markets are sniffing that out.”

Currencies jumped versus the dollar as a slump in foreign- exchange volatility to a record boosted demand for higher- yielding assets. The Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit and Indonesian rupiah gained at least 0.5 percent versus the U.S. currency.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Global FX Volatility Index fell to 5.57 percent, the least since Bloomberg started collecting the data in 1992, helping fuel demand for carry trades, where investors seek to profit from differences in interest rates.  The euro gained 0.1 percent $1.36036, after climbing 0.4 percent yesterday. The dollar was little changed versus the yen.

Spain’s 10-year rate tumbled four basis points to 2.72.

Australia’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 3.67 percent after earlier sliding to 3.64 percent, the lowest since May 29. Germany’s 10-year bund yield fell five basis points to 1.32 percent after sliding to 1.30 percent on May 16, the least in more than a year.

The search for yield amid low borrowing costs could sow the seeds of a new crisis, the two newest members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee said yesterday. Spain can borrow for 10 years at the same rate as Britain, said Kristin Forbes a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who will join the MPC next month.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

“Be Brave enough to live creatively.  The creative place where no one else has ever been.” – Alan Alda

 

As ever,

 

Brianna

“Unrest of spirit is a mark of life.” – Karl Menninger

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I will be writing the newsletter on Carolann’s behalf, as she is out of town.

Photos of the day

A boy cools himself in the waters of a tube well on a hot summer day at Manawala village on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Amritsar.

A rainbow is seen from the Argentine side of the Iguazu River at the Iguazu Falls. Forming a border between Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls, South America’s largest, attracts more than 1 million visitors a year.

Market Closes for June 18^th, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16906.62	+98.13
		+0.58%
S&P 500	1956.98	+14.99   +0.77%
NASDAQ	4362.836	+25.602   +0.59%
TSX	15109.525	+53.36
		+0.35%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15115.80	+139.83
		+0.93%
HANG SENG	23181.72	-21.87
		-0.09%
SENSEX	25246.25	-274.94
		-1.08%
FTSE 100	6778.56	+11.79
		+0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.262	2.292
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.801	2.813
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.5844	2.5970
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4008	3.3958

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92263	0.92228
US $	1.08386	1.08426
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.47257	0.67908
US $	1.35864	0.73603

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1278.07	1272.67
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	105.97	106.90
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada

Five years into a bull market, Canadian stocks have rallied to a record amid a resurgence in energy producers and gold mining shares.  A year after U.S. stocks surged to a record, Canada has caught up. About $1.5 trillion in value has been restored to Canadian equities since March 2009, with the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gaining 100 percent. The S&P/TSX closed at 15,109.25, topping the previous high of 15,073.13 reached six years earlier on June 18, 2008. It is up 11 percent this year for the second-best performance among the world’s 10 biggest markets.

Sectarian violence in Iraq, escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia and the harshest North American winter in three decades have fueled concerns about energy supply and boosted oil and natural gas prices this year. Foreign investors are pouring cash into equities and the weakening Canadian dollar is helping earnings for exporters, such as New Gold Inc. and Osisko Mining Corp.

“It’s about time, is what I would say,” Barry Schwartz, fund manager at Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, said in a phone interview. “It’s the resource stocks that had been sliced in half and are finally waking up.”

USA

Stocks rallied, sending one of the broadest measures of global equities to an all-time high, and Treasuries gained as the Federal Reserve said U.S. growth is bouncing back and repeated that rates will remain low for a “considerable time.” Brent crude climbed to a nine-month high.

The MSCI All-Country World Index advanced 0.6 percent to a record 427.70 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 0.8 percent for a fourth day of gains and a record close, as Fed Chair Janet Yellen said valuations are within historic norms. Ten-year Treasury yields fell six basis points to 2.59 percent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.4 percent from a one-week high. Brent futures settled above $114 as Iraqi forces battled extremists north of Baghdad.

Yellen said accommodative monetary policy, rising home and equity prices and an improving global economy are some factors that should produce above-trend growth in the U.S. The Federal Open Market Committee continued to trim bond-buying that has fueled a rally in equities around the world and helped push the S&P 500 up 189 percent from a bear-market low in 2009. The FOMC repeated today that it’s likely to “reduce the pace of asset purchases in further measured steps” and to keep rates low after the bond-buying ends. A report yesterday showed inflation quickened in May by the most in more than a year.

“There was some expectations that this could be a little more hawkish given that some inflation measures had come up,” Michael Arone, the Boston-based chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors’ U.S. Intermediary Business, said by phone. State Street Corp. oversees $2.4 billion. “Now that the Fed has not interpreted that in a way that means the economy is overheating, I think the market will be pleased with that result.”

A pickup in inflation lessens the threat of a prolonged drop in prices that hurts economic growth, giving Fed officials reason to continue to scale back their unprecedented bond-buying program. Steady labor-market gains has also bolstered confidence about the recovery.

“Economic activity is rebounding in the current quarter and will continue to expand at a moderate pace thereafter,” Yellen said at a press conference in Washington today.

Policy makers today predicted their target interest rate will be 1.13 percent at the end of 2015 and 2.5 percent a year later, higher than previously forecast. They lowered their long- run estimated rate, reflecting a slower growth rate for the U.S. economy.

“The markets are definitely relieved to see a fairly dovish comment,” said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at Stenner Investment Partners of Richardson GMP Ltd. in Vancouver. Richardson GMP manages about C$28.3 billion ($26 billion). “There wasn’t too much change, and really the no change is what markets are cheering.”

It took the MSCI All-Country World Index about 6 1/2 years to surpass the record it set in October 2007, more than a year longer than the S&P 500 as slower advances in Europe and emerging markets held the broader measure back. More than $46 trillion of stocks are tracked by the MSCI gauge, which fell 60 percent in about 16 months during the 2008 credit crisis.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, known as the VIX, lost 12 percent to 10.61 today, the lowest level since 2007. The measure of volatility has dropped 23 percent this year, and is within two points of its record low reached in 1993.

The S&P 500 has climbed 7.5 percent since a low on April 11, as data showed the economy is recovering from the impact of extreme weather earlier this year. The benchmark index is trading at 16.5 times the projected earnings of its members, up from 15.5 times at the beginning of the year.

Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 0.4 percent today for a fifth day of gains to close at an all-time high six years to the day after its last record.

Emerging-market stocks ended five days of declines, with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index adding 0.4 percent. Brazil’s Ibovespa rose the most among the world’s major benchmarks as commodity producers rallied.

The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities rose 0.2 percent for a fifth day of advances. Wheat futures rose 0.9 percent to $5.956 a bushel, while corn rallied from the lowest level in more than four months as investors assessed the development of the U.S. crop.

Brent rose 0.7 percent to settle at $114.26 a barrel as Islamist militants fought the Iraq government for control of a northern refinery. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.2 percent to $106.12 after a government report showed stockpiles rose last week at Cushing, Oklahoma.

Gold advanced 0.2 percent to $1,273 an ounce in New York as the Fed’s decision boosted demand for the metal as an alternative asset. The metal’s 60-day historical volatility dropped to 11.401, the lowest since Oct. 18, 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Gold futures traded in a range of $45 an ounce this month, compared with $74 in May.

Platinum for immediate deliver jumped as much as 1.4 percent and traded 0.5 percent higher to $1,446.85 an ounce in London trading. A deal to end a strike by South African miners at the world’s largest platinum producers will be delayed after a labor union made fresh demands, according to two people familiar with the talks.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was little changed after gaining 0.3 percent yesterday. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BG Group Plc rose as a gauge of oil and gas companies increased amid the spreading conflict in Iraq. Daily Mail and General Trust Plc climbed 3.1 percent as its Zoopla Property Group Plc unit rose on its stock-market debut. Boliden AB gained 3.5 percent after Nordea Bank AB upgraded the copper and zinc producer.

Argentina’s restructured debt sank the most in emerging markets to  trade at less than 71 cents on the dollar, a three- month low. Officials overseeing South America’s second-largest economy say the nation doesn’t have sufficient reserves to pay what they estimate could be $15 billion of claims from holders of defaulted bonds that didn’t participate in two debt exchanges following the country’s 2001 default.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen…yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

As ever,

 

Brianna

“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.” – Seneca

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I will be writing the newsletter on Carolann’s behalf, as she is out of town.

Photos of the day

Jagger Koonce, 2, plays in the fountain as the American Queen is docked along the Hederson, Ky., riverfront on the Ohio River. Darrin Phegley/The Gleaner/AP

Algeria’s Mehdi Mostefa (l.) fights for the ball with Belgium’s Eden Hazard during their 2014 World Cup Group H soccer match at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte. Sergio Perez/Reuters

Market Closes for June 17^th, 2014

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	16808.49	+27.48
		+0.16%
S&P 500	1941.99	+4.21    +0.22%
NASDAQ	4337.234	+16.129    +0.37%
TSX	15055.89	+15.46
		+0.10%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14975.97	+42.68
		+0.29%
HANG  SENG	23203.59	-97.08
		-0.42%
SENSEX	25521.19	+330.71
		+1.31%
FTSE 100	14975.97	+42.68
		+0.29%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.312	2.292
CND.  30 Year Bond	2.837	2.813
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.6523	2.5970
U.S.  30 Year Bond	3.4421	3.3958

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92077	0.92228
US  $	1.08605	1.08426
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian  $	1.47128	0.67968
US  $	1.35470	0.73817

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold  Fix	1270.59	1272.67
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.36	106.90
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Gerrit De Vynck

June 17 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a fourth day, bringing the benchmark index to within 20 points of its closing record, as gains among raw-material producers offset losses in energy stocks.

Centerra Gold Inc. and Pan American Silver Corp. rose at least 2.4 percent to pace gains among materials companies. Kelt Exploration Ltd. gained 7.1 percent after saying it would buy property in the Montney natural gas area.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Index rose 15.46 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,055.89 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark gauge briefly surpassed its closing high of 15,073.13 set in June 2008. The gauge has rallied 11 percent this year, boosted by rallies among commodity stocks.

Producers of raw materials advanced 0.5 percent today. Centerra gained 3.4 percent to C$5.25 and Pan American increased 2.4 percent to C$15.02.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. fell 1.6 percent to C$21.30 after saying it was in a pact to buy Lumina Copper Corp. for $470 million in cash and shares.  Energy companies retreated as oil futures slipped from near a nine-month  high.

Kelt Exploration, an oil and gas producer, gained 7.1 percent to C$15.15. RBC Asset Management raised its target price on the stock after the announcement.

USA

By Jeremy Herron and Callie Bost

June 17 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose a third day, the dollar gained and Treasuries fell the most in two weeks, after data showed U.S. inflation quickened as the Federal Reserve begins a policy meeting. Crude slid from an eight-month high.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.2 percent at 4 p.m. in New York. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies advanced to a two-month high. The rate on 10-year Treasury notes added six basis points to 2.65 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude slid 0.6 percent and gold snapped its longest rally since February. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 10 major counterparts, added 0.3 percent.

Fed policy makers start a two-day meeting today as a report showing an increase in consumer prices signaled inflation will move closer to the bank’s 2 percent goal. Separate data showed housing starts declined in May. The Fed will probably raise rates faster than money-market investors expect, based on a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Iraq’s military said it repelled an attack by an al-Qaeda breakaway group. The nation’s crude output hasn’t been hurt by the violence, the International Energy Agency said today.

“Overall, you’re still in a market environment where the path of least resistance is up,” John Canally, an economic strategist at LPL Financial Corp., said in a phone interview from Boston. His firm oversees about $447.1 billion. “Another bump tomorrow could be the FOMC, although the outcome is largely already priced in.

The S&P 500 has advanced 5.1 percent this year, reaching a record on June 9, as equities were boosted by better-than- forecast economic data and monthly asset purchases by the Fed.

The index is trading at 16.4 times the projected earnings of its members, up from 15.5 times at the beginning of the year.

The Russell 2000 rose 0.9 percent to the highest since April 3. It has rallied 7.4 percent from a May low, rebounding after a selloff in small-cap and Internet stocks. The gauge is 2.7 percent below its all-time high reached in March.

Financial stocks rose the most in the U.S. today with online brokers rallying as the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations met for a hearing to examine conflicts of interest embedded deep in the plumbing of equity markets. U.S.

stock exchanges called for greater public disclosure or elimination of incentives and fees that lawmakers said favor the interests of high-speed traders over other investors.  E*Trade Financial Corp. and Charles Schwab Corp. rallied more than 5.5 percent.

“This is a phase where you still want to be invested in U.S. equities,” said Samy Chaar, a strategist at Lombard Odier in Geneva. “The economy is very robust, you still have cash returning zero, and the Fed is still pretty active. But economic activity is maturing and this may bring some sort of discomfort for investors.”

Treasury two-year note yields reached the highest level since September as the consumer price index increased 0.4 percent in May, the biggest gain since February 2013. A pickup in inflation lessens the threat of a prolonged drop in prices that hurts economic growth, giving Fed officials reason to continue to scale back their unprecedented bond-buying program.

The central bank will reduce the pace of monthly asset purchases by $10 billion to $35 billion, economists project.  Some 62 percent of 58 economists in a Bloomberg survey predict the Fed will halt bond buying at its October meeting.

Another report today showed builders broke ground on 1 million homes in May, indicating the industry is picking up this quarter after a weather-induced slump to start the year. An S&P index of U.S. homebuilders added 0.5 percent.

WTI crude for July delivery fell 0.6 percent to $106.22. Prices capped a 4.1 percent increase last week, the most since December, when escalating violence in Iraq fanned concern that supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer may be disrupted.

Iraq’s oil exports from its southern terminals on the Persian Gulf are poised to surge, according to a preliminary loading plan obtained by Bloomberg News, at a time when fighting has plunged the north into chaos.

U.S. and Iranian officials met in Vienna yesterday as President Barack Obama reaches out for help in combating a growing insurgency by Sunni Muslims in Iraq.

Gold for August delivery dropped 0.3 percent to settle at $1,272 in New York. The metal had gained for six straight sessions to a three-week high. Futures climbed 1.7 percent last week amid escalating tensions from Ukraine to Iraq.

The Federal Open Market Committee’s “June meeting will be in focus this week while a U.S. dollar rebound could weigh on bullion prices, provided Iraqi headlines subside,” Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said in an e- mailed note today.

The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 102.13 yen. The greenback added 0.2 percent to $1.35446 versus the euro. The shared currency was little changed at 138.34 yen. The pound halted a four-day gain versus the dollar as U.K. inflation slowed to the least in 4 1/2 years.

Soybeans futures fell 0.4 percent after earlier touching the lowest since June 5 on signs of improving conditions for crops in the U.S., the world’s biggest grower. Corn fell to the lowest since February.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index extended a decline into a fifth day amid concern that a reduction in Fed stimulus may reduce liquidity. The gauge dropped 0.4 percent to the lowest in nearly two weeks.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced for the first time in three days as 14 of the 19 main industries climbed. The gauge closed at its lowest level since June 5 yesterday.

Shire Plc climbed to a record after a report said it has hired Citigroup Inc. as it may receive takeover offers. Whitbread Plc added 2.2 percent after sales at its Premier Inn hotels and Costa Coffee chain topped analysts’ estimates. A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S fell 5.3 percent after China blocked the formation of a global alliance by the world’s three biggest shipping lines.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” – Sai Baba

As ever,

 

Brianna

 

“If you really want to do something, you will find a way.  If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

James Joyce set his masterpiece, Ulysses on June 16, 1904.  Now the date is known as Bloomsday and it has been celebrated in Ireland since 1954, the book’s original 50^th anniversary.   Joyceans around the world party today with readings, costumed re-enactments and countless Gorgonzola sandwiches. (from Jared Bland, Globe & Mail).

In honor of James Joyce, The Afterword Reading Society today launches its Special Editions – classic ebooks published twice: once for free to all its members, and a second time for sales around the world with an afterword by its readers.  Today the National Post published the first story in its entirety, The Sisters,  from Dubliners, Joyce’s collection of short stories published 100 years ago.  Join and read at theafterword.ca.

I saw this poem in the Financial Times this weekend, appropriately coinciding with Father’s Day, and I rather liked it…

Father

-by Jenny Lewis

My face is made from yours –
your jaw, your weak right eye:
my shin bone’s from your leg,
shattered in the moonlight
as you supervised the digging
of the trench at Kut-al-Amara.

Years on, your long-dead smile
us from walls, sideboards:
from our mother’s dressing table
casting a shadow around her heart
like your shadow in the album
as you pointed the Box Brownie
towards the Bridge of Boats

at Qurna, the army camp at Kut:
Father, those splinters of bone
were your salvation, hard shards
from which I sprang with shared
ancestry, looking for you.

From “Taking Mesopotamia” (Carcanet).

June 16th, 1967 : The three-day Monterey International Pop Music Festival – which catapulted Jimi Hendrix, the Who and Janis Joplin to stardom – opened in northern California.

Photos of the day

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II travels by carriage after the annual Order of the Garter Service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, southern England. The Order is the senior and oldest British Order of Chivalry, founded by Britain’s King Edward III in 1348. Chris Jackson/Reuters

A rainbow is seen from the Argentine side of the Iguazu River at the Iguazu Falls. Forming a border between Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls, South America’s largest, attracts more than 1 million visitors a year. Jorge Adorno/Reuters

Market Closes for June 16^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16781.01	+5.27
		+0.03%
S&P 500	1937.78	+1.62    +0.08%
NASDAQ	4321.105	+10.452    +0.24%
TSX	15040.43	+38.82
		+0.26%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14933.29	-164.55
		-1.09%
HANG   SENG	23300.67	-18.50
		-0.08%
SENSEX	25190.48	-37.69
		-0.15%
FTSE 100	6754.64	-23.21
		-0.34%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.292	2.313
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.813	2.832
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.5970	2.6033
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.3958	3.4134

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92228	0.92113
US   $	1.08426	1.08563
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.47162	0.67951
US   $	1.35728	0.73677

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1272.67	1276.89
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.90	106.91
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Eric Lam and Gerrit De Vynck

June 16 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rallied, sending the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index briefly above its record close, as energy shares advanced on speculation the violence in Iraq will boost oil prices.

Veresen Inc. and BlackPearl Resources Inc. added 2.6 percent to lead gains among oil and natural gas companies. A measure of energy stocks in the S&P/TSX has advanced in 13 of the past 14 days and soared 20 percent this year. Consumer staples had the biggest advance among Canadian industries today, increasing 0.7 percent.

The S&P/TSX added 38.82 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,040.43 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The index climbed as high as 15,075.70, surpassing its previous closing record of 15,073.13 in June 2008. The equity benchmark is up 10 percent this year, the fifth-biggest advance among 24 developed markets.

“We’re seeing money rotate back into Canadian energy in a big way,” said Martin Pelletier, a fund manager at TriVest Wealth Counsel Ltd. on the phone in Calgary. “Clearly there’s momentum, the TSX is playing catch-up. A lot of the rally in the TSX has been primarily due to a strong recovery in energy.”

Mounting violence in Iraq threatens to plunge one of the world’s largest oil producers into a sectarian civil war like the one raging in neighboring Syria. Iraq’s army said it killed more than 279 rebels yesterday as the prospect of civil war in OPEC’s second-largest producer intensified with Sunni Muslim insurgents controlling territory north of Baghdad.

West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed today at $106.90 a barrel, near a nine-month high. Oil pared gains today after Bank of America Corp. said the complete halt of Iraqi output, concentrated at the opposite end of the country, is “highly unlikely.”

The S&P/TSX has rallied 99 percent from a five-year low in March 2009. The advance has been led by a more than 800 percent surge in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Financial services companies jumped 168 percent during the bull market and the nation’s largest lenders including Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia touched records this year.

The equity benchmark trades at 20.1 times reported earnings, the highest level in three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In today’s trading, Veresen, an pipeline operator, added 2.6 percent to C$18.30. BlackPearl, which explores and develops oil and gas fields, climbed 2.6 percent to C$2.40

Valeant Pharmaceuticals dropped 1.6 percent for a 10th day of losses, its longest losing streak since 2004. Allergan Inc. said the company’s business model is unsustainable because it “relies on serial acquisitions and cost reductions.”

USA
By Joseph Ciolli

June 16 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, after equities posted their first weekly drop in a month, as corporate deals and growth in American manufacturing overshadowed escalating tension in Iraq.

Covidien Plc surged 20 percent after Medtronic Inc. agreed to buy the Irish company for $42.9 billion. Williams Cos. Jumped 19 percent after agreeing to buy control of Access Midstream Partners LP for $6 billion. General Electric Co. dropped 0.8 percent after a group led by Siemens AG made a joint bid to carve up the energy unit of France’s Alstom SA. Yahoo! Inc. slid 5.8 percent, halting an eight-day rally, after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. reported a slowdown in quarterly revenue growth.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1,937.78 at 4 p.m. in New York after fluctuating between gains and losses throughout the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 5.27 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 16,781.01. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies added 0.4 percent. About 5.4 billion shares changed hands today on U.S. exchanges, 13 percent below the three-month average.

“The market’s looking for a direction,” Stephen Carl, principal and head equity trader at New York-based Williams Capital Group LP, said in a phone interview. “The data wasn’t really robust. Some of it points to a more positive direction, but underlying, there’s still more to be proven. People are keeping an eye on Iraq and the broader geopolitical situation.”

The S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent last week, snapping a three-week rally that had pushed equities to all-time highs, as Sunni insurgents in Iraq occupied more territory and oil prices jumped to an eight-month high.

Iraq’s sectarian violence showed no sign of abating, with Sunni Muslim militants and government forces fighting to control Tal Afar. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, is fighting to reverse the advance of ISIL militants, who captured Iraqi’s largest northern city and other towns last week.

West Texas Intermediate crude erased gains, as Bank of America Corp. said the complete halt of Iraqi output, concentrated at the opposite end of the country, is “highly unlikely.” The price remained near a nine-month high.

Ukraine said Russia cut natural gas supplies after demanding fuel payments be made in advance, the first time shipments have been affected in this year’s crisis in relations between the two countries. Tensions escalated at the weekend with 49 servicemen killed when pro-Russia fighters shot down an aircraft.

“Investors are just trying to work the Iraqi situation through their mind and keep an even keel at this point,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview. “Numbers have been slightly better than consensus all the way through. We’re not exactly jumping, but there’s a little bit of optimism out there.”

Data today showed industrial production climbed more than forecast in May, a sign gains in manufacturing are supporting growth as the U.S. economy picks up. Output at factories, mines and utilities rose 0.6 percent after a revised 0.3 percent drop in April that was smaller than previously estimated, a report from the Federal Reserve showed.

The New York Fed’s Empire manufacturing report rose to 19.28, exceeding the average estimate of 15 in a Bloomberg survey of economists, a separate report indicated.

The Fed is watching economic data as it moves to complete a monthly stimulus program late this year. Policy makers meet this week, with a decision on rates and bond buying due June 18. The stimulus has helped propel the S&P 500 higher by as much as 188 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009.

The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. economy this year and said the Fed may have scope to keep interest rates at zero for longer than investors expect. The institution now sees the world’s largest economy growing 2 percent in 2014, down from an April estimate of 2.8 percent.

For the Fed, the forecast means “policy rates could afford to stay at zero for longer than the mid-2015 date currently foreseen by markets,” the fund said in its annual assessment of the U.S. economy.

Investors also considered equity valuations after the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on June 9. The measure trades at 16.4 times the projected earnings of its members as of June 13, up from a multiple of 14.8 at the start of February. The Dow closed at a record on June 10.

A measure of volatility posted the biggest gain since April last week, rebounding from a seven-year low on June 6, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index surged 14 percent to 12.18. The gauge known as the VIX rose 3.9 percent to 12.66 today, the highest since May 20.

Seven of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated today, with financial companies dropping 0.4 percent to pace declines.  Utilities rallied 0.7 percent for the biggest advance.

GE lost 0.8 percent to $26.82. Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. made a joint bid to carve up Alstom’s energy unit, challenging a $17 billion offer by GE. The planned bid may put pressure on GE to improve the terms of its offer for the French company’s energy assets.

Yahoo, which owns 22.6 percent of Alibaba, dropped 5.8 percent to $34.81. China’s largest e-commerce company reported a slowdown in quarterly revenue growth. Alibaba’s revenue rose 38.7 percent in the quarter ended March 31, down from 62 percent in the December quarter.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. plunged 8.7 percent to $67.12 for the steepest slide in the S&P 500. The drugmaker slid after an analyst Sanford C. Bernstein said phase three trials for the company’s VX809 Cystic Fibrosis drug have a “high” probability of failure, citing conversations with scientists.

Level 3 Communications Inc. fell 4.1 percent to $42.30. The Web content delivery company will pay a 12 percent premium to TW Telecom Inc.’s closing price last week, giving the company a direct connection to business customers. TW Telecom shares surged 7.3 percent to $38.99.

Covidien rallied 20 percent to a record $86.75. Medtronic will pay about 29 percent more than Covidien’s closing price on June 13, the companies said. The combined entity, called Medtronic Plc, will be based in Ireland for tax purposes.

Medtronic dropped 1.1 percent to $60.03 for a sixth day of losses, the longest streak in a year. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said the deal will allow it to challenge Johnson & Johnson as the world’s biggest medical-device company.

Williams Cos. climbed 19 percent to a record $56.02. The purchase would create one of the biggest U.S. transporters of fuel at a time of increased natural-gas exploration. Access Midstream rose 1.9 percent to $66.57.

Fusion-io Inc. soared 22 percent to $11.36. SanDisk Corp. agreed to purchase the maker of flash-memory technology for about $1.1 billion. The all-cash offer of $11.25 a share is 21 percent higher than Fusion-io’s closing price on June 13.  SanDisk shares added 3.6 percent to $102.

Home Depot Inc. rose 1.1 percent to $78.90 for the biggest gain in the Dow. The largest U.S. home-improvement retailer advanced as the homebuilder confidence report provided a sign the residential real estate market is stabilizing after reeling from severe winter weather earlier this year.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

The connection of love is total.

In love, difference disappears and the human soul accomplishes

its object in perfection,

exceeding its own boundaries

and traversing the threshold of infinity.

Rabindranath Tagore,1861-1901

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

 

You only live once – but if you work it right, once is enough.

–Joe E. Lewis, 1902-1971

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Friday the 13th is generally an unlucky day, but stock investors have actually done quite well by “Friday the June 13th.” Since 1928, the S&P 500 has risen in 10 of the prior 12 times Friday the 13th has landed in June, according to S&P’s data whiz Howard Silverblatt.

Friday was regarded by the Norsemen as the luckiest day of the week, when weddings took place, but among Christians it has been regarded as the unluckiest, because it was the day of the crucifixion.  While no longer a day of compulsory abstinence for Roman Catholics, they are urged to set Friday apart for some voluntary act of self-denial.

Friday is the Sabbath for Muslims, who hold that Adam was created on a Friday and that it was on Friday that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and on Friday that they died.  It is also held unlucky among Buddhists and Brahmans.

In England it is not unlucky to be born on this day, since “Friday’s child is loving and giving.”
It is held to be a bad day for ships to put to sea, but in 1492 Columbus set sail on a Friday and sighted land on a Friday.

Full moon tonight.  The moon is in Sagittarius tonight.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers reading this.  Father’s Day was devised in 1910 in Spokane, Washington as a counterpart to Mother’s Day.

Birthday:  William Butler Yeats, June 13, 1865:

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There  midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

~William Butler Yeats

Photos of the day

Pakistani soccer fans hoist flags of countries in the World Cup in Brazil, to celebrate in Karachi’s slums, Pakistan, June 13, 2014. From the stadium in Sao Paulo to sofas in Germany, from a pub in Nairobi to a cafe in Miami, from a Rio slum to outer space, nearly half the world’s population was expected to tune in to the World Cup, soccer’s premier event which kicked off Thursday in Brazil. Fareed Khan/AP

An octopus named Hacchan predicts Japan’s victory in their 2014 World Cup soccer match against Ivory Coast by choosing the mock goal with the Japanese national flag, at Shinagawa Aqua Stadium aquarium in Tokyo, June 13, 2014. Issei Kato/Reuters

Market Closes for June 13^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16775.74	+41.55
		+0.25%
S&P 500	1936.16	+6.05    +0.31%
NASDAQ	4310.652	+13.019    +0.30%
TSX	15001.61	+91.98
		+0.62%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15097.84	+124.31
		+0.83%
HANG   SENG	23319.17	+144.15
		+0.62%
SENSEX	25228.17	-348.04
		-1.36%
FTSE 100	6777.85	-65.26
		-0.95%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.313	2.316
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.832	2.837
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.6033	2.5951
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4134	3.4101

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92113	0.92118
US   $	1.08563	1.08557
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.47002	0.68026
US   $	1.35408	0.73851

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1276.89	1273.03
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.91	106.53
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

June 13 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, sending the benchmark index above 15,000 points, as energy companies were boosted by oil prices amid escalating violence in Iraq.

Legacy Oil & Gas Inc. and Crew Energy Inc. increased at least 4.8 percent, pacing gains among energy companies. Amaya Gaming Group Inc. jumped 42 percent after agreeing to acquire PokerStars. Pilot Gold Inc. fell 8 percent as the miner announced a pact to buy Cadillac Mining Corp.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 91.98 points, or 0.6 percent, to 15,001.61 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has risen 10 of the last 11 days, and is 0.5 percent below its all-time high of 15,073.13 reached in June 2008. The index is up 10 percent this year.

Energy companies increased 1.7 percent as a group, the biggest jump since August, as an advance by Islamist fighters in Iraq threatened to disrupt world oil supplies.

Legacy Oil & Gas rose 5.8 percent to C$9.71 and Crew Energy added 4.8 percent to C$11.51.

Amaya Gaming jumped 42 percent to C$20 after announcing the $4.9 billion deal to buy PokerStars. The purchase will make Amaya the biggest publicly held online gambling company in the world, the company said.

Pilot Gold lost 8 percent to C$1.50 after saying it would buy Cadillac at a 121 percent premium to its closing price on June 12. Cadillac, which trades on the TSX Venture Exchange, more than doubled to 20 Canadian cents.

Canadian factory sales posted a surprise decline in April, the first drop in four months. Sales fell 0.1 percent to C$50.9 billion, Statistics Canada said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a rise of 0.5 percent.

US
By Oliver Renick

June 13 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index paring its first weekly decline in a month, as a rally in Intel Corp. and corporate deals overshadowed concern that violence in Iraq will disrupt oil supplies.

Intel jumped the most in three years after raising its sales forecasts for the second quarter and the full year. Express Inc. surged 21 percent after Sycamore Partners said it plans to buy the clothing chain. Priceline Group Inc. dropped 3 percent after agreeing to buy OpenTable Inc. for $2.6 billion in cash. Citigroup Inc. fell 1.4 percent after the U.S. Justice Department said it will seek $10 billion as part of a probe into mortgage-backed bond sales.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,936.15 at 4 p.m. in New York, trimming its first weekly slide in a month to 0.7 percent. The equities benchmark nearly erased its gains in the final hour of trading before capping its first advance in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 41.55 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,775.74. About 5.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 18 percent below the three-month average.

“There’s a lot of potential uncertainty surrounding the situation in Iraq,,” Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Cincinnati-based Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc., said by phone. “Any time you have conflict around the world, and especially there, where we’ve withdrawn troops from just in the past year, it can cause some nervousness.”

The S&P 500’s gain today halted its longest losing streak in two months. The gauge has advanced 6.6 percent since a low on April 11 as data showed the economy is recovering from the impact of extreme weather earlier this year. It had closed at a record for four straight sessions through June 9.

Islamist fighters in Iraq extended their advance today, entering two northeastern towns as government forces failed to halt an offensive that triggered concern over a civil war and prompted the U.S. not to rule out airstrikes.

The insurgency highlights the risks to oil supply from a nation forecast to provide about 60 percent of OPEC’s output growth for the rest of this decade, the International Energy Agency said.

Investors are also watching data to determine the strength of the world’s largest economy. Reports yesterday on jobless claims and retail sales fell short of estimates.

Wholesale prices in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in May, suggesting demand isn’t robust enough to push inflation closer to the Federal Reserve’s target.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell this month from 81.9 in May, a report today indicated.

“I think there’s some consumer fatigue,” Ian Kerrigan, global investment specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank in Seattle, said in a phone interview. “It comes down to how important the consumer is to our economy and if they don’t have that confidence to go out and spend or be employed and have that discretionary income, that definitely has an impact on the recovery.”

The Fed is watching the labor market as it moves to complete a monthly stimulus program late this year. Policy makers meet next week, with a decision on rates and bond buying due June 18. The stimulus has helped propel the S&P 500 higher by as much as 188 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index slid 4.4 percent to 12.01. The gauge, known as the VIX, has jumped 12 percent this week.

Nine of the 10 main S&P 500 groups advanced today, with technology stocks rallying behind Intel. An S&P 500 index of semiconductor companies surged 2.9 percent for its 16th gain in the past 17 sessions, leaving it at the highest in 10 years.

Intel jumped 6.8 percent to $29.87, the biggest gain in three years. The world’s largest semiconductor maker raised its second-quarter revenue forecast and said annual sales will increase for the first time since 2011, buoyed by improving business demand for personal computers.

Applied Materials Inc., which manufactures and services semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment, gained 2.9 percent to $22.37, poised for the highest close in almost seven years. Micron Technology Inc., the largest U.S. maker of memory chips, gained 1 percent to $31.17.

“Large companies like Intel have broad geographic coverage, disparate lines of business, so positive news can be a sign that things are good generally,” Lawrence Creatura, Rochester-based portfolio manager at Federated Investors Inc., which oversees $366 billion in assets. “It can help market sentiment.”

Express jumped 21 percent to $16.45. Sycamore Partners told the company’s board it would like to perform due diligence to determine an offer price. Sycamore owns a 9.9 percent stake in Express.

International Game Technology surged 11 percent to $15.86, the highest in three months. The world’s largest maker of slot machines, which has been exploring a sale for two months, has received bids from include lottery operator GTech SpA and billionaire Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., Reuters reported.

OpenTable rallied 48 percent to $104.48. Priceline, the online travel agent, offered $103 a share, 46 percent above OpenTable’s closing price yesterday. Priceline dropped 2.5 percent to $1,195.61.

Finisar Corp. sank 22 percent to $19.71. The maker of fiber-optic communications devices forecast first-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ estimates.

Citigroup slid 1.4 percent to $47.59 for a fourth day of losses. The Justice Department asked the bank for more than $10 billion to settle a probe into its sale of mortgage-backed bonds in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

In the physical world there is an indestructible continuity of relations

between hot and cold, light and darkness, movement and repose,

as well as between the bass and treble notes of a piano.

This is because opposites do not bring confusion to the world; they bring harmony.

Rabindranath Tagore,1861-1901

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Train yourself to let go of the things you fear to lose.

-George Lucas, 1944-

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in…
1929- Anne Frank was born.

George Beardmore wrote in his Journal on June 12^th, 1944:

Other side-effects of bombs are the stripping of leaves from wayside trees, the deaths by blast of sparrows, chaffinches etc., and the awful things that happen to cats and dogs.  We had a man complain that thirty of his forty-odd small birds in a  backyard aviary had been killed by blast, half a mile or so away from where the bomb landed.

Also on this day in 1939, Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Baseball is 90% mental; the other half is physical.   –Yogi Berra.

Numbers:
100: Number of starlings, in millions, released into Central Part in 1890 -91 by Eugene Schlieffelin, a Shakespeare devotee.
200: Number of starlings, in millions, descended from those birds.  They range from Mexico to Alaska.

Photos of the day

Four-month-old female orangutan Olivia plays with wood wool during warm and sunny weather in their enclosure at the Hellabrunn zoo in Munich, southern Germany. Rebecca Krizak/dpa/AP

Ryan Hakik attends the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, Calif., June 11. Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters

Which hair-do do you like better?  🙂

Market Closes for June 12^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16734.19	-109.69
		-0.65%
S&P 500	1930.11	-13.78    -0.71%
NASDAQ	4297.633	-34.299    -0.79%
TSX	14909.63	+17.50
		+0.12%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14973.53	-95.95
		-0.64%
HANG   SENG	23175.02	-82.27
		-0.35%
SENSEX	25576.21	+102.32
		+0.40%
FTSE 100	6843.11	+4.24
		+0.06%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.316	2.342
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.837	2.863
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.5951	2.6376
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4101	3.4642

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92118	0.92000
US   $	1.08557	1.08696
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.47091	0.67985
US   $	1.35496	0.73803

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1273.03	1260.54
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.53	104.40
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

June 12 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the ninth time in 10 days as gains among energy and materials producers offset losses in financial and telephone shares.

Surge Energy Inc. and Lightstream Resources Ltd. rose at least 4 percent to pace gains among oil and gas companies.
Financial companies fell for a second day after Moody’s Investors Service cut its ratings on six of the country’s biggest banks.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 17.5 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,909.63 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark equity gauge is about 1.1 percent away from a record high.

Prices for benchmark Brent and West Texas Intermediate oil rose at least 2 percent to eight-month highs after fighters linked to al-Qaeda extended their control over parts of northern Iraq. The country is the second-largest producer in OPEC.

Materials companies rose 1.3 percent as a group, the most out of 10 industries on the S&P/TSX. Energy companies rose 1.3 percent as six of the other eight industries fell. Surge Energy increased 4 percent to C$7.59 and Lightstream gained 6.7 percent to C$8.64.

Transat A.T. Inc., which sells travel packages and operates an airline, gained 6.5 percent to C$8.90. The Montreal-based company reported a second-quarter adjusted loss of 19 Canadian cents, less than the average analyst estimate of 34 Canadian cents.

Dollarama Inc. fell 2.7 percent to C$92.65 after the discount retailer missed first-quarter revenue estimates. The company said in a statement it may buy back up to 3.5 percent of its outstanding shares.

Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. rose 5 percent to C$46.04 after analysts at Desjardins Securities Inc., National Bank Financial and RBC Capital Markets all raised their ratings on the stock.

US
By Oliver Renick and Mark Shenk

June 12 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks retreated, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falling the most in three weeks, as industrial and consumer-discretionary shares plunged after escalating violence in Iraq sent oil to an eight-month high while economic data missed estimates.

Delta Air Lines Inc. fell the most in the benchmark index and United Continental Holdings Inc. plunged 5.9 percent to lead industrial stocks lower. The Dow Jones Transportation Average retreated the most in two months as oil prices rose to an eight- month high. Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. and Noble Corp. climbed at least 3.2 percent as oil and gas companies rallied. Intel Corp. jumped 3.8 percent in extended trading after boosting its full-year revenue target.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent to 1,930.11 at 4 p.m. in New York, giving the index its longest losing streak in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 109.69 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,734.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.8 percent, the  most in a month.

“This is a major geopolitical event for the oil market,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York- based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “Iraq had been a bright spot ramping up production and now we’re in the midst of a very ugly conflict.”

A surge in violence across northern and central Iraq, three years after U.S. troops withdrew, has raised the prospect of a return to sectarian civil war in OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer. Iraqi forces sought to check the rapid advance of Islamist militants who had seized major cities, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki responded to the greatest threat to his government since taking power. President Barack Obama said he won’t rule out using airstrikes to assist Iraq’s government.

The S&P 500 lost 0.4 percent yesterday and the Dow average halted a five-day rally as the World Bank cut its forecast for global growth and investors weighed equity valuations. The broader index trades at 16.4 times forecast earnings, up from a multiple of 14.8 at the beginning of February. The gauge had closed at a record for four straight sessions through June 10.

Retail sales rose 0.3 percent in May as American consumers took a respite following a three-month surge in shopping. The gain followed a revised 0.5 percent gain in April that was much larger than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed. The median forecast of 83 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.6 percent advance.

A separate report indicated applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. rose to 317,000 last week. The median forecast of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 310,000. Claims have averaged around 324,000 so far in 2014.

“There is some indication that the economy continues to move forward in a fairly measured fashion,” Rob Lutts, chief investment officer at Salem, Massachusetts-based Cabot Money Management Inc., said in a phone interview. He oversees $600 million of assets. “I think this perpetuates the worry that investors have today. What they want is that clear blue sky economic condition, and we don’t have that.”

The S&P 500 advanced 7.1 percent through yesterday since a low on April 11 as data showed the U.S. economy is recovering from the impact of extreme weather earlier this year. The Federal Reserve is watching the labor market as it moves to complete a monthly stimulus program late this year. Three rounds of bond buying have helped propel the S&P 500 higher by as much as 188 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 8.1 percent to 12.54, a three-week high. The gauge, known as the VIX, trades at the highest since May 15 on a closing basis.

Eight of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated, with industrial and consumer-discretionary stocks losing 1.3 percent to pace declines. Caterpillar Inc. dropped 1.9 percent and Disney Co. fell 1.8 percent.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average sank 2 percent, the most since April, as West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2 percent, the most since Sept. 18. Delta sank 5.4 percent, the most since August, while United Continental lost 5.9 percent and Southwest Airlines Co. dropped 4.5 percent.

Energy producers in the S&P 500 added 0.3 percent. Noble, a contract-drilling company, rallied 3.1 percent, and Diamond Offshore jumped 3.3 percent to pace gains. Chevron Corp. climbed 0.7 percent, the most in the Dow.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. declined 16 percent to $37.25, the lowest since March 2011. The athletics-apparel retailer forecast full-year earnings of as much as $1.76 a share, down from an earlier prediction of as much as $1.90. The forecast also fell short of analyst estimates calling for $1.89.

Keurig Green Mountain Inc. advanced 4.1 percent to $120.75 for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The company said yesterday it is “committed” to returning more cash to investors.

Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. rallied 13 percent to a record $80.40. The home-furnishings chain boosted its forecast for full-year profit to at least $2.24 a share, after predicting in March no more than $2.22. Analysts estimate earnings will be $2.21. The Corte Madera, California-based company also raised its outlook for revenue.

Intel added jumped 3.8 percent to $29.01 in extended trading after closing little changed in the regular session. The world’s largest computer-chipmaker raised its forecast for second-quarter revenue as demand for corporate personal computers picks up.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

We are fragmented.  We are one person at the office another at home,

we speak of democracy and are autocrats in our hearts;

we speak of love for our neighbors even as we kill that love with our competitive spirit;

one part of us works, watches, and acts independently of the other.

Are you conscious of the fragmentation of your existence? Is it possible for a mind

that has splintered the structure of its thoughts to perceive the broad field of consciousness?

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.

-Langston Coleman

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

BEE-AUTIFUL PORTRAITS

If you appreciate flowers in your garden or fresh vegetables every spring and summer, now you can get a close-up look at the bees that help to make them bloom.  Am Droege, head of the bee inventory and monitoring program at the US Geological survey, and a team of colleagues have figured out how to take detailed photographs of the more than 4,000 species of bees that live in North America.  Check out Droege’s photos on Flickr (http://bit.ly/BeeHeadshots) and read more about their work in National Geographic (http://bit.ly/NatGeobees).

Photos of the day

A monkey cools off in a water tub on the premises of a Hindu temple on a hot summer afternoon in Jammu, India. Severe heat conditions are prevailing across northern India with temperatures soaring past 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) at several places. Channi Anand/AP

A man fishes for striped bass on the mud shores of the Stewiacke River in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, Canada. The striped bass is a coastal species found in rivers, estuaries, and inshore waters of eastern North America and can weigh over 50 kilograms. Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press/AP

Market Closes for June 11^th, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16843.88	-102.04
		-0.60%
S&P 500	1943.89	-6.90   -0.35%
NASDAQ	4331.934	-6.063   -0.14%
TSX	14892.13	-12.25
		-0.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15069.48	+74.68
		+0.50%
HANG SENG	23257.29	-58.45
		-0.25%
SENSEX	25473.89	-109.80
		-0.43%
FTSE 100	6838.87	-34.68
		-0.50%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.342	2.347
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.863	2.864
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.6376	2.6439
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4642	3.4779

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.92000	0.91710
US $	1.08696	1.09039
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.47098	0.67982
US $	1.35330	0.73893

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1260.54	1260.26
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	104.40	104.35
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Eric Lam

June 11 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first time in nine days as the nation’s largest lenders dropped after Moody’s Investors Service cut its credit outlook for the banks.

Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada both lost 0.5 percent as Moody’s cut the outlook for the nation’s seven largest banks to negative due to rules that would limit government support. Sherritt International Corp. slumped 3.9 percent as nickel fell in London to the lowest in almost four weeks. AuRico Gold Inc. and Argonaut Gold Inc. jumped more than 6.7 percent to pace gains among gold producers.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 12.25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,892.13 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark equity gauge is 1.2 percent away from its record closing high of 15,073.13 on June 18, 2008. The price-to- earnings ratio for the benchmark equity gauge is 19.9, the highest since 2011.

Bank of Montreal dropped 0.5 percent to C$76.81 and Royal Bank of Canada declined 0.5 percent to C$74.84 as financial companies slipped 0.4 percent as a group. Five of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated on trading volume about 10 percent higher compared with the 30-day average.

Moody’s today changed its outlook for the nation’s largest lenders to negative from stable. In a statement, the credit ratings company said “balance of risk for the Canadian banks’ senior debt holders and uninsured depositors has shifted to the downside” as a result of pending government legislation that will probably shift the burden of bank bailouts to bondholders.

Oryx Petroleum Corp., which explores for oil in Africa and the Middle East, sank 3.5 percent to C$13.51 as Iraqi forces fought a breakaway al-Qaeda group across northern and central Iraq for control of a region that’s home to a key oil refinery.

USA

By Oliver Renick

June 11 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell the most in three weeks, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average halting a five-day rally, as the World Bank cut its forecast for global growth and Boeing Co. sank.

The world’s largest plane maker dropped the most in two months after U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s defeat in a primary election threatened congressional reauthorization of low-cost lending that benefits the company. Bank of America Corp. dropped 2.1 percent after a report said the Justice Department may seek $17 billion to settle probes into mortgage lending. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. rose to a record amid speculation of a takeover. H&R Block Inc. added 4.6 percent after reporting sales that topped analysts’ forecasts.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.4 percent to 1,943.89 at 4 p.m. in New York, the most since May 20. The Dow average retreated 102.04 points, or 0.6 percent, to 16,843.88, ending a streak that pushed it to an all-time high. About 5.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 17 percent below the three-month average at this time of day.

“That negative movement is the World Bank adding pressure with concerns about growth,” Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC in New York, said in a phone interview. Pavlik helps oversee $4.5 billion. “People are tentative with a market that’s trading near all-time highs with low growth prospects.”

Cantor lost to a Tea Party-backed candidate in last night’s Virginia primary, fueling concern about further gridlock in Washington. The defeat could also have long-range market repercussions, as the seven-term House veteran was an ally for Wall Street on issues ranging from the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program to defending the Export-Import Bank.

“There were very few folks who expected this,” Michael Block, chief strategist at New York-based Rhino Trading Partners LLC, said in an interview. “I’m not concerned about the debt ceiling but some are and I will say Cantor was good at finding compromises relative to the rest of the party.”

Since Republicans took control of the House in 2011, debates over the debt limit — the total amount of money the U.S. government can borrow to finance existing obligations such as Social Security and Medicare — led to eleventh-hour showdowns that raised concerns that the government could default on its obligations, roiling financial markets. Congress voted in February to suspend the limit until March 15, 2015.

Cantor’s defeat raises concerns about the future of political compromise, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said.

“I hope it doesn’t mean that it will be impossible from this point forward to compromise on issues like the budget, immigration policy,” Blankfein said in a television interview with CNBC today. “This is not necessarily a good signal but we’ll have to see how this plays out.”

The S&P 500 slipped less than one point yesterday, halting a four-day rally, as investors considered equity valuations. The gauge trades at 16.4 times the projected earnings of its members, up from a multiple of 14.8 at the beginning of February. The index has advanced 7.1 percent through yesterday since a low on April 11.

The World Bank forecast in a report that the global economy will expand 2.8 percent this year, down from a January projection of 3.2 percent. The lender predicted slower growth for the U.S., China, Russia, India and Brazil. It left the estimate for world growth in 2015 unchanged at 3.4 percent.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose 5.7 percent to 11.62. The gauge, known as the VIX, dropped 5.9 percent last week to 10.73, the lowest level since February 2007.

Nine of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated, with industrial and utility stocks losing at least 0.8 percent to pace declines.

Boeing slid 2.3 percent to $134.10 for the biggest drop in the Dow. The planemaker is the “biggest loser” other than Cantor in last night’s primary, Chris Krueger, a senior policy analyst for Guggenheim Securities LLC, said, as the defeat imperils financing for the Export-Import Bank. Boeing said last month the lender would support $10 billion in sales this year.

Bank of America sank 2.1 percent to $15.59. The U.S. Justice Department is seeking about $17 billion from Bank of America Corp. to settle probes into its handling of mortgages ahead of the financial crisis, the New York Times reported.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. slid 2.7 percent to $22.81 after registering to sell 90 million shares held by Blackstone Group LP. The world’s largest lodging company by market value has climbed 17 percent since raising $2.35 billion in its Dec. 11 initial public offering.

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. dropped 15 percent to $5.81. The biopharmaceutical company said the Food and Drug Administration will take an additional three months to review its new weight- loss drug.

Anadarko Petroleum jumped 4.2 percent to $108.32, an all- time high. Theflyonthewall.com reported “renewed takeover chatter” today on the company.

CBS Corp. added 1.1 percent to $61.80. The owner of the most-watched television network said it will fully divest its 81 percent stake in CBS Outdoor Americas Inc. The company will offer shareholders the option to exchange CBS Class B stock for shares of CBS Outdoor stock at a 7 percent discount.

H&R Block rose 4.6 percent to $32.15, the highest since February. The biggest U.S. tax preparer said fiscal fourth- quarter profit climbed 35 percent as higher prices for its services and more online business boosted revenue.

Synaptics Inc. jumped 29 to a record $85.78 after agreeing to buy Renesas SP Drivers Inc., a maker of chips for smartphones and tablets. The provider of touch-screen technology said it will acquire Renesas within three to four months.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Why is this division between man and man, between race and race, culture against culture,

one series of ideologies set one against another?   Why?

Why is there this separation?

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget

what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The Bon Mot Book Club hosted an evening presentation last night with Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics. His latest book is Think Like a Freak.  He talked about ideas from the book; I admit I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.…from the conversation with the audience during the Q & A, it seems like it contains some provocative points and interesting concepts.  He is an engaging thinker.

It was held at the Vancouver Club which has undergone a major dramatic facelift.  It is really quite impressive; I think they did a very good job of combining the old with the new.   I’ve stayed there many times when I visit clients in Vancouver and the old rooms transported one back a hundred years!  The renovated rooms are very nice –  even have air conditioning, flat screen TVs and beautiful bathrooms.  The room renovations are still ongoing , but there are a few completed, available now.  Ask for a suite on the fifth floor if you want to stay there.  There is a rooftop garden off the fifth floor.

June 10, 2007 – The final episode of “The Sopranos” aired on HBO

June 10, 1915 Saul Bellow was born in Quebec.

Photos of the day

Lightning strikes were seen from Algermissen in northern Germany, early Tuesday morning. Authorities say at least six people were killed in western Germany as heavy rains, hail, and high winds battered the region. Julian Stratenschulte/AP

A rooster has picked a strawberry at the zoo in Chemnitz, eastern Germany. Hendrik Schmidt/AP

Market Closes for June 10^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16945.92	+2.82
		+0.02%
S&P 500	1950.79	-0.48    -0.02%
NASDAQ	4337.996	+1.753    +0.04%
TSX	14904.38	+33.17
		+0.22%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14994.80	-129.20
		-0.85%
HANG   SENG	23315.74	+198.27
		+0.86%
SENSEX	25583.69	+3.48
		+0.01%
FTSE 100	6873.55	-1.45
		-0.02%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.347	2.324
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.864	2.843
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.6439	2.6095
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4779	3.4447

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91710	0.91683
US   $	1.09039	1.09072
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.47704	0.67703
US   $	1.35460	0.73823

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1260.26	1253.12
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	104.35	104.41
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

June 10 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for an eighth day as gains among materials producers and consumer staples companies pushed the benchmark index closer to a record.

Silver Standard Resources Inc. and Torex Gold Resources Inc. rose at least 5.8 percent as the price of precious metals increased. Polaris Minerals Corp. fell 5.6 percent after saying it would sell C$15 million in new shares. Questerre Energy Corp. gained 10 percent as it began drilling a second well at its Kakwa-Resthaven property in Alberta.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 33.17 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,904.38 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge is fewer than 200 points away from an all-time high.

Gold futures added 0.6 percent to $1,260.80 an ounce in New York, while contracts for palladium, a metal used mainly in the auto industry, surged to the highest price in more than three years as strike talks in South Africa failed.

Silver Standard Resources climbed 5.8 percent to C$7.84 and Torex rallied 6.9 percent to C$1.40.

The gains helped materials companies rise 1.7 percent as a group, the most among 10 industries in the benchmark index.  Consumer staples companies gained 0.8 percent.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. added 1.6 percent to C$39.38. The chief executive officer of OAO Uralkali, the Russian producer that is the world’s largest, said he favors stable prices for the plant fertilizer.

Polaris Minerals fell 5.6 percent to C$2.71. The Vancouver- based miner said it will sell 5.9 million shares for C$2.57 each.

Questerre Energy increased 10 percent to C$1.40 after announcing it had begun drilling a second well and plans to drill two more in 2014 at the same block on its property in western Alberta.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. fell 0.9 percent to C$136.78 after Allergan Inc. rejected the drug maker’s second takeover bid. Allergan said the offer undervalued the maker of Botox.

Software company Kinaxis Inc. closed at its opening price of C$13 on its first day of trading.

US
By Oliver Renick and Joseph Ciolli

June 10 (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped, halting a four-day streak of record closes, as investors weighed equity valuations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high.

EBay Inc. dropped 2.7 percent after saying David Marcus will step down as the head of its PayPal unit to join Facebook Inc. Facebook rallied 4.6 percent to the highest since March. RadioShack Corp. plunged 10 percent after reporting a wider quarterly loss. Molson Coors Brewing Co. jumped 5.4 percent for the biggest gain in the equities benchmark. Electronic Arts Inc. added 2.3 percent after disclosing release dates for new games.

The S&P 500 fell less than one point to 1,950.79 at 4 p.m. in New York, trimming an earlier decline of 0.3 percent. The Dow average added 2.82 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 16,945.92, erasing earlier declines in the final hour of trading to extend a record. About 5.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 17 percent below the three-month average.

“It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that we’re seeing softness after a blistering recovery,” Chad Morganlander, a fund manager at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which oversees $160 billion, from Florham Park, New Jersey, said in a phone interview. “This is a temporary reprieve from a market that’s being seeing highs.”

The S&P 500 has advanced 7.4 percent since a low on April 11 as data showed the U.S. economy is recovering from the impact of extreme weather earlier this year. The gauge rallied last week after the European Central Bank announced a stimulus package and American jobs data topped estimates.

The equities benchmark trades at 16.5 times the projected earnings of its members, up from a multiple of 14.8 times at the beginning of February. The gauge’s 14-day relative strength index was 73.7 yesterday, above the 70 reading that some investors see as a signal to sell.

Profit for companies on the gauge will probably climb 7.4 percent in 2014, analysts predict. That’s down from a January projection for growth of 9.7 percent. Sales probably gained 3.5 percent this year on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The S&P 500 has risen for nearly 32 months without a decline of 10 percent or more, versus the average of 18 months since 1945, according to data from S&P Capital IQ strategist Sam Stovall. In 2011, the S&P 500 index dipped as much as 19 percent from late April through early October, the closest the market’s come to ending the bull market that began in 2009.

Three rounds of Federal Reserve bond buying have helped propel the S&P 500 higher by as much as 188 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009.  Fed officials are watching the labor market as they move to complete the stimulus program late this year.

Data today showed U.S. wholesale inventories increased 1.1 percent in April, more than the 0.6 percent gain estimated by economists. A separate report showed job openings rose to 4.5 million in April from 4.17 million in March.

“When you look at the behavior of the market over the past 10 days, setting record after record, the bulls have clearly been in the lead,” Francois Savary, who helps oversee about $9.5 billion as chief investment officer at Reyl & Cie., said by phone from Geneva. “But even with improving economic data, I think that the U.S. market may have gone too far too fast, and I don’t see too much potential from here.”

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index slipped 1.4 percent to 10.99. The gauge, known as the VIX, dropped 5.9 percent last week to 10.73, the lowest level since February 2007.

Six of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated today, with industrial and utility stocks dropping 0.3 percent to lead declines.

EBay dropped 2.7 percent to $48.25. Marcus, 41, is leaving PayPal on June 27, according to a statement yesterday from EBay.  He will lead Facebook Inc.’s mobile-messaging business, a spokeswoman at the social-network operator said. Facebook added 4.6 percent to $65.77, the highest since March 21.

Allergan Inc. slid 0.7 percent to $163.09 after the Botox maker’s board unanimously rejected a takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. The board said the unsolicited proposal, with the backing of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, undervalues the company. Valeant shares dropped 0.9 percent for a sixth day of losses, the longest streak in two years.

RadioShack slid 11 percent to $1.38. The struggling electronics retailer reported a loss of $98.3 million last quarter and said sales slid for the ninth straight time.

Tyson Foods Inc. slid 3.8 percent to $36.07, capping a sixth day of losses, the longest streak since September. The largest U.S. meat company closed yesterday at the lowest since February after raising its offer for Hillshire Brands Co. to about $7.7 billion.

Urban Outfitters Inc. slid 3.7 percent to $33.39, snapping a five-day losing streak. The retailer said sales at stores open at least a year are unchanged so far in the second quarter compared to a year ago.

MetLife Inc. gained 0.7 percent to $55.05. The largest U.S. life insurer announced it will repurchase $1 billion of common stock in its first repurchase since 2008.

Receptos Inc. surged 37 percent to $39.94. A second-phase trial showed its RPC1063 treatment reduced brain lesions in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis, according to a statement.

Molson Coors Brewing gained 5.4 percent to a record $70.71.  North America’s second-biggest beer company’s earnings gain of 83 percent in the first quarter was the most among 14 North American beverage peers, according to Bloomberg Industries.

Electronic Arts added 2.3 percent to $35.70, the highest since 2008. The company said its “Battlefield” game will be available in North America in October and customers can pre- order from GameStop Corp. starting today. The retailer’s shares added 2.1 percent to $37.29.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

An individual is a separate entity without connection.

A person is an individual connected.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos.

A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm.  I think that art has

something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.

-Saul Bellow, 1915-2005

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Sadly we didn’t get a triple-crown winner at Belmont Stakes Saturday.  California Chrome tied at 4^th place.

The cartoon Donald Duck was born on this day in 1934.

Prime Numbers:

1: Rank of the boy’s name Noah and girl’s name Sophia in their popularity for infants born in the US last year.  Noah displaced Jacob, the most popular for 14 years.  Sophia has been No. 1 for three years.

7: Number of hurricanes predicted in the Atlantic Basin this summer, including two major ones that will make landfall.  That would make it a below- average season.

103: Estimated age of what is considered to be the world’s oldest killer whale.  The female, officially known as J2, is referred to as “Granny.”

500: Number of London police officers who will wear video cameras on their uniforms as part of a year long trial.

6 Million: Estimated number of surveillance cameras now deployed in London.

CNN launched a series on May 29^th on “the 60’s”.  We’ve caught a few of the series and it is really well done.  The series executive producer is Tom Hanks, and he is also one of many celebrities who reflect on the era’s lasting influence.  There are 10-parts, so you might be interested in watching the remaining parts in the series, really worth checking out.

Photos of the day

Tonalist, left, with Joel Rosario up edges out Commissioner with Javier Castellano up to win the 146th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, Saturday, in Elmont, N.Y. Matt Slocum/AP

Amateur sailors set out for London on final leg in the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race in New York Harbor, Saturday. At 40,000 miles and 11 months long, the Clipper Race is the world’s longest ocean race and the only event of its kind for amateur sailors. Only the skippers are professionals. Darren Ornitz/Reuters

Market Closes for June 9^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16943.10	+18.82
		+0.11%
S&P 500	1951.27	+1.83    +0.09%
NASDAQ	4336.242	+14.843    +0.34%
TSX	14871.21	+32.31
		+0.22%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15124.00	+46.76
		+0.31%
HANG   SENG	23117.47	+166.47
		+0.73%
SENSEX	25580.21	+183.75
		+0.72%
FTSE 100	6875.00	+16.79
		+0.24%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.324	2.321
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.843	2.841
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.6095	2.5932
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4447	3.4388

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91683	0.91486
US   $	1.09072	1.09306
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.48240	0.67458
US   $	1.35910	0.73578

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1253.12	1253.44
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	104.41	102.66
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Eric Lam

June 9 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose a seventh day, the longest streak since February, as commodity prices climbed and real-estate shares advanced after housing starts rose more than expected in May.

Semafo Inc. increased 1.3 percent as gold traded higher for the second time in three sessions. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. and NuVista Energy Ltd. rallied at least 2.2 percent as crude rose to a three-month high. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. added 4 percent after analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald LP raised the stock’s rating on rising auction proceeds. Home Capital Group Inc. rose 1.3 percent to pace gains among financial stocks.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index increased 32.31 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,871.21 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark equity gauge is 1.4 percent away from its record closing high of 15,073.13 on June 18, 2008. The price-to- earnings ratio for the benchmark equity gauge is 19.9, the highest since 2011.

Home Capital Group increased 1.3 percent to C$50.56, a record. Canadian housing starts were 198,324 units at a seasonally adjusted annual pace in May, Ottawa-based Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said on its website. Economists had forecast a 185,000 advance.

Ritchie Bros. jumped 4 percent to C$26.26, the most since December. Eight of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX advanced.

Peter Prattas, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, boosted Ritchie Bros. to a buy from a hold after the equipment auctioneering company on June 6 reported a 30 percent increase in May gross auction proceeds to $299 million, compared with $230 million a year ago.

“Momentum is building in auction proceeds providing us greater confidence that Ritchie Bros. can achieve the higher end of its 2014 guidance,” Prattas said in a note today.

US
By Oliver Renick and Callie Bost

June 9 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with benchmark indexes extending records, as small-cap shares rallied and Family Dollar Stores Inc. advanced with Analog Devices Inc. amid deals activity.

Family Dollar jumped 13 percent as a filing showed Carl Icahn has amassed a 9.4 percent stake. Analog Devices jumped 5 percent after agreeing to buy a chipmaker for about $2 billion. Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. more than tripled after Merck & Co. agreed to buy the drugmaker for $3.9 billion. Tyson Foods Inc. fell 6.5 percent after the company said it made a binding offer for Hillshire Brands Co. Apple Inc. traded at $93.70, reflecting a seven-for-one stock split.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent to 1,951.27 at 4 p.m. in New York, capping its seventh record close in the past eight sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 18.82 points, or 0.1 percent, to a record 16,943.10. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies climbed 0.9 percent for a fourth day of gains. About 5.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 15 percent below the three-month average.

“There’s a fair amount of skepticism over if we are at peak valuations,” Michael Arone, the Boston-based chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors’ U.S. Intermediary Business, said by phone. State Street Corp. oversees $2.4 trillion in assets. “My view is the Goldilocks economy is back — not too cold, not too hot, but just right. What we’re starting to see is companies starting to do capital expenditures and M&A to invest in their businesses.”

The S&P 500 advanced 1.3 percent to a record 1,949.44 last week as the European Central Bank lowered interest rates and a report showed that the U.S. economy created more jobs than expected. The index has continued to climb to records even as the U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years during the first quarter.

Federal Reserve officials are watching the labor market as they move to complete their bond-purchase program late this year and start considering the timing of the first interest-rate increase since 2006. Central-bank stimulus has helped propel the S&P 500 higher by as much as 188 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009.

The ECB’s stimulus sent European bond yields to all-time lows and helped boost the region’s equities to near the highest in six years.

The U.S. stocks benchmark has rebounded 7.5 percent since a selloff in small-cap and Internet shares spread to the broader market, dragging the index to a two-month low in April. The measure trades at 16.5 times the projected earnings of its members, up from a multiple of 14.8 at the start of February.

The Russell 2000 has advanced 4.4 percent in the past four sessions to the highest since April 3. The gauge has rallied 7.5 percent from a February low and is now up 1 percent in 2014.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index climbed 3.9 percent to 11.15. The gauge, known as the VIX, fell 5.9 percent last week to 10.73, the lowest level since February 2007.

“Growth is slow, GDP is slow, we have rate cuts all around, and we’re banking that all-time highs are going to get better,” Keith Rosendahl, chief investment strategist at Venice, Florida-based research firm Interactive Portfolio, LLC, said in a phone interview. “With the merger activity, I think people are trying to buy growth.”

Six of the 10 main S&P 500 groups advanced today, with industrial shares adding 0.6 percent to pace gains. Utility stocks lost 0.7 percent.

Family Dollar jumped 13 percent to $68.62, the highest this year. Icahn and his affiliates bought 10.7 million shares and options for about $265.8 million, according to a June 6 regulatory filing. The billionaire may push for operating changes and ask the company to explore strategic alternatives, as well as potentially seeking board seats, according to the filing.

Dollar General Corp. rallied 7.4 percent to $62.25. Jefferies Group LLC raised its rating on the stock to buy from hold after Icahn’s purchase of Family Dollar shares. The move may lead to a merger with Dollar General, Jefferies said. Dollar Tree Inc. gained 0.7 percent to $55.50, a seventh straight gain that is the longest streak since November.

Hillshire jumped 5.3 percent to $62.06, while Tyson slid 6.5 percent to $37.50. Tyson has made a unilaterally binding offer of $63 a share for the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park hot dogs, it said in a statement. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. dropped 6.7 percent to $24.51 after saying it withdrew a competing proposal.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals soared 229 percent to $23.79 after Merck said it has agreed to acquire the maker of experimental Hepatitis C drugs for $24.50 a share in cash, or about $3.85 billion. Merck, the second-biggest U.S. drugmaker, gained 0.2 percent to $57.94.

Gilead Science Inc., the developer of Sovaldi, a competing hepatitis C treatment, fell 4.1 percent to $79.01.

Analog Devices rose 5 percent to $55.31. The semiconductor manufacturer agreed to acquire Hittite Microwave Corp. for about $2 billion. The purchase price of $78 a share is 29 percent more than Hittite’s closing price on June 6. Hittite rose 29 percent to $77.90.

Morgan Stanley added 0.1 percent to $31.98. The bank agreed to sell its stake in oil-transportation company TransMontaigne Inc. to NGL Energy Partners LP for $200 million as part of the bank’s effort to reduce capital used by the commodities business. NGL added 2.2 percent to $42.86.

Apple shares climbed 1.6 percent to $93.70. The shares closed Friday at $645.57. Apple said on April 23 it was doing the split so shares would be available to a wider pool of investors.

NeuStar Inc. sank 8.4 percent to $24.43. An e-mail marked confidential that was posted briefly on June 6 on the Federal Communications Commission website indicated the agency may transfer a contract with Neustar to Ericsson AB. The FCC has yet to award the new five-year contract for telephone-number switching, a service that NeuStar has handled since 1997.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell 2.9 percent to $199.05. Wynn Macau Ltd., a resort owned by the Las Vegas-based company and traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was downgraded to hold from buy at Deutsche.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The infinite oneness of the Soul is the eternal sanction of all morality.

You and I are not only brothers – every literature voicing man’s struggle towards freedom

has preached that – but you and I are really one.

This is the dictate of Indian philosophy.

This oneness is the rationale of all ethics and all spirituality.

Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

 

Carolann

To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand.

-José Ortega Y Gasset, 1883-1955

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, FCSI

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7