Author: Carolann

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The Sohn Investment conference was excellent this year; lots of great investing ideas put forth and trends in the world of finance.  It is really valuable to get different insights.  As I mentioned all of the funds raised – this year over 3 million – go to fund pediatric cancer research.  One of the speakers this year was a young girl who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was 13.  Her name is Elana Simon and she set out to discover the cause of this cancer.  She discovered the genetic mutation responsible  for this cancer.  She is 18 years old now and beginning her first year at Harvard University next fall.  Pretty amazing story!

In this unusual collaboration with physicians, geneticists, and computational biologists, the 18-year-old co-authored a study published in the prestigious journal Science in February.  Read the link to see just how amazing she is.

Photos of the day

A woman walks through Brookfield Place off Bay Street, on the day of their annual general meeting for shareholders in Toronto. Mark Blinch/Reuters

A cardboard cutout of a bicycle is strapped to a fence beside the ruins of Red Bay Castle near the village of Cushendall in Northern Ireland. The bicycle has been placed to welcome the arrival of the Giro d’Italia cycle race to Northern Ireland. Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

Market Closes for May 7^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16518.54	+117.52    +0.72%
S&P 500	1878.21	+10.49    +0.56%
NASDAQ	4067.673	-13.086    -0.32%
TSX	14656.40	+44.11
		+0.30%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14033.45	-424.06
		-2.93%
HANG   SENG	21746.26	-230.07
		-1.05%
SENSEX	22323.90	-184.52
		-0.82%
FTSE 100	6796.44	-2.12
		-0.03%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.378	2.374
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.899	2.893
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.5878	2.5933
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4017	3.3854

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91755	0.91812
US   $	1.08986	1.08919
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.51611	0.65958
US   $	1.39111	0.71885

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1289.95	1308.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	100.77	99.50
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

May 7 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained after two days of declines as energy companies increased with the price of oil while raw-material and technology companies fell.

Encana Corp. climbed 4.6 percent after saying it was doubling its oil production by buying fields from Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Agrium Inc. dropped 1.2 percent after lowering its projection for second-quarter earnings. Talisman Energy Inc. added 8 percent after a report said the company was considering selling some of its assets.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 44.11 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,656.40 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after falling as much as 0.3 percent earlier in the day. The gauge dropped the most in three weeks yesterday.

The market fluctuated on comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, said Ian Nakamoto, director of research with MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier Inc. in Toronto. Yellen said today the economy is growing but still isn’t near the central bank’s targets.

Some recent economic data points have been positive while others fell short of expectations, Nakamoto said. “You need a series of economic boosters to get people excited.” His firm manages C$4.7 billion ($4.3 billion).

West Texas Intermediate oil rose for a second day after the American Petroleum Institute said stockpiles declined in the U.S. Brent crude gained in London as western countries considered new sanctions against Russia.

Canadian energy companies increased 0.6 percent as a group, along with seven of the other nine industries in the benchmark index. Telecommunications companies rose the most, at 1 percent. Materials companies fell 1.1 percent as the price of gold slumped 1.5 percent to $1,288.90 an ounce.

Avigilon Corp. declined 8.7 percent to C$23.85, the biggest drop since August 2012, after saying its chief financial officer Bradley Bardua retired for health reasons. Bank of Montreal and Raymond James analysts said they were reviewing their buy ratings on the stock.

“Maybe there is no fire, but certainly some smoke,” said Raymond James analyst Steven Li in a note to clients. “This is now the third senior departure in the last six months.”

Encana rose 4.6 percent to C$25.69. The Calgary-based energy producer is trying to boost investor returns by shifting toward crude oil from natural gas. The $3.1 billion deal with Freeport-McMoRan gives Encana 45,500 net acres (18,413 hectares) in Texas’s oil-rich Eagle Ford basin.

Agrium dropped 1.2 percent to C$103.04. The fertilizer miner said on a conference call today it has a plan to cut nitrogen operations downtime that it earlier said would lower production in the second quarter.

Talisman Energy rose 8 percent to C$12.02. The company and Statoil ASA are looking at selling their joint oil venture in Texas, potentially for more than $4 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Arsenal Energy Inc. added 6.2 percent to reach C$7.36 as it boosted its forecast for oil and gas production this year and raised its dividend.

Novadaq Technologies Inc. fell 14 percent to C$15.37, the most since 2010, after reporting a first-quarter loss of 8 cents a share, wider than the loss of 5 cents estimated by analysts.

Tim Hortons Inc. fell 1.3 percent to C$58.89 after reporting first-quarter profit that missed analyst estimates. Analysts said U.S. sales were weak and the cost of introducing a new credit card weighed on the company.

US
By Lu Wang and Eric Lam

May 7 (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose as optimism that the Federal Reserve will continue to support the U.S. economy overshadowed a drop in Internet stocks led by Yahoo! Inc. and Groupon Inc.

Electronic Arts Inc. jumped 21 percent after reporting better-than-forecast results. The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index dropped 1.9 percent to the lowest level since October. Groupon fell 21 percent as sales and profit projections trailed some estimates. Yahoo slumped 6.6 percent as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filed for a U.S. initial public offering. Tesla Motors Inc. dropped 5.8 percent in after-market trading.

The S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to 1,878.21 at 4 p.m. in New York, rebounding after briefly dropping below its average trading level for the past 50 days. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.3 percent, paring a earlier drop of 1.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 117.52 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,518.54. About 7.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 6.1 percent above the three-month average.

“The U.S. market is showing remarkable resilience,” said Irwin Michael, fund manager at ABC Funds in Toronto. His firm manages about C$900 million ($826 million). “Clearly the economy is slowly but surely improving, and whatever the Fed is doing or not doing it’s helpful that nobody is rocking the boat.  The high-tech stocks are still troublesome for a lot of people.  It’s not a straight line and there’s still some confusion out there.”

The Fed must continue to spur economic growth as indicators for inflation and employment remain far from the central bank’s goals, Chair Janet Yellen said today. “A high degree of monetary accommodation remains warranted,” she said in testimony prepared for delivery to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

The Federal Open Market Committee last week pared monthly asset buying to $45 billion, its fourth straight $10 billion cut, and said further reductions in “measured steps” are likely as the economy improves.

While some areas of the equity market show signs of over- valuations, the broad market hasn’t developed a bubble, Yellen said today.

“There are pockets where we could potentially see misvaluations in smaller-cap stocks,” she said. “Overall those broad metrics don’t suggest that we are in obviously bubble territory. We don’t have targets for equity prices and can’t detect if we’re in a bubble with certainty.”

Technology stocks led this year’s selloff among companies whose growth are more tied to economic swings after a rally drove valuations to about double that of the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 35 times reported earnings, compared with a multiple of 17.2 for the broad equity measure.

The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index extended yesterday’s 3 percent decline that was led by an 18 percent plunge in Twitter Inc. Groupon, which operates a website offering daily deals, dropped 21 percent to $5.33 today, the lowest level in more than a year. For the second quarter, the Chicago-based company forecast $725 million to $775 million in revenue and adjusted earnings of zero to 2 cents a share. Analysts estimated sales of $754.4 million and an adjusted profit of 3 cents a share.  Twitter declined 3.7 percent to $30.66.

Yahoo tumbled 6.6 percent to $34.07. Alibaba, a Chinese online marketplace valued at $168 billion, filed yesterday for its U.S. initial public offering, without specifying the number or price of shares it will sell or what valuation it will seek.  Agreements between the two companies will force Yahoo to sell part of its 22.6 percent stake in Alibaba.

FireEye Inc. and Zulily Inc. are among the biggest losers in the Russell 1000 Index after reporting results that disappointed investors. FireEye slumped 23 percent to $28.65. The company, which specializes in detecting computer network threats, forecast a loss of at least 58 cents a share in the second quarter. That’s wider than the average 52-cent shortfall estimated by analysts.

Zulily tumbled 30 percent to $32.28. The online retailer reported a loss of 2 cents a share in the first quarter.  Analysts had expected the company to break even.

AOL Inc. tumbled 21 percent to $34.85. The owner of the Huffington Post and TechCrunch reported earnings that missed analysts’ estimates as higher spending to attract an audience for advertisers squeezed its profit margin in the first quarter.

“You’re seeing a brutal shift from growth and momentum investing to more value-based investing,” Chad Morganlander, a fund manager at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which oversees more than $150 billion, said in a phone interview from Florham Park, New Jersey. “The momentum stocks are ridiculously overvalued, but nonetheless, the overall broader market is fairly valued.”

Some 22 S&P 500-listed companies report earnings today. Of the 423 index members to have released results this season, 75 percent have beaten estimates for profit, while 52 percent have exceeded projections for revenue, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Profit for members of the S&P 500 probably climbed 4.6 percent in the first three months of the year from the year- earlier period, while sales rose 2.8 percent, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“Earnings season has been pretty good,” John Kvantas, a San Antonio, Texas-based director of equity research at USAA Investments, said in a phone interview. The firm oversees $62 billion. “If you get outside those momentum stocks, the market is not significantly overvalued. You still see very good companies with decent growth prospects.”

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge for U.S. stock volatility known as the VIX, slipped 2.9 percent today to 13.40.

Utility stocks rose 1.6 percent for the best gain among 10 S&P 500 main industries. Financial shares climbed 1.3 percent, rebounding from yesterday’s slump, as American Express Co. and Visa Inc. added at least 1.6 percent.

Electronic Arts jumped 21 percent, the largest advance since 1990, to $33.95. Fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 48 cents a share and sales of $914 million exceeded projections. The company’s FIFA 14, Titanfall and Battlefield 4 games were three of the top five best-selling titles across all game consoles in the U.S., Canada and Europe, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said.

Mondelez International Inc., which makes Oreo cookies and Trident gum, rallied 8.2 percent to $38.10. The company will combine its coffee unit with D.E Master Blenders 1753 BV’s, according to a joint statement today. Mondelez will receive cash of $5 billion and a 49 percent stake in the new company, to be called Jacobs Douwe Egberts. Separately, Mondelez reported first quarter earnings of 39 cents a share, more than the 35 cents projected by analysts.

Humana Inc. led health insurers higher after reporting profit that beat analysts’ estimates. The stock climbed 8.4 percent to $119.05. UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer, advanced 3.5 percent to $77.91 for the biggest gain in the Dow.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. rose 4.4 percent to $29.61. The company raised its full-year estimate of cash flow as Chief Executive Officer Doug Lawler’s cost cuts take hold. The company is on track to make more cash than it spends for the first time since 2001.

Whole Foods Market Inc. slumped 19 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $38.93 after profit growth stalled and the natural- goods grocer cut its forecast amid increasing competition from traditional supermarkets and other organic-food sellers.

Tesla Motors slipped 5.8 percent to $189.65 as of 4:54 p.m. in New York. After the market close, the carmaker reported that vehicle sales rose less than the highest analyst estimate. The company’s results beat forecasts.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

For you, now, meditation involves establishing within yourself

the reality of these two unavoidable rules – difference and change.

Try as hard as possible to convince yourself

that these two rules can neither be changed nor avoided.

Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add,

but when there is nothing left to take away.

-Antoine de Saint Exupéry, 1900-1944

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:

In the past, I have shared a couple pictures taken by my friend Joe Broadfoot, whose birthday also happens to be today. Recently he was out taking pictures of the mountains and one of the pictures literally took my breath away.  For someone who has only been taking pictures for a year and a half, his talent is truly amazing.  He has the photographer eye, where he can see a backdrop and by using his creativity, turns it into a stunning picture.  The photo below shows Mt. Baker in the background, with a view of the city line.  This picture really gives effect to how big the mountains are, as well as reminds us of what a beautiful city we live in!

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photos of the day:

Venezuelan artist Cristobal Ochoa (r.) and his performance partner Jean-Paul Fowler promote the Artist Open Houses part of the Brighton Festival with street art performance ‘Los conos de madre (‘mother’s cones’), on the seafront in Brighton. Artists open their homes during the annual Brighton Festival, now in its 48th year, every weekend during May. Luke MacGregor/Reuters

A hummingbird makes an approach to a handy feeder on May 5, 2014 in Thurston County, Wash. Steve Bloom/The Olympian/AP

Market Closes for May 6^th, 2014

Market  Index	Close	Change
Dow  Jones	16401.02	-129.53    -0.78%
S&P 500	1867.72	-16.94    -0.90%
NASDAQ	4080.759	-57.296    -1.38%
TSX	14612.29	-84.74
		-0.58%

International Markets

Market  Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14457.51	-27.62
		-0.19%
HANG  SENG	21976.33	-284.34
		-1.28%
SENSEX	22508.42	+63.30
		+0.28%
FTSE 100	6798.56	-23.86
		-0.35%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.  10 Year Bond	2.374	2.369
CND.  30 Year Bond	2.893	2.901
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.5933	2.6041
U.S.  30 Year Bond	3.3854	3.4033

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91812	0.91268
US  $	1.08919	1.09567
Euro Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian  $	1.51691	0.65923
US  $	1.39270	0.71803

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold  Fix	1308.75	1310.16
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	99.50	99.48
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

May 6 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day amid concern about global growth and as Wajax Corp. reported lower-than-estimated profit.

Wajax, which sells industrial machinery, slid 5.1 percent for the biggest drop in the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index. Canacol Energy Ltd. fell 5.2 percent after saying it would sell 15.8 million new shares. Air Canada rose 6 percent after reporting traffic in April was up 9 percent. Sherritt International Corp. fell 2.4 percent after investors rejected directors proposed by activist shareholder Clarke Inc.

The S&P/TSX retreated 84.74 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,612.29 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest drop in more than three weeks. All 10 industries in the index fell, including losses of 1.1 percent for consumer-discretionary companies and 2 percent for technology shares.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its global growth forecast as expansions in China and other emerging markets slow. Developing nations are a key export destination for Canadian mining companies. Raw-material producers in the S&P/TSX slid 0.8 percent.

Ukraine continued its attack on pro-Russian separatists who had captured some towns in the country’s east. “The current campaign that’s being unfolded in eastern Ukraine has been priced into the markets,” said Macan Nia, who helps manage $269 billion with Manulife Asset Management Ltd. in Toronto.

“If we start seeing the same type of pro-Russian rallies in Moldova or in other countries like let’s say Estonia or Latvia, then I think the markets would react,” he said by phone.

Wajax fell 5.1 percent to C$33.75. The company reported first-quarter profit of 39 Canadian cents, missing the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Canacol Energy slumped 5.2 percent to C$7.73. The Calgary- based company said it plans to sell shares for C$7.90 each and use the proceeds to expand its capital program, according to a statement.

Air Canada rose 6 percent to C$8.29, the highest since the end of January. WestJet Airlines Ltd., Canada’s second-biggest airline after Air Canada, said yesterday its April traffic grew 6.5 percent year over year.

Sherritt International, which mines and refines nickel, fell 2.4 percent to C$4.47 as investors voted against board nominees proposed by Clarke Inc. The activist shareholder said in December it owns 5.2 percent of the company and has called for Sherritt to reduce debt instead of funding acquisitions.

US
By Stephen Kirkland and Lu Wang

May 6 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for the third time in four days as American International Group Inc.’s profit disappointed investors and Twitter Inc. slumped. The euro and Spanish bonds gained on signs economies are strengthening.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.9 percent at 4 p.m. in New York as AIG led financials lower. The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 1.4 percent while Twitter slid 18 percent and an exchange-traded fund tracking social media stocks slid to the lowest since July. Ten-year Treasury yields lost 1.5 basis points to 2.59 percent. The euro rose 0.4 percent versus the dollar while the pound added 0.7 percent. Spain’s 10-year yield fell to a record. Nickel and lead rose at least 0.9 percent.

Twitter sank as about 480 million shares from insiders became eligible for sale, more than quadrupling the amount available for trading. After financial markets closed in New York, Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. filed for what could become the largest U.S. initial public offering ever. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed as exports grew the most in nine months. Spanish jobless claims fell and services growth quickened in Germany, Italy and Ireland in April.

“It’s not a robust season,” Peter Tuz, who helps manage more than $450 million as president of Chase Investment Counsel Corp. in Charlottesville, Virginia, said by phone. “The market is going to be range bound without a clear trend until economic statistics point one way or another, and companies’ outlooks point one way or another.”

U.S. stocks rose yesterday as an expansion in American service industries offset concern over growth in China and political tensions in Ukraine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average last week climbed to an all-time high, while the S&P 500 briefly rose above its record closing price.

Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., Home Depot Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. lost at least 1.6 percent to pace declines in 27 of the 30 stocks in the Dow today. AIG, the largest commercial insurer in the U.S. and Canada, slid 4.1 percent after saying profit declined 27 percent as claims costs climbed at the property-casualty business.

Twitter sank to $31.85, extending its 2014 loss to 50 percent. The stock sold for $26 in its initial public offering in November and closed as high as $73.31 in December.

Other Internet stocks were punished. Yelp Inc. slid 13 percent, the most since November 2012, while Pandora Media Inc. lost 8.9 percent after plunging 17 percent on April 25. LinkedIn Corp. decreased 5.7 percent while Facebook Inc. and Angie’s List Inc. fell more than 4 percent.

Along with Twitter, those companies make up some of the biggest holdings in the Global X Social Media ETF, an exchange- traded fund listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. That security declined 3.8 percent today, the sixth time in two weeks it has fallen more than 1 percent. It’s down 21 percent in 2014 after rising 64 percent last year.

David Einhorn, the hedge-fund manager who warned of a bubble in technology stocks two weeks ago, refined his stance by saying he’s bullish on the industry and that companies including Apple Inc. look underpriced.

The comments elaborate on an April 22 investor letter when he described an unjustified surge in technology stocks, reminiscent of the late 1990s, and said he was betting against a group of them. Einhorn’s holdings include investments in iPhone maker Apple, Micron Technology Inc. and Marvell Technology Group Ltd., which are “quite inexpensive,” he said on today’s call.

“However, we have identified a number of momentum technology stocks that have reached prices beyond any normal sense of valuation,” he said. “We believe that they are in a bubble and we have shorted a good number of them in what we call the ‘bubble basket.’”

There are dozens of companies in that group, he told Bloomberg Television’s Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle in an interview today, without providing specifics. The stocks are “completely out of control in terms of their valuation,” he said.

Three shares fell for every two that gained in the Stoxx Europe 600, with trading volumes 18 percent lower than the 30- day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Stocks in the U.K. fell as the equity market reopened following a holiday.

Barclays, Britain’s second-biggest bank, fell 5.2 percent after saying pretax profit dropped 5 percent. Balfour Beatty Plc sank 20 percent after the chief executive officer of Britain’s biggest construction company quit.

Fugro NV lost 7.2 percent after the deepwater-oilfield surveyor forecast its first-half profit margin dropped from the same period a year ago.

PostNL NV rallied 10 percent after the Dutch postal company reported an increase in underlying operating income.

The yield on 10-year Italian bonds slid four basis points to a record 3 percent. The rate on benchmark German bunds was little changed at 1.46 percent.

Spanish jobless claims fell 111,565 in April, the Labor Ministry in Madrid said today, exceeding the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey for a drop of 51,000. A Purchasing Managers’ Index for services in the euro region rose to 53.1 last month from 52.2 in March, Markit Economics said. A gauge of employment in the U.K. services industry jumped to 56 from 53.5.

“There’s better economic data out of Spain this morning,” said Rainer Guntermann, a fixed-income strategist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “Economic fundamentals in the peripheral countries are improving and that explains the rally here. This trend is not yet over.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its global growth forecast as expansions in China and other emerging markets slow. The world economy will expand 3.4 percent this year instead of the 3.6 percent predicted in November, according to its semi-annual report today.

Ukraine’s efforts to regain ground from pro-Russian militants in eastern cities were undermined as insurgents killed four government troops and downed a military helicopter.

Efforts by Ukraine’s government to expel insurgents from the easternmost regions are at risk of stalling before a May 25 presidential election. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama have set the vote as a deadline for Russia to reject the separatists’ actions and withdraw support or possibly face deeper economic sanctions.

Russia is convinced that Ukraine has a way out of the crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.

Stocks advanced for the first time in three days in Moscow, with the Micex Index climbing 1.6 percent. The ruble gained 0.9 percent against the dollar. Ukraine’s hryvnia slipped 1.4 percent while the equity gauge was little changed.

The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities increased less than 0.1 percent. Nickel jumped 33 percent this year as Indonesia banned exports of unrefined ore. Lead dropped about 5 percent this year.

U.K. natural gas fell 3 percent to 45.75 pence per therm today amid forecasts for warm weather. The high temperature in London will be 19 degrees Celsius (66 Fahrenheit) today, 3 degrees above normal, according to AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

 

Amanda Parnham

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities

 

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

Tel: 778-430-5808

Fax: 778-430-5828

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Looking for find some new books to read?  Times Colonist will be hosting their 17^th annual book drive May 10 & 11^th at the Victoria Curling Club.  The event will run from 9am-5pm on both days!!! Times Colonist estimates there will be over 400,000 of good, quality used books to choose from!  Proceeds from this event will go to the Times Colonist Raise-a-Reader Program which supports adult and youth literacy programs on Vancouver Island.  Hard Covers will be sold for $3, soft covers $2, pocket books $1 and kids books also $1.  Be sure to check out this great fundraiser this weekend!

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” – Phyllis Diller

Photos of the day

A farmer sprays winter barley as a rape seed field is in full blossom in Klein Heere, northern Germany. Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/AP

A surfer climbs onto rocks after a session off the point at Sydney’s South Cronulla Beach, Australia. Despite the sun setting earlier with a southern hemisphere winter approaching, Sydney’s surfers continue to take advantage of mild sea temperatures. Jason Reed/Reuters

Market Closes for May 5^th, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16530.55	+17.66   +0.11%
S&P 500	1884.66	+3.52   +0.19%
NASDAQ	4138.055	+14.157   +0.34%
TSX	14697.03	-68.12
		-0.46%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14457.51	-27.62
		-0.19%
HANG SENG	21976.33	-284.34
		-1.28%
SENSEX	22445.12	+41.23
		+0.18%
FTSE 100	6822.42	+13.55
		+0.20%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.369	2.349
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.901	2.878
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.6041	2.5825
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4033	3.3636

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91268	0.91140
US $	1.09567	1.09721
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52022	0.65780
US $	1.38748	0.72073

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1310.16	1298.99
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	99.48	99.76
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

May 5 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first time in five days amid rising tension in Ukraine and data showing that Chinese manufacturing shrank for a fourth month. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. fell 7.5 percent after reporting quarterly revenue that trailed analyst estimates. PNI Digital Media Inc. rose 32 percent after Staples Inc. said it would buy the company at a 32 percent premium.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 68.12 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,697.03 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest decline in three weeks. The gauge is up 7.9 percent this year.

Ukraine said four of its soldiers were killed and a helicopter shot down during fighting with pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east. China’s purchasing managers’ index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics Ltd. was 48.1 in April, missing an average analyst projection of 48.4.

China is a key export destination for Canadian commodities. Slack demand from that country’s manufacturers can harm Canadian companies from all industries, said Anish Chopra, a fund manager at TD Asset Management Inc.

“You get follow-on effects,” he said by phone from Toronto. “Certainly you’ve got an interrelated economy so it’s going to impact commodity stocks but also to some extent the other areas as well.” Chopra helps manage about C$220 billion ($200 billion) with the firm.

Nine out of 10 industries on the benchmark index fell, led by raw-materials, industrial and technology companies.

Ritchie Bros, which auctions off industrial equipment, fell 7.5 percent to C$25.50. The Burnaby, British Columbia-based company said it earned $17.7 million from operations in the first three months of 2014 compared with $21.6 million for the same period last year.

PNI Digital Media, which makes software for retailers, rose 32 percent to C$1.70. Staples said in a statement it would buy the company for C$1.70 a share, or a net equity value of about C$73.9 million.

BlackBerry Ltd. fell 3 percent to C$8.68. The Canadian smartphone maker said it would sell the majority of its Canadian real estate to Spear Street Capital LLC for C$305 million.

Alaris Royalty Corp. rose 4.9 percent to C$28.13 after posting first-quarter results that beat analyst estimates. The Calgary-based private equity firm reported earnings per share of 41 Canadian cents, while analysts had predicted 33 Canadian cents.

Columbus Gold Corp. fell 12 percent to 41 Canadian cents after saying a contractor hired to check its Montagne D’Or gold property believes another contractor overstated how much gold is in the deposit.

US
By Lu Wang

May 5 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, after benchmark indexes climbed to records last week, as an expansion in American service industries offset concern over growth in China and political tensions in Ukraine.

Apple Inc. climbed 1.4 percent to close above $600 for the first time since 2012. Biogen Idec Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. jumped at least 2.7 percent as biotechnology shares resumed their recovery from a two-month slide, leading gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. JPMorgan Chase & Co. declined 2.5 percent after saying a trading slump has deepened, driving financial shares to the biggest retreat among 10 S&P 500 groups. Pfizer Inc. fell 2.6 percent on disappointing sales.

The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to 1,884.66 at 4 p.m. in New York, rebounding after a drop of 0.8 percent at the start of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17.66 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,530.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 percent. About 5 billion shares changed hands on American exchanges, the slowest trading in two weeks.

“We continue to remain choppy, going back and forth,” Joseph Tanious, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management in Los Angeles, said by phone. His firm oversee $1.6 trillion in client assets. “The market is having a bit of identity crisis right now, searching for a direction. We are seeing opposing forces in the market.”

Investors pulled $2.66 billion last week out of exchange- traded funds that invest in U.S. equities, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Technology-focused ETFs saw withdrawals of $1.5 billion, the most among 12 sectors tracked by Bloomberg. Energy and utility funds attracted the biggest inflows, with deposits each totaling more than $400 million, the data show.

U.S. stocks rose last week, with the Dow average reaching an all-time high, as earnings topped forecasts and the Federal Reserve said it would further trim bond purchases as the economy gains momentum. The S&P 500 added 1 percent, taking its gain this year to 1.8 percent. The benchmark gauge briefly climbed above its highest closing price on May 2, as data showed U.S. payrolls rose the most since 2012.

The S&P 500 erased its early decline today after the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index rose to 55.2 in April from the prior month’s 53.1. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. The median forecast of 69 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 54 in the gauge of services, which account for almost 90 percent of the economy.

Ukraine sought to dislodge separatists from its eastern industrial heartland over the weekend as violence that’s spread to the Black Sea gateway of Odessa threatens to loosen Kiev’s control of the regions. Fighting in the eastern city of Kramatorsk left seven people dead, according to the website Kramatorsk.info. Clashes continued in Odessa yesterday.

China’s manufacturing contracted for a fourth month in April. HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics said today their purchasing managers’ index rose to 48.1. That missed the median estimate of 48.4 and the preliminary reading of 48.3. Numbers below 50 indicate contraction.

“These geopolitical issues become widespread concerns,” Peter Sorrentino, a senior portfolio manager who helps manage about $3.8 billion at Huntington Funds in Cincinnati, said by phone. “Our view has been we’re going to get a transition that in effect we’ll quietly see a correction that takes place on the sector level, but not on the market level. If that doesn’t materialize, the market is very clearly, because of the slowdown we’re seeing in growth, vulnerable here that we could very easily see a correction.”

Walt Disney Co., the world’s largest entertainment company, and Mosaic Co., the biggest U.S.-based potash producer, are among S&P 500 companies reporting results this week. Profit for members of the gauge probably climbed 4.6 percent in the first quarter from the year-earlier period, while sales rose 2.8 percent, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“Anybody that thinks American business is not doing well should just look at corporate profits,” Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said at the company’s annual meeting on May 3.

Berkshire’s Class B shares slipped 1.2 percent to $126.61. The company reported a 3.8 percent decline in first-quarter profit as underwriting results dropped at insurance businesses and on reduced earnings from Buffett’s derivatives wagers.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge for U.S. stock volatility known as the VIX, rose 2.9 percent to 13.29, for its first gain in six days. The measure has lost 3.1 percent this year.

Utility, health-care and commodity shares climbed at least 0.5 percent for the best performances among S&P 500 main industries. Exxon Mobil Corp. added 0.9 percent to $102.91 while Chevron Corp. increased 0.5 percent to $125.36.

Apple advanced 1.4 percent to $600.96. The stock has jumped 15 percent since April 23, when the company reported a surge in iPhone sales and gave its shareholder payout program a $30 billion boost.

Biotech companies accounted for four of the 10 best performers in the S&P 500 as Biogen, Gilead, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. each climbed at least 2.7 percent.

The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index advanced 1.8 percent, extending its gain from an April low to 8.2 percent. The gauge had tumbled as much as 21 percent from a February peak as investors exited the bull market’s biggest winners.

Monsanto Co. climbed 2.4 percent to $114.85. Larry Robbins, founder of $7.5 billion Glenview Capital Management LLC, told Bloomberg Television’s Stephanie Ruhle at the 19th annual Sohn Investment Conference in New York that he’s amassed a $1 billion position in the seed maker and intends to hold it as a long-term investment as demand for genetically modified foods rises.

Sotheby’s advanced 3.2 percent to $44.80. The auction house agreed to appoint Third Point LLC founder Dan Loeb and two of his candidates to its board of directors, a settlement that ends a bitter proxy fight between the company and its largest shareholder.

PerkinElmer Inc. climbed 3.6 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $43.95. The provider of equipment for genetic screening and drug research was raised to a buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC.

B/E Aerospace Inc. jumped 9.3 percent to $97.22. The maker of seats for commercial and business jets hired financial and legal advisers to study its options, including a sale, and canceled an investor meeting set for today.

Financial shares in the S&P 500 slumped 0.4 percent. JPMorgan declined 2.5 percent to $54.22. Fixed-income and equities trading revenue will drop about 20 percent from a year earlier at the New York-based company amid “a continued challenging environment and lower client activity levels,” JPMorgan said after the close of trading on May 2 in its quarterly regulatory filing.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell 1.6 percent to $156.35 while Morgan Stanley slipped 2 percent to $30.07.

Pfizer retreated 2.6 percent to $29.96. The drugmaker reported first-quarter sales that missed analyst estimates as demand weakened for Lipitor and Viagra.

Separately, U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable said yesterday that the U.S. company’s bid for Britain’s AstraZeneca Plc raised questions of “overriding national interest,” as the opposition Labour Party stepped up its opposition to the proposed takeover.

Target Corp. declined 3.5 percent to $59.87. Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel, dogged by questions over whether the company responded quickly enough to a data breach last year, will step down as chairman, president and CEO.

Tyson Foods Inc. dropped 9.9 percent to $38.44 for the biggest loss in the S&P 500. The largest U.S. meat producer reported a wider operating loss from the international unit for its fiscal second quarter as an outbreak of bird flu affected sales in China.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Be magnificent!

“You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.”– Ralph Marston

Amanda Parnham

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities

 

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

Tel: 778-430-5808

Fax: 778-430-5828

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I am off to New York this weekend, one of my favorite places to be.  I became a member of MoMa a few years ago and one of the perks is early access to shows and early hour entry to the museum on certain days.  There is an exhibition starting next week but members can preview it tomorrow.  It is by Brazilian artist Lygia Clark;  the show is Lygia Clark: The Abandonment of Art, 1948-1988, which I am looking forward to seeing.  You can check it out on the MoMa website.

I’ll be attending the Sohn Investment Conference on Monday.  It should be an excellent conference this year with Bill Ackman, David Einhorn  and Dan Ariely among the speakers.  Check out the roster at sohnconference.org.  The conference honors the memory of Ira Sohn, 1964-1993, and all participants donate their time; all money raised is in support of pediatric cancer research.  Back on Tuesday.

Leonardo da Vinci died on this day in 1519~As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well used brings a happy death. – Leonardo da Vinci.

Photos of the day

Cows graze in a field at sunset in Vilonia, Arkansas. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Visitors ride a boat in the Chidorigafuchi moat, as they enjoy blooming cherry blossoms during spring in Tokyo, Saturday. Issei Kato/Reuters

Market Closes for May 2^nd, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16512.89	-45.98   -0.28%
S&P 500	1881.14	-2.54   -0.13%
NASDAQ	4123.898	-3.553   -0.09%
TSX	14765.15	+101.08
		+0.69%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14457.51	-27.62
		-0.19%
HANG SENG	22260.67	+126.70
		+0.57%
SENSEX	22403.89	-13.91
		-0.06%
FTSE 100	6822.42	+13.55
		+0.20%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.349	2.368
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.878	2.899
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.5825	2.6133
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3636	3.4107

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91140	0.91217
US $	1.09721	1.09628
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52262	0.65676
US $	1.38772	0.72061

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1298.99	1284.16
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	99.76	99.42
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

May 2 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose and the country’s benchmark index approached an all-time high after the U.S. saw its biggest monthly gain in employment in more than two years.

Torstar Corp. rallied 18 percent after saying it would sell its romance-novel publishing unit for C$455 million ($414.5 million). Sierra Wireless Inc. fell 8.7 percent after lowering its prediction for second quarter revenue. Constellation Software Inc. rose 2.7 percent as TD Securities raised its recommendation on the stock to buy from hold.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 84.30 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,748.37 at 1:08 p.m. in Toronto. The equity gauge is at its highest since June 2008 after capping a 10th month of gains in April. The U.S. added 288,000 non-farm jobs and the unemployment rate sank to 6.3 percent, outpacing economist estimates as the economy recovered from a colder-than- usual winter.

“It beat the consensus by about 70,000 jobs so that’s a very strong number,” said Luciano Orengo, a fund manager with Manulife Asset Management Ltd. in Toronto. “The Canadian economy does well because the U.S. is getting better,” said Orengo, who helps manage about C$1.4 billion ($1.3 billion).

Torstar climbed 18 percent to C$7.88, its biggest jump in three-and-a-half years. The owner of the Toronto Star newspaper is selling Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., the world’s biggest publisher of romance novels, to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Sierra Wireless fell 8.7 percent to C$22.10. The Richmond, British Columbia-based communications equipment company beat analyst estimates for first-quarter revenue but said second quarter earnings would be lower than expected. While Sierra Wireless operates in a growing market, it is facing a lot of competition, Orengo said.

“There’s a lot of companies that want to be in this space and when we sold Sierra Wireless that was sort of the thesis as to why, it was doing well but starting to catch these headwinds with competition,” Orengo said.

Constellation Software rose 2.7 percent to C$260.75. On April 30, the company reported first quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates while saying cash flow from operations increased year-over-year to $100 million from $34 million.

Nine of ten industries in the benchmark index rose, led by industrial and materials companies. West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.4 percent to $99.81 a barrel and gold rose 1.3 percent to $1,300.50 an ounce.

Pattern Energy Group Inc., which owns wind power projects, fell 3.5 percent to C$28.37 after posting a first-quarter earnings loss. The company said today it will buy a wind farm in Texas for $125 million.

USA
By Lu Wang and Joseph Ciolli

May 2 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, after an earlier rally sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above its closing record, as concern about escalating tension in Ukraine overshadowed data showing payrolls rose the most in two years.

Health-care stocks dropped 0.8 percent, as Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson lost more than 1.2 percent. LinkedIn Corp. declined 8.4 percent after giving a quarterly sales forecast that missed analysts’ estimates. Casino stocks rallied as Macau revenue topped forecasts.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 1,881.14 at 4 p.m. in New York, after rallying 0.4 percent earlier to climb above all- time high of April 2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 45.98 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,512.89. About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 12 percent below the three-month average.

“The end result is neutral but it’s the positive of the jobs numbers being offset by greater concerns about what’s going on in the Ukraine,” said John Manley, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York, which advises $231 billion in the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. “There’s more activity over there and that has the market a little bit worried. It’s something we will have to deal with for a while because I don’t see it going away right away.”

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Ukraine today after the country sent armored vehicles and artillery to retake Slovyansk, defying a demand by Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back troops. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel set a May 25 trigger for possible economic sanctions against Russia.

Interior Ministry forces were dispatched at 4:30 a.m. local time to drive out militants and free hostages, including eight international monitors, minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook. Rebels shot down two helicopters, killing two pilots, the Defense Ministry said.

“On a Friday, people are going to be more inclined to be less long going into a weekend with potential military action happening in the Ukraine,” Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc., said in a phone interview. “People don’t want to walk in Monday morning and be negatively surprised by a down market because of military action in Europe, so they’re selling off.”

Stocks rose earlier after data showed employers boosted payrolls in April by the most in two years and the jobless rate plunged to 6.3 percent as companies grew confident the U.S. economy is emerging from a first-quarter slowdown.

The 288,000 gain in employment was the biggest since January 2012 and followed a revised 203,000 increase the prior month that was stronger than first estimated, Labor Department figures showed. The median forecast in a survey of economists called for a 218,000 advance. Unemployment dropped from 6.7 percent to the lowest level since September 2008 as fewer people entered the labor force.

“It’s a pretty strong report that suggests the Fed will continue to taper,” Anthony Valeri, a market strategist with LPL Financial Corp. in San Diego, said in a phone interview. The firm oversees $350 billion. “This is the first strong confirmation we’re unwinding some of the winter weakness.”

The Federal Reserve said this week that the economy is perking up after stalling last quarter and the job market is improving. The Federal Open Market Committee pared its monthly asset-buying to $45 billion, its fourth straight $10 billion cut, and said further reductions in “measured steps” are likely.

Gross domestic product rose at a 0.1 percent annualized rate from January through March, compared with a 2.6 percent gain in the prior quarter, the Commerce Department said earlier this week.

Data this week showed consumers and companies were shaking off winter doldrums. Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, climbed 0.9 percent in March, the most since August 2009, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Incomes increased by the most in seven months. Also yesterday, data from the Institute for Supply Management showed factories added employees in April at the fastest pace in four months. Manufacturing expanded the most this year.

A separate report today showed factory orders increased 1.1 percent in March, below economists’ forecast for a 1.5 percent advance.

The S&P 500 has climbed 1.8 percent this year, while the Dow is down about 0.4 percent. The S&P 500 was up 1 percent this week as company earnings from Merck to Sprint Corp. topped analyst estimates. The Dow closed at a record on April 30.

Chevron Corp. and Estee Lauder Cos. were among S&P 500 companies that reported earnings today. About 77 percent of those that have posted results this season have beaten analysts’ estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show. More than 51 percent of them have topped sales projections, according to the data.

Six out of 10 major industries in the S&P 500 declined today, with utility shares falling 2 percent as a group.  Commodity shares had the largest gain, increasing 0.5 percent as metals rallied.

Health-care stocks dropped 0.8 percent. Pfizer lost 1.3 percent to $30.75. AstraZeneca Plc rejected Pfizer’s sweetened takeover proposal, saying the 63.1 billion-pound ($106.5 billion) offer fails to appreciate the value of the promising medicines under development by the U.K.’s second-biggest drugmaker.

Merck slipped 2.4 percent to $58.22. Johnson & Johnson retreated 1.2 percent to $99.31. The three companies accounted for the biggest declines in the Dow.

LinkedIn dropped 8.4 percent to $147.73, the lowest since Feb. 7. Second-quarter revenue will be $500 million to $505 million, the Mountain View, California-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analysts had estimated sales of $505.5 million, according to the average projection compiled by Bloomberg.

Casino companies rallied as April revenue from Macau rose 10.6 percent, beating the average analyst estimate for growth of 7 percent.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. added 7.3 percent to $221.68 after Wynn Macau Ltd.’s first-quarter profit also topped estimates. MGM Resorts International increased 4.3 percent to $26.49.

Estee Lauder climbed 4.8 percent to $75.62. The beauty- products maker raised its full-year forecast after fiscal third- quarter earnings beat analyst estimates.

U.S. stocks will fall 11 percent starting as soon as next week should some price patterns come true, according to Tom DeMark, the creator of indicators to show turning points in securities.

The S&P 500 will have peaked if it closes above 1,891 on one or two instances without also falling to 1,884 in intraday trading, DeMark said in a phone interview yesterday. He made similar statements in February, saying that if certain conditions were met, U.S. stocks had reached a point resembling the time before the 1929 market crash. The S&P 500 rallied 8 percent over the next two months.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I am firmly of the opinion

that India’s salvation depends on the sacrifice and enlightenment of her women.

Mahatma Gandhi

1869-1948

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,

but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

-Herm Albright, 1876-1944

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:

SPRING

Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, the maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing:
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The palm and may make country houses gay,
Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,
And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay:
Cuckoo, jug-jug-, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The fields breather sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,
Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit;
In every street these tunes our ears do greet:
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring, the sweet spring!

-Thomas Nashe

Photos of the day

A tame fox approaches revellers gathering at the summit of Broken mountain in the Harz regions during celebrations of the Walpurgisnacht pagan festival. Legend has it that on Walpurgisnacht or May Eve, witches fly their broomsticks to meet the devil at the summit of the Brocken Mountain in Harz. In towns and villages scattered throughout the mountain region, locals make bonfires, dress in devil or witches costumes and dance into the new month of May. Thomas Peter/Reuters

A Leicester Morris Man plays an accordion as they dance at Bradgate Park in Newtown Linford, central England. The May Day Morris celebration is a traditional rite thought to be connected to changing seasons and fertility. Darren Staples/Reuters

Market Closes for May 1^st, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16558.87	-21.97   -0.13%
S&P 500	1883.68	-0.27   -0.01%
NASDAQ	4127.453	+12.897   +0.31%
TSX	14664.07	+12.20
		+0.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14485.13	+181.02
		+1.27%
HANG SENG	22133.97	-319.92
		-1.42%
SENSEX	22417.80	-48.39
		-0.22%
FTSE 100	6808.87	+28.84
		+0.43%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.368	2.404
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.899	2.928
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.6133	2.6459
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4107	3.4576

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91217	0.91224
US $	1.09628	1.09621
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52032	0.65776
US $	1.38682	0.72107

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1284.16	1291.37
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	99.42	99.74
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

May 1 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, sending the benchmark index to an almost six-year high, as Catamaran Corp. and Detour Gold Corp. gained on earnings while other commodity producers fell.

Catamaran rose 12 percent and Detour added 9.1 percent after both companies reported first-quarter earnings that outstripped analyst estimates. Bombardier Inc. fell 5.9 percent after saying profit fell in the first quarter as the Montreal- based company poured cash into developing its new CSeries jet plane.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 12.20 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 14,664.07 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The equity gauge climbed 2.2 percent in April for a 10th month of gains, the longest streak since 1983.

“We had a good April and people are saying, ’well things aren’t too bad,’” said John Kinsey, a fund manager at Caldwell Securities Ltd. in Toronto. As economic numbers keep coming out, investors will have a clearer idea of what kind of effect winter had on the economy, he said by phone.

“We may be ready for another run over the next couple of months depending on what kind of knee-jerk reactions we get,” said Kinsey. His firm oversees about C$1 billion ($900 million).

Health-care stocks in the index rose 4.7 percent as a group, buoyed by Catamaran, which makes software for the medical industry.

Catamaran rose 12 percent to C$46.56. The software company raised its 2014 earnings guidance and said cash flow from operations was up 114 percent year over year.

Detour Gold Corp. rose 9.1 percent to C$11.90 as Scotia Capital Inc. said the miner’s first quarter results, released last night, were “very solid.”

Bombardier fell 5.9 percent to C$4.15 as it said it consumed cash twice as fast as it did a year earlier. The maker of planes and trains has faced repeated delays in the development of the CSeries jet.

Manulife, Canada’s largest life insurer, rose 0.8 percent to C$20.74. The company posted a 51 percent gain in first- quarter profit as sales in Asia grew. Sun Life Financial Inc., another life insurer, rose 0.5 percent to C$37.27.

Energy companies fell 0.1 percent as a group today. They have rallied 14 percent this year, leading all other industries in the benchmark index except for health-care.

CCL Industries Inc. rose 8.2 percent to C$107.80 after the packaging maker reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates.

Resolute Forest Products fell 7.9 percent to C$18.06 after reporting first quarter revenue of $1.02 billion, down $58 million year over year.

US
By Inyoung Hwang and Joseph Ciolli

May 1 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks ended little changed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling from a record, as data showed an increase in jobless claims before the government’s monthly labor report tomorrow.

Avon Products Inc. tumbled 10 percent to lead losses in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after earnings trailed analysts’ estimates by almost half. T-Mobile US Inc. rallied 8.1 percent after adding 1.3 million new monthly subscribers last quarter. Sprint Corp. surged 2.7 percent after meeting with banks to make debt arrangements for a bid for T-Mobile. Yelp Inc. gained 9.8 percent after raising its forecast for 2014 revenue.

The S&P 500 closed down 0.27 point, or less than 0.1 percent, at 1,883.68 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge swung between a gain of 0.2 percent today and loss of 0.3 percent. The Dow average lost 21.97 points to 16,558.87 while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.3 percent. The 30-stock equity gauge rose 0.3 percent yesterday, topping the previous record it reached on Dec. 31. Government data on employment is due tomorrow.

“The market has had a nice little run here, and you’ve got a number coming tomorrow, so there may be some hesitation,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based RW Baird & Co., which oversees $110 billion, said in a phone interview. “As long as the Fed is going to remain friendly to the markets and rates are not going to go up, that’s going to be bullish for stocks.”

The S&P 500 posted a 0.6 percent gain in April for a third monthly advance, as better-than-estimated economic data and corporate results offset escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine.

The index closed yesterday within seven points of its all- time high from April 2. Its 8.1 percent recovery from a low of 1,741.89 on Feb. 3 has been led by a 14 percent rally in energy stocks and increases of about 11 percent each in industries least tied to economic growth: utilities and home-product makers.

Investors have added almost $10 billion to U.S. equity exchange-traded funds this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Energy stocks absorbed the most money among industry ETFs yesterday, taking in $460 million, more than twice that of any other group. Technology ETFs saw inflows of $185 million.

The Federal Reserve yesterday said it would continue to trim the pace of bond purchases as the economy gains momentum.  The central bank cut its monthly asset purchases to $45 billion and said further reductions in “measured steps” are likely.  Fed Chair Janet Yellen is winding down record stimulus as the world’s largest economy shows signs of rebounding from a first-quarter standstill.

Data today showed applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-week high last week, while consumer spending surged in March by the most in almost five years as warmer weather brought shoppers back to auto- dealer lots and malls.

The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 54.9 in April from 53.7 in the prior month, the Tempe, Arizona- based group’s report showed today. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. The median forecast of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 54.3, with estimates ranging from 53 to 56.2. The ISM’s factory gauge averaged 53.9 for all of last year.

A Labor Department report tomorrow may show employers added 215,000 workers in April, the most since November, according to economists’ projections. A private payrolls report yesterday showed companies added more workers last month than at any time in the previous five.

Forty-seven companies in the S&P 500 including Mylan Inc. and MasterCard Inc. release their financial results today. Some 75 percent of the 352 companies that have reported earnings have beaten estimates for profit, while 52 percent topped revenue projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Avon sank 10 percent to a 14-year low of $13.72. The world’s largest door-to-door seller of cosmetics agreed to pay $135 million to resolve U.S. probes into whether it paid bribes in China and other countries. Separately, Avon posted a wider first-quarter loss as sales declined in all of its regions.

T-Mobile jumped 8.1 percent to $31.65. The company added more subscribers in the first quarter than AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. combined, heightening the carrier’s allure as Sprint pursues a merger.

Sprint rallied 2.7 percent to $8.73. The company, led by CEO Dan Hesse, had a net loss of monthly subscribers in the first quarter.

DirecTV advanced 4.1 percent to $80.76. The Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T, the second-biggest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, made an approach to buy DirecTV. The status of the talks is unknown though DirecTV would be open to a deal, the report said, citing an unidentified person. The deal may be worth at least $40 billion, the Journal said.

The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index increased 1.4 for its third day of gains after tumbling 18 percent from March 5 to April 28. Netflix Inc. rose 4.5 percent to $336.52, while Pandora Media Inc. climbed 5.5 percent to $24.71.

Yelp gained 9.8 percent to $64.02 for its biggest gain in almost three months. The service for online local-business reviews boosted its forecast for revenue this year to at least $363 million, exceeding its previous prediction of no more than $358 million.

Facebook Inc. moved up 2.3 percent to $61.15. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of the world’s biggest social-networking service, said yesterday at a conference that Facebook is offering improved tools and a more streamlined experience for logins, including the option to sign in anonymously.

LinkedIn Corp. climbed 5.1 percent to $161.22 in the regular session, then fell 2.5 percent in extended trading at 4:34 p.m. in New York. After U.S. exchanges closed, the company gave a second-quarter sales forecast that missed analysts’ estimates as the professional-networking service struggles to reignite growth.

Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist at Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co., said the S&P 500 will climb above 2,250 before collapsing after the next U.S. presidential election. Grantham, best known for his bearish calls on U.S. stocks in 2000, is a long-time critic of Federal Reserve policy, which he blames for creating asset bubbles by holding interest rates at artificially low levels.

“Around the election or soon after, the market bubble will burst, as bubbles always do, and will revert to its trend value, around half of its peak or worse,” Grantham, 75, wrote in a quarterly letter released today.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.

Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The game of life is not so much in holding

a good hand as playing a poor hand well.

-H. T. Leslie

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:

April 30^th:

Lots of pagan festivals will be held tonight.  It is Walpurgisnacht –  Witch’s Night  -in Europe.  This is always the eve of May Day, when the witch world is supposed to hold high revelry under its chief, the Devil, on hight places, such as the Brocken, the highest point of the Harz Mountains in central Germany.  Walpurga was an English nun, c. 710, who went as a missionary to Germany and became abbess of Heidenheim.  The date of the transfer of her remains to Eichsätt on May 1^st, led to her coincidental association with the rites of an earlier pagan festival.

It is also known as Beltane in the Wiccan calendar.  Beltane is derived from the Scottish Gaelic, bealltainn.  It is an ancient Celtic festival featuring a sacrificial fire.  The derivation is uncertain, but the name is not connected with BAAL.  Fires were lit on the hill tops, and cattle were driven between the flames, either to protect them from disease or as a preparation for sacrifice.  Animal guisering, familiar from the hobby horse, derives from Beltane animal sacrifices, and a person born “between the Beltanes”, i.e., in the week beginning on May Day, is said to have power and influence over all living things.

Photos of the day

A man dressed as a fantasy figure walks along the street during a procession of devils and witches in the Harz mountains in Schierke, Germany. Hundreds of costumed devils and witches meet to celebrate Walpurgis Night, a traditional religious holiday of pre-Christian origins. Jens Meyer/AP

A woman runs on the beach near bear sculptures, part of the United Buddy Bear exhibition ‘Art of Tolerance’ at Leme beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pilar Olivares/Reuters

Market Closes for April 30^th, 2014

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16580.84	+45.47   +0.27%
S&P 500	1883.95	+5.62   +0.30%
NASDAQ	4114.55	+11.011   +0.27%
TSX	14651.84	+68.76
		+0.47%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14304.11	+15.88
		+0.11%
HANG SENG	22133.97	-319.92
		-1.42%
SENSEX	22417.80	-48.39
		-0.22%
FTSE 100	6780.03	+10.12
		+0.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.404	2.443
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.928	2.965
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.6459	2.6932
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4576	3.4900

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91224	0.91324
US $	1.09621	1.09500
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.51994	0.65792
US $	1.38655	0.72122

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1291.37	1296.05
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	99.74	101.28
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Eric Lam

April 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose a second day, reaching a six-year high, as investors weighed company earnings and the Federal Reserve said the economy is rebounding after growth stalled in the first quarter.

CGI Group Inc. rose 3.8 percent after reporting better- than-projected earnings. Yamana Gold Inc. touched a five-year low after first-quarter sales and earnings were short of estimates. Legacy Oil & Gas Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc. retreated at least 1.1 percent as crude prices fell for the first time in three days.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 68.76 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,651.87 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the highest since June 2008. The equity gauge climbed 2.2 percent in April for a 10th month of gains, the longest streak since 1983.

The Federal Reserve’s policy committee pared monthly asset buying to $45 billion, in line with economists’ forecasts, and said further reductions in “measured steps” are likely. The U.S. economy is gaining momentum as consumers spend more, the central bank said.

“It seems like everything’s staying the course with the Fed direction,” said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at Stenner Investment Partners of Richardson GMP Ltd. in Vancouver. Richardson GMP manages about C$26 billion ($23.8 billion). “The employment numbers in the U.S. continue to improve so that will continue to lead to Fed tapering.”  The U.S. economy grew at a 0.1 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, falling short of the median forecast of 1.2 percent growth according to a survey of 83 economists by Bloomberg. Canada’s gross domestic product rose for a second month in February led by gains among commodity producers.

“We had a bunch of economic numbers out this morning and people are just trying to make sense of what it all means,” said Brian Huen, managing partner at Red Sky Capital Management Ltd. in Toronto. His firm manages about C$250 million.

CGI Group advanced 3.8 percent to C$39.52, the highest since November, after posting second-quarter adjusted earnings of 72 Canadian cents a share compared with estimates for 69 cents. The technology-services company reported a backlog of signed orders of C$19.5 billion, up 8.3 percent compared with a year ago.

Technology shares rose 1.2 percent as a group. Trading volume of S&P/TSX companies was in line with the 30-day average.

Methanex Corp. sank 2.9 percent to C$67.89. Steve Hansen, analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc. in Vancouver, lowered his rating for Methanex to market perform, the equivalent of a hold, due to “surprisingly lackluster” first-quarter results.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.65 a share yesterday, short of analysts’ projections of $1.90.

The S&P GSCI Index, which tracks a basket of commodities, dropped 1 percent for the biggest decrease in a month as crude and copper declined.

Yamana Gold dropped 1.8 percent to C$8.21 and touched C$7.93, the lowest in five years. The company said it’s in talks with private Brazilian groups to sell a majority stake in its Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique mine in Brazil. Peter Marrone, chief executive officer at Yamana, said the company wants to at least recoup its investment.

Legacy Oil & Gas retreated 2.7 percent to C$8.53 and Cenovus Energy lost 1.1 percent to C$32.65. West Texas Intermediate crude sank to a four-week low as U.S. supplies extended a record high.

US
By Joseph Ciolli and Lu Wang

April 30 (Bloomberg) —  U.S. stocks rose, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record, as the Federal Reserve said it would continue to trim the pace of bond purchases as the economy gains momentum.

Facebook Inc. jumped 2.8 percent as Internet stocks recovered from earlier losses. Pepco Holdings Inc. climbed 17 percent after Exelon Corp. agreed to buy it. Twitter Inc. dropped 8.6 percent after saying user growth slowed. EBay Inc. fell 5 percent after the biggest online marketplace forecast sales that trailed some analysts’ estimates.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 0.3 percent to 1,883.95 at 4 p.m. in New York, ending April with a 0.6 percent gain, its third straight monthly advance. The Dow climbed 45.47 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,580.84, topping the previous closing record reached Dec. 31. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.3 percent, after an earlier drop of 0.8 percent. About 6.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, in line with the three-month average.

“The Fed seems to be putting aside the weakness in the first quarter that the market reacted to this morning,” Walter Todd, who oversees about $975 million as chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital Associates LLC, said in a phone interview. “The statement seems business as usual, and perhaps if you’d seen the Fed react more dovish to a weaker first quarter, that would’ve been more negative.”

The Dow’s previous record was 16,576.66, reached on the last day of 2013. The 30-stock gauge fell 7.3 percent from New Year’s through Feb. 3 amid concerns turmoil in emerging markets such as Turkey and Argentina would slow global growth. Since then it has rebounded 7.9 percent, led by an advance of 17 percent in Johnson & Johnson and gains of 14 percent each in Caterpillar Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and International Business Machines Corp.

The S&P 500 is within 0.4 percent of a record. Its 8.2 percent recovery from a low of 1,741.89 on Feb. 3 has been led by a 14 percent rally in energy stocks and increases of 11 percent each in industries least tied to economic growth: utilities and home-product makers. The gauge’s best-performing stock since the 2014 bottom is Nabors Industries Ltd., a drilling contractor, which is up more than 50 percent.

Stocks climbed today after the Fed said that the economy is gaining momentum as consumers spend more, and said it would continue to trim the pace of bond purchases.

“Growth in economic activity has picked up recently, after having slowed sharply,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement following a meeting in Washington. “Household spending appears to be rising more quickly.”

The committee pared monthly asset buying to $45 billion, its fourth straight $10 billion cut, and said further reductions in “measured steps” are likely.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen is winding down record stimulus as the world’s largest economy shows signs of rebounding from a first-quarter standstill. At the same time, the Fed repeated that it’s likely to keep the benchmark interest rate near zero for a “considerable time” after bond purchases end.

“This announcement is really no news is good news. No surprises here,” Kristina Hooper, a U.S. investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors in New York, said in a phone interview. The firm oversees $475 billion. “It’s positive because this announcement is more of the same in terms of underscoring that Fed is going to remain very accommodative.”

Data today showed the U.S. economy barely grew in the first quarter as harsh winter weather chilled investment and exports dropped. Gross domestic product grew at a 0.1 percent annualized rate from January through March, compared with a 2.6 percent gain in the prior quarter. The median forecast of 83 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 1.2 percent increase.

The pullback in growth came as snow blanketed much of the eastern half of the country, keeping shoppers from stores, preventing builders from breaking ground and raising costs for companies including United Parcel Service Inc. Another report today showing a surge in regional manufacturing this month adds to data on retail sales, production and employment that signal a rebound is under way as temperatures warm.

Companies in the U.S. boosted payrolls by 220,000 in April, figures from the ADP Research Institute in Roseland, New Jersey, showed today. The median forecast of 45 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 210,000.

The ADP numbers come before data from the Labor Department on May 2. The government’s report may show employers added 215,000 workers in April, the most since November, according to economists’ projections.

Seventy-five percent of the 314 S&P 500 members that have reported earnings this season have posted profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show. About 52 percent beat sales projections, according to the data.

Profits for members of the index climbed 3.4 percent in the first quarter, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. They had predicted an increase of 0.7 percent as recently as April 17. Revenue probably rose 2.8 percent in the quarter, the projections show.

Investors added $3.1 billion to U.S. equity exchange-traded funds yesterday, the biggest single-day inflow since April 8, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Health-care stocks absorbed the most money among industry ETFs, taking in $177 million and paring its five-day net outflow to $399 million.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge of options prices on the S&P 500, dropped 2.2 percent to 13.41. The measure fell 3.4 percent for the month.

Nine out of 10 major industries in the S&P 500 advanced today, with raw-material and industrial shares climbing more than 0.6 percent for the biggest gains. Energy shares had the only decline.

The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index gained 0.3 for its second straight day of gains, after recovering from an earlier drop of 1.7 percent. Netflix Inc. climbed 0.7 percent to $322.04.

Facebook Inc. rose 2.8 percent to $59.78. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of the world’s biggest social-networking service, said today at a conference that Facebook is offering improved tools and a more streamlined experience for logins, including the option to sign in anonymously.

“The technology sector is more of a stock-by-stock market today, as opposed to taking a clear direction,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview.

Twitter tumbled 8.6 percent to $38.97. The microblogging site reached 255 million members in the first quarter, sending year-over-year growth to 25 percent from 30 percent in the previous period.

EBay dropped 5 percent to $51.83 after forecasting second- quarter revenue of $4.33 billion to $4.43 billion. That compared with the average analyst projection of $4.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. EBay also posted a first-quarter net loss after taking a $3 billion tax charge to let it repatriate foreign earnings.

Express Scripts Holding Co. fell 6.2 percent to $66.58 after cutting its 2014 forecast. The pharmacy benefit manager reported first-quarter earnings excluding one-time items of 99 cents a share, missing the $1.01 average analyst projection. Cold weather and fewer Obamacare enrollees hurt earnings, the company said.

Separately, Express Scripts reported it received subpoenas from three different agencies regarding investigations into its contracts and relationships with drug companies including Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca Plc and Biogen Idec Inc.

Pepco rallied 17 percent to $26.76. Exelon, the largest U.S. nuclear operator, agreed to buy Pepco in an all-cash deal for $6.8 billion. The deal offers Pepco holders $27.25 a share, a 25 percent premium over the closing price on April 25, according to a statement.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. gained 4.2 percent to $56.28. The company posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of 13 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate of 11 cents. Hyatt also plans to open 40 hotels this year, the company said in a statement.

WellPoint Inc. rose 5.6 percent to $100.68. The second- largest U.S. health insurer raised its annual forecast after Obamacare enrollments boosted quarterly results.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Love implies generosity, care not to hurt another,

not to make them feel guilty, to be generous, courteous,

and behave in such a manner that your words and thoughts are born out of compassion.

Krishanamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

If no one ever took risks, Michaelangelo would have painted

the Sistine floor.

-Neil Simon, 1927-

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:

New moon in Taurus tonight.

On this day in 2003, Apple launched the iTunes store.

The Abu Dhabi government spent 1.38 billion to open what looks like a fantastic unique and universal museum – The Louvre Abu Dhabi.  Check out  www.louvreabudhabi.ae.

If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. –General George S. Patton, Jr. US Army field commander, WWII, 1885-1945.

Photos of the day

South African President Jacob Zuma (2nd l.) talks with Mandla Mandela (l.) after they and other dignitaries unveiled a bust of former South African President Nelson Mandela, right, at the South African Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. Schalk van Zuydam/AP

Exercise rider Abel Flores takes Kentucky Derby hopeful Tapiture for a morning workout in the rain at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Morry Gash/AP

Market Closes for April 28^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16448.74	+87.28    +0.53%
S&P 500	1869.43	+6.03    +0.32%
NASDAQ	4074.401	-1.161    -0.03%
TSX	14530.91	-2.66
		-0.02%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14288.23	-141.03
		-0.98%
HANG   SENG	22132.53	-91.00
		-0.41%
SENSEX	22631.61	-56.46
		-0.25%
FTSE 100	6700.16	+14.47
		+0.22%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.448	2.408
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.972	2.925
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.7004	2.6623
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4859	3.4403

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.90679	0.90600
US   $	1.10279	1.10375
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.52737	0.65472
US   $	1.38501	0.72202

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1296.04	1302.47
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	100.84	100.90
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Eric Lam

April 28 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell a second day, with the benchmark index paring losses in the final hour, as technology companies slumped amid a selloff in U.S. Internet shares and Barrick Gold Corp. sank on failed merger talks.

Avigilon Corp. and Constellation Software Inc. retreated more than 3.4 percent to pace declines among computer shares. Barrick Gold lost 3.1 percent after Newmont Mining Corp. broke off talks to merge the world’s two largest gold producers. Saputo Inc. added 3.5 percent after an analyst at TD Securities Inc. projected increasing fourth-quarter earnings. Capital Power Corp. lost 1.8 percent after analysts at National Bank Financial lowered their rating for the stock. Teck Resources Ltd. retreated 2.3 percent to snap four days of gains.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 2.66 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 14,530.91 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, paring earlier losses of as much as 0.5 percent. The equity gauge has climbed 1.4 percent in April for a 10th month of gains, the longest streak since 1983.

“There seemed to be an overemphasis in a lot of portfolios last year on the growth segment of the market so that’s caught everybody a little flat-footed,” said Bob Decker, fund manager at Aurion Capital Management Inc. in Toronto. His firm manages about C$6.6 billion ($5.99 billion). “The rotation has been abrupt and caught people by surprise.”

The Nasdaq 100 Index has fallen in four of the past five weeks amid concern earnings growth is too slow to justify equity valuations.

The Obama administration imposed sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle involved in banking, energy and infrastructure. The European Union added 15 names to a list of sanctioned persons.

Avigilon, which manufactures surveillance equipment, sank 4.3 percent to C$24.84, the lowest level since November. Constellation Software retreated 3.4 percent to C$253.03, a seven-week low. The S&P/TSX Information Technology Index slid 0.8 percent, the most since April 11.

Three of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated on trading volume 10 percent lower compared with the 30-day average. Materials producers sank 1.2 percent.

Barrick Gold retreated 3.1 percent to C$19.12 after Newmont Mining criticized the company’s Co-Chairman John Thornton as a factor in breaking off discussions to merge the two companies, the latest of several failed attempts over more than two decades.

Newmont Chairman Vincent Calarco said in an April 25 letter to the Barrick board, published today, that Thornton was not constructive during talks and also cited press reports that quoted Barrick Chairman Peter Munk describing Newmont as “not shareholder-friendly.” Newmont slumped 6.7 percent to $24.67 in New York, the most since January.

Teck Resources lost 2.3 percent to C$24.26, the first loss in five days, as copper prices slipped after a four-day rally.

Capital Power declined 1.8 percent to C$24.84, a five-week low. Patrick Kenny, analyst at National Bank Financial, lowered the stock’s rating to sector perform, the equivalent of a hold, as the company’s shares have rallied 22 percent since Oct. 16.

Saputo added 3.5 percent to C$57.52 after Michael Van Aelst, analyst at TD Securities, raised his target price for the stock to C$61 from C$55 on a projected 17 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings per share. Saputo is scheduled to report results on June 5.

Nautilus Minerals Inc. soared 40 percent to 67 Canadian cents, the highest level since January. Nautilus, which won the first lease to mine the ocean floor for gold and copper, has rallied 191 percent in the past three days after resolving a dispute with Papua New Guinea.

US
By Callie Bost

April 28 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index erasing an earlier slide, as Internet and smaller companies pulled back from a selloff amid optimism over merger activity.

Pfizer Inc. added 4.2 percent after proposing to buy AstraZeneca Plc for about 58.8 billion pounds ($98.7 billion).

Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. rallied more than 2.4 percent, leading gains among the largest technology companies. Bank of America Corp. dropped 6.3 percent after suspending its planned buybacks and dividend increase because of an error in its capital planning.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,869.43 at 4 p.m. in New York, reversing an earlier loss of 0.7 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 87.28 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,448.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined less than 0.1 percent after tumbling as much as 1.5 percent, and the Russell 2000 Index of smaller companies slid 0.5 percent. About 7.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 9.3 percent above the three-month average.

“It’s remarkable how volatile the market can be on an intraday basis,” John Carey, a Boston-based fund manager at Pioneer Investment Management Inc., which oversees $220 billion worldwide, said by phone. “Most of the companies that have reported so far have exceeded expectations and there’s M&A that’s bubbling along and that could be causing some optimism, with big deals and restructuring.”

U.S. equities began higher as large companies rallied on optimism about merger activity. Stocks turned lower as the U.S. and European Union imposed new sanctions on Russia, while selling in Internet and small-cap stocks spread to the broader market. Major indexes recovered in the afternoon, turning positive during the final hour of trading.

The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.5 percent last week, including a 1.8 percent tumble on April 25, as disappointing results from Amazon.com Inc. triggered a selloff in technology shares and tensions over Ukraine intensified. The technology- heavy gauge has fallen in four of the past five weeks amid concern valuations have outpaced estimates for earnings growth.  Nasdaq companies trade at 34 times reported earnings, about double the level of S&P 500 members.  The frequency of selloffs has increased even as technology makers are forecast to post the second-fastest profit growth in the S&P 500 this year and members of the Nasdaq 100 Index are beating analyst estimates by almost 10 percent this earnings season.

Increases among larger stocks helped push technology companies in the S&P 500 higher as a group. Microsoft surged 2.4 percent to $40.87 and Apple climbed 3.9 percent to $594.09 to extend its three-day rally to 13 percent, the most since 2009. International Business Machines Corp. added 1.9 percent to $193.14.

The Dow Jones Internet Index fell 1.9 percent, extending a 4.1 percent decline on April 25. The index has dropped 18 percent from a 13-year high on March 5. Only four of 41 members in the gauge rose today. Yahoo! Inc. dropped 1.4 percent to $33.99. Amazon slumped 2.4 percent to $296.58. Netflix tumbled 2.4 percent to $314.21.

A report by the National Association of Realtors showed contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes climbed in March by the most in almost three years, showing residential real estate was starting to stabilize entering the spring selling season. The pending home sales index rose 3.4 percent, the first gain in nine months, after a 0.5 percent drop in February that was smaller than initially reported.

A busy calendar this week will give investors more clues about the strength of the economy and the pace of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program.

The government’s initial tally of first-quarter gross domestic product on April 30 may show the slowest expansion in a year. Federal Reserve policy makers, who on the same day conclude their third meeting of the year, will probably reduce the pace of assets purchases designed to stoke the economy.

Three rounds of monetary stimulus have helped fuel economic growth, sending the S&P 500 surging as much as 180 percent from its 2009 low.

Payroll growth probably accelerated in April as companies remained upbeat about the economy’s prospects after a setback in demand caused by snowstorms and colder temperatures earlier this year. Employers added 215,000 workers, the most since November, economists project a May 2 report from the Labor Department will show.

Investors are also watching developments in Ukraine. The Obama administration imposed sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle involved in banking, energy and infrastructure.

The sanctions, announced by the White House today, are being imposed in conjunction with the European Union, which said today it is adding 15 names to its list of previously sanctioned individuals.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge of options prices on the S&P 500, dropped 0.6 percent for its first loss in four days. The gauge jumped 5.6 percent on April 25.

Consumer-staples and phone companies had the biggest gains among 10 groups in the S&P 500, climbing more than 1.1 percent.  Financial and raw-materials shares declined the most, dropping at least 0.5 percent.

Pfizer added 4.2 percent to $32.04. The world’s largest drugmaker is still interested in a deal after AstraZeneca spurned its earlier offer. Pfizer proposed buying the London- based company on Jan. 5 for 46.61 pounds a share in cash and stock, and AstraZeneca declined to pursue negotiations, the New York-based company said in a statement today. The bid was about 14 percent above AstraZeneca’s closing price on April 25.

General Electric Co. gained 0.7 percent to $26.78 after Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt met with France’s President Francois Hollande over the company’s offer for Alstom SA. Immelt may be moving closer to pulling off his largest-ever acquisition, even after French officials over the weekend urged Alstom to consider a rival offer from Germany’s Siemens AG.

The government doesn’t oppose GE’s proposal, and the meeting in Paris today focused on protecting jobs and maintaining the independence of France’s nuclear industry, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. The state doesn’t favor either bid, the person said, asking not to be named as the talks weren’t public.

NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. soared 7.3 percent to a record $17.20. American Realty Capital Properties Inc., the largest owner of single-tenant U.S. buildings, is interested in acquiring NorthStar for about $20 a share, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. That’s a premium of 25 percent to NorthStar’s closing price of $16.03 last week and would value the New York-based company at about $6.5 billion. American Realty fell 3 percent to $12.62.

Newmont Mining Corp. dropped 6.7 percent to $24.67. Barrick Gold Corp. said Newmont ended discussions about a takeover, which would have combined the world’s two largest gold producers. Talks between Newmont and Toronto-based Barrick broke down on April 18 over a disagreement about a proposed spinoff of some of the combined company’s assets, people familiar with the situation said the following day.

Bank of America lost 6.3 percent to $14.95. The bank said it will suspend its planned buybacks and dividend increase because of an error in its capital planning. The lender will resubmit its proposal to the Federal Reserve, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said in a statement. The company said it incorrectly adjusted for cumulative realized losses on structured notes issued by Merrill Lynch.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

What is it exactly that hurts you?

Open your heart and speak.  Open your eyes and see.

At the moment that you look with your eyes wide open,

everywhere you will find differences, an infinite variety.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.  It will never fail you.

-Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867-1959

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:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. –George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949.

April’s the busy month, the month that grows
Faster than hand can follow at its task;
No time to relish and no time to bask,
(Though when indeed is that the gardener’s lot,
April’s the month for pruning of the rose,
April’s the month when the good gardener sows
More annuals for summer, cheap and quick,
Yet always sows too thick
From penny packets scattered on a patch
With here a batch of poppy, there a batch
Of the low candytuft or scabious tall
That country children call
Pincushions, with their gift
Of accurate observance and their swift
Naming more vivid than the botanist.
So the good gardener will sow his drift
Of larkspur and forget-me-not
To fill blank space, or recklessly to pick;
And gay nasturtium writhing up a fence
Splotching with mock of sunlight sunless days
When latening summer brings the usual mist…

-V. Sackville-West, The Garden, Spring.

Photos of the day

US President Barack Obama (2nd l.) bows to ‘Asimo’ the robot while visiting Miraikan or the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, in Tokyo.  Larry Downing/Reuters

Spanish bullfighter Paco Urena enters the arena during the traditional Easter Feria in Arles, Southern France, April 2, 2014. The four-day Easter Feria opens the French bullfight season in April and is held in the Roman-built arena. Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Market Closes for April 24^th, 2014

Market   Index	Close	Change
Dow   Jones	16501.65	—    —
S&P 500	1878.61	+3.22    +0.17%
NASDAQ	4148.340	+21.373    +0.52%
TSX	14554.25	+20.86
		+0.14%

International Markets

Market   Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	14404.99	-141.28
		-0.97%
HANG   SENG	22562.80	+53.16
		+0.24%
SENSEX	22876.54	+118.17
		+0.52%
FTSE 100	6703.0	+28.26
		+0.42%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND.   10 Year Bond	2.422	2.424
CND.   30 Year Bond	2.932	2.928
U.S.   10 Year Bond	2.6805	2.6860
U.S.   30 Year Bond	3.4527	3.4685

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.90694	0.90642
US   $	1.10261	1.10324
Euro Rate   1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian   $	1.52512	0.65568
US   $	1.38319	0.72297

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold   Fix	1293.37	1284.51
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	102.24	101.74
BRENT	109.360	109.360

Market Commentary:

Canada
By Gerrit De Vynck

April 24 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rebounded from yesterday’s decline and auto-parts makers and technology companies climbed.

Valeant rose 2 percent in Toronto, after dropping 2.8 percent yesterday. Linamar Corp., which makes engines and transmissions for cars, climbed 3 percent as General Motors Co. beat analysts’ estimates for first-quarter profit. Magna International Inc. jumped 2 percent. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. lost 11 percent after RBC Capital Markets downgraded it to the equivalent of a hold from the equivalent of a buy.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Index advanced 20.86 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,554.25 at 4 p.m. in Toronto.

“This market continues to surprise on the upside in terms of it’s been fairly stable and now you’re getting some M&A,” said Irwin Michael, who helps manage C$850 million ($770.9 million) at ABC Funds in Toronto. “If you’re sitting on a lot of cash, you would like to selectively get that money invested, so the market seems to have got a good grounding here,” he said by phone.

Valeant added 2 percent to C$148.17 in Toronto trading.  Valeant this week offered to buy Allergan Inc., maker of the Botox wrinkle treatment, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $45.7 billion in the latest step of the company’s plan to become one of the world’s largest drugmakers.

Linamar rose 3 percent to C$56.33 while Magna added 2 percent to C$110.90.

Pacific Rubiales fell 11 percent to C$17.87. The company produces oil and gas in Colombia, where rebel attacks have disrupted a pipeline in March. Pacific Rubiales has fallen 19 percent in the last four days.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. rose 1.5 percent to C$39.02. The largest North American producer of its namesake fertilizer posted better-than-estimated first-quarter earnings and sales as the market for the commodity began to recover following last year’s price plunge.

Nautilus Minerals, which is planning to mine copper and gold from the sea floor, rose 74 percent to 40 Canadian cents, the most since 2006, after it said it had resolved a dispute with Papua New Guinea and that its Solwara 1 project can now proceed.

Imax Corp., the maker of giant video screens and projectors, fell 4.9 percent to C$29.62 after reporting first- quarter revenue that missed analyst estimates.

US
By Joseph Ciolli and Callie Bost

April 24 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index trading near a record, as technology companies rallied after Apple Inc. results topped estimates to offset a slump in phone shares.

Apple jumped 8.2 percent, the most in two years, after selling more iPhones than analysts predicted. Verizon Communications Inc. led declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and AT&T Inc. sank a second day, amid concerns that price competition is shifting wireless revenue. Qualcomm Inc. sank 3.5 percent as results fell short of forecasts. Zimmer Holdings Inc. surged 12 percent after it agreed to buy Biomet Inc. in a deal valued at $13.4 billion.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 to 1,878.61 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 16,501.65. The Nasdaq 100 Index, which includes Apple, climbed 1 percent. About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 10 percent below the three-month average.

“The earnings were decent overnight, especially from the tech sector, but we’re facing the headwind of strong momentum the six days before yesterday,” Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Cincinnati-based Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc., said in a phone interview. “We’re facing an overbought situation and a bit of profit-taking mid-day.”

U.S. stocks have repeatedly failed to climb from the S&P 500’s current level. The gauge earlier this week rose to within six points of the all-time high of 1,890.9 reached April 2. It fell 0.2 percent yesterday, snapping a six-day rally that was the longest since September, and trades at 17 times reported earnings, near its highest valuation in four years.

The Dow average fluctuated today, rising as much 0.2 percent and sinking 0.3 percent during the session, as investors weighed earnings from Caterpillar Inc., Verizon and 3M Co.

Broader gauges briefly turned lower earlier today amid reports of escalating violence in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin warned the country against continuing its anti-separatist offensive after government troops killed five rebels and prompted Russia’s military to begin new drills on the two nations’ border.

An agreement to disarm rebels signed last week in Geneva by Ukraine, Russia, the European Union and the U.S. is on the brink of collapse. President Barack Obama said today the U.S. and its allies have additional sanctions against Russia ready to go because Putin’s government has yet to abide by the accord.

Data from the Commerce Department today showed orders for durable goods such as cars and computers rose more than forecast in March, pointing to faster production that will help spur the economy. Separate data showed more Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week.

Of the 204 companies in the S&P 500 that have released earnings this season, 76 percent have exceeded analysts’ profit estimates, while 53 percent have beaten sales projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some 64 S&P 500 members report today making it the busiest of the period.

Analysts predict companies on the benchmark gauge will collectively report a 0.7 percent increase in first-quarter profit and a 2.6 percent increase in revenue.

“There’s no question earnings numbers were good, but there was some anticipation of it to a certain degree,” John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York, said in a phone interview. “I still tend to think, at the end of the day, that we’re going to see earnings be the more important thing that drives the market.”

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a measure of stock volatility known as the VIX, rose 0.4 percent to 13.32 for a second day of gains.

Six of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated today, with phone stocks sinking 1.7 percent, adding to a 2.2 percent slide yesterday. Technology shares jumped 1.1 percent to pace gains.

Apple surged 8.2 percent to $567.77, the highest this year.  The world’s most valuable company reported surging sales of iPhones after the handset became available through China Mobile Ltd. Apple also said it will increase its share repurchase authorization by $30 billion, boost its dividend and split its stock seven for one.

Apple’s first split in nine years would cut the stock price to roughly $75 a share, removing an obstacle to its inclusion in the Dow average. The shares currently trade for so much that putting it in the Dow would have given Apple too much influence in the 118-year-old equity gauge, which ranks companies by the level of their shares rather than market value.

Verizon Communications plunged 2.4 percent for the biggest slide in the Dow. The company is preparing for a surge of customers opting to pay for smartphones on installment plans, threatening to shrink monthly wireless bills. The looming shift in revenue cast a shadow today over first-quarter earnings and subscriber gains that beat analysts’ estimates.

AT&T shares fell 3.8 percent yesterday after investors grew concerned that a boost in profits from sales of unsubsidized phones would be short-lived. The stock dropped another 1.2 percent today to a one-month low.

3M declined 1 percent. The maker of products from Scotch tape to auto insulation reported first-quarter earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates as Latin America demand slowed and foreign currencies weakened.

Caterpillar rose 1.8 percent. The largest maker of mining and construction equipment posted first-quarter earnings and sales that beat analysts’ estimates as it boosted its full-year outlook on improved expectations for the building industry.

Zimmer Holdings jumped 12 percent. The maker of artificial joints agreed to acquire rival orthopedic-device maker Biomet Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $13.4 billion. Closely held Biomet’s parent, Biomet Group Inc., will withdraw its plans for an initial public offering, Zimmer said.

Facebook Inc. slipped 0.8 percent. The world’s largest social-networking site reported first-quarter profit and revenue yesterday that blew past analysts’ estimates. The company today said it bought fitness application Moves for an undisclosed amount, as the social network jumps into the increasingly popular fitness-tracking market.

An S&P index of homebuilders rallied 3.8 percent, the most since January, as all 11 members advanced. D.R. Horton increased 8.3 percent after the largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue reported earnings that beat estimates as prices and orders climbed. PulteGroup Inc. rose 2.3 percent as profit exceeded forecasts.

General Electric Co. added 0.2 percent. People with knowledge of the matter said the company is in talks to buy France’s Alstom SA in what would be its biggest-ever acquisition. The U.S. maker of jet engines and locomotives may pay more than $13 billion for Alstom, one of the people said.

Aetna Inc. gained 5.9 percent. The third-largest U.S. health insurer reported profit that beat analyst estimates and raised its forecast as membership rose for the eighth consecutive quarter.

Qualcomm dropped 3.5 percent. The largest mobile-chip maker forecast third-quarter profit and revenue that fell short of some analysts’ estimates, citing weaker phone sales in China as the rollout of a fast new data network takes longer than Qualcomm expected.

The company also said it received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month that the agency recommended enforcement action related to bribery allegations in China.

Xilinx Inc. plunged 9.1 percent, the most in the S&P 500 today and the stock’s biggest slide since 2005. The maker of programmable chips used in mobile-phone based stations as Credit Suisse Group AG lowered its rating on the company to neutral from outperform.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Though there is repulsion enough in Nature, she lives by attraction.

Mutual love enables Nature to persist.

Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

You who seek an end to love, love will yield to business: be busy,

and you will be safe.

-Ovid, 43 BC-18 AD

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