Author: Carolann

Hello All,

 

Tangents:

 

Happy Easter!

Why not celebrate by spending the night in a chocolate factory? The Little Chocolate Shop, a chocolate factory in the UK, is offering travelers the opportunity to spend a night among “edible furnishings, a chocolate fountain, and a fancy dress box filled with Wonka-esque accessories”. One night in the four-person suite costs about $150 and all proceeds go to Breast Cancer UK. You can read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/04/chocolate-factory-invites-guests-to-spend-the-night.html

 

photos of the day

April 5, 2012

Cats rest on a branch of a cherry tree under cherry blossoms in Tokyo.
Shizuo Kambayashi/AP

Pakistani men take a shelter from the sun under a tree, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.
Muhammed Muheisen/AP

Market Closes for April 5, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13060.14	-14.61
		-0.11%
S&P 500	1398.08	-0.88
		-0.06%
NASDAQ	3080.5	+12.41
		+0.4%
TSX	12103.11	-75.55
		-0.62%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	9767.61	-52.38
		-0.53%
HANG SENG	20593.00	-197.98
		-0.95%
SENSEX	17486.02	-111.40
		-0.63%
FTSE 100	5723.67	+19.90
		+0.35%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.124	2.125
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.679	2.683
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1805	2.2233
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3265	3.3572

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00670	1.00349
US $	0.99334	0.99653
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.29752	0.77070
US $	1.30622	0.76557

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1630.80	1612.30
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	103.06	102.02

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

April 5 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, completing their biggest weekly drop this year, as financial, energy and material shares declined on renewed concern over Europe’s debt crisis, even as commodity prices rallied on U.S. jobs data.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the country’s fifth- biggest lender, dropped 1.4 percent. Suncor Energy Inc., the country’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 2.6 percent. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. Canada’s second-largest copper producer, rose 7.1 percent on takeover speculation.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 75.55 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,103.11 in Toronto. The index fell 2.3 percent this week, the worst slide since Dec. 16. The Canadian market is closed tomorrow for the Good Friday holiday.

“People are probably thinking that the strong job numbers are more of an anomaly than a true fact that will carry on for the next few quarters,” Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at Sun Life Global Investments in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The unit of Sun Life Financial Inc. oversees about C$4.4 billion ($4.4 billion) for clients. “If there are issues in Europe, the risk appetite is off and you’ll likely see pressure on the Canadian dollar.”

The benchmark equity gauge rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter this year as economic data surpassed estimates and investors speculated that the euro area would contain its sovereign-debt crisis. Concerns over Europe were revived this week as French borrowing costs rose at an 8.44 billion euro ($11 billion) auction of debt today, and Spanish bonds fell for a third day after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said yesterday the nation faces “extreme difficulty.”

CIBC fell 1.4 percent to C$75.37, leading a third-straight day of declines for financial shares in the S&P/TSX. Toronto- Dominion Bank, the country’s second largest lender, decreased 0.4 percent to C$83.34. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest lender, dropped 0.4 percent to C$56.96.

National Bank of Canada, the country’s sixth-biggest bank by assets, fell 1 percent to C$78.67 after being sued by current and former employees of its Natcan asset management unit, who argue that the bank unfairly bought them out at a discount before selling the business to Fiera Sceptre Inc. Claude Breton, a National Bank spokesman, declined to comment.

Canadian energy shares fell, even as oil futures rose for the first time in three days. Suncor Energy lost 2.6 percent to C$30.45. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. slipped 2.9 percent to $31.77.

Claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in four years, the Labor Department reported today. Canada added the most jobs since 2008 last month.

Employment rose by 82,300 following a decline of 2,800 in February, Statistics Canada said in Ottawa, lowering the jobless rate to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., the nation’s No. 2 rail carrier declined 0.5 percent to C$75 as Pershing Square Capital Management’s Chief Executive Officer William Ackman pushed the company for a leadership change.

Ackman said CP Rail is losing market share to rivals under Chief Executive Officer Fred Green. The shares have rallied 25 percent since Oct. 27, the day before Pershing Square disclosed its stake.

Materials companies in the benchmark index fell, led by gold shares. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer of the metal, declined 2 percent to C$40.36. Goldcorp Inc., the second-biggest bullion miner, dropped 1 percent to C$40.60.

“Investors probably came to the realization that the markets got a little bit ahead of themselves in the first quarter,” Adatia said. “People focused a little too much on the short-term. Now you’ll hopefully start to see people focusing back on the longer-term issues.”

First Quantum gained 7.1 percent to C$19.69 after U.K. newspapers speculated that the company may be a takeover target.

It was the company’s biggest increase in more than four months.

 

US

By Michael P. Regan and Lu Wang

April 5 (Bloomberg) — Most U.S. stocks fell for a third day while commodities halted a two-day slump as investors weighed optimism about the American job market with renewed concern over Europe’s debt crisis. Treasuries gained while the euro weakened for a fourth day against the dollar.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.1 percent to close at 1,398.08 at 4 p.m. in New York after dropping as much as 0.4 percent, while about four U.S. companies fell for every three that rose on U.S. exchanges. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.1 percent, reversing a 0.9 percent tumble. Ten-year Treasury note yields slipped five basis points to 2.18 percent after declining as much as nine points earlier. Silver, lead and nickel led commodities higher. Canada’s dollar rallied after a report showed employers added the most jobs since 2008.

U.S. jobless claims dropped to the lowest level in four years, a day before a Labor Department report that is projected by economists to show the nation added more than 200,000 jobs for a fourth straight month. Concern about Europe’s debt crisis deepened as French borrowing costs increased at an 8.44 billion euro ($11 billion) auction, while Spanish bonds fell for a third day amid growing concern the nation will follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland in requiring an international bailout.

“You have, certainly, improvement in the labor market in the U.S. but every once in a while we got reminded there still remain problems in Europe,” Greg Woodard, a portfolio strategist at Manning & Napier in Fairport, New York, which manages about $40 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The volatility is going to continue. It’s going to be choppy.”

Alcoa Inc. and General Electric Co. lost at least 1.3 percent to help lead losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which slipped 14.61 points to 13,060.14. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

rose as the retail-chain operator’s fourth-quarter profit beat estimates.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.7 percent this week, the biggest of only three weekly losses this year, after the Federal Reserve signaled reluctance to embark on another round of asset purchases unless the economic recovery falters or inflation is less than its 2 percent target.

The index may fall as much as 5 percent to 7 percent before rebounding, according to hedge fund manager Barton Biggs.

“I may want to take a little risk off,” Biggs, founder of Traxis Partners LP, said on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop” with Betty Liu. “I am cutting back a little, and I’m tempted to cut back some more,” he said. Equities are “going higher over the course of the next few months, but in the short run here we’ll have a little pause.

Canada’s dollar climbed against all 16 major peers.

Employment rose by 82,300 following a decline of 2,800 in February, Statistics Canada said, lowering the jobless rate to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a 10,500 gain in jobs and 7.4 percent unemployment, according to the median forecasts.

Oil rose for the first time in three days, gaining 1.6 percent to $103.07 a barrel. Nickel rallied 3.1 percent and lead and silver rose more than 2 percent as 18 of 24 commodities tracked by S&P GSCI Index advanced, sending the gauge up 0.8 percent.

Gains in mining companies and energy producers led the European benchmark index higher, overshadowing a drop in banks and automobile companies. Xstrata Plc and Rio Tinto PLC rose more than 1.5 percent, while UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank, fell 3.1 percent. The Stoxx 600 had tumbled 3.1 percent in the previous two sessions.

The extra yield investors demand to hold 10-year French bonds instead of benchmark German bunds reached 125 basis points, or 1.25 percentage point, the most since Feb. 1. The yield spread between Spanish and German 10-year bonds exceeded 4 percentage points for the first time since Dec. 12, and German five-year note yields reached a record low of 0.71 as investors sought the safest bonds.

The euro weakened against 12 of its 16 major peers, driving the currency through the Swiss National Bank’s cap for the first time since it imposed the limit on Sept. 6. The SNB won’t allow the franc to go below 1.20 versus the euro and is ready to buy foreign currencies in unlimited quantities, spokesman Walter Meier said by telephone today.

German industrial output fell 1.3 percent in February from the previous month, dropping more than the 0.5 percent median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The cost of insuring against default on European corporate debt rose, with the Markit iTraxx Europe Index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings climbing 2.5 basis points to 132.2.

Trading in credit-default swaps is dropping as investors reaping the biggest corporate-bond market gains since 2010 reduce bearish bets. Banks, hedge funds and other money managers traded credit swaps tied to a weekly average of $137.2 billion of corporate and sovereign debt in the four weeks ended March 30, according to data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

That’s down 3.6 percent from $142.3 billion in the same period a year earlier and a 24.5 percent drop from August, when an average $181.7 billion was traded, DTCC data show.

Investors scaled back hedges as corporate bonds globally returned 3.8 percent in the first quarter of 2012, the biggest gains since the period ended September 2010.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slipped 0.1 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong retreated 1.4 percent, after returning from yesterday’s public holiday.

Most markets will be closed tomorrow for the Good Friday holiday and U.S. equity index futures will trade until 9:15 a.m.

New York time on CME Group Inc.’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Treasuries will trade for part of the day to allow investors to react to the nonfarm payrolls report. There will be spot trading in precious metals.

 

Have a great Easter Weekend!

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Nadia Aziz

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Hello All,

 

Tangents:

I think I will have to chalk this little bit of news up as one of the strangest things I have heard all month. Doubtless to say, most people have heard of Napoleon Bonaparte, famous French emperor, general, and reformer, but have you heard of France’s latest plans to immortalize him?  If not, I only have two words for you: Theme Park. Yes, you read that right. So far the project has been getting some serious support from the French government, tourism officials, and the Bonaparte family. Napoleon’s descendent, Charles Bonaparte, has even gone on to say “We have to build this park. Because if we don’t do it soon, you can be absolutely sure the Chinese will get there first.”  It’s even possible that construction will  start in 2014.

My friends and I found this to be pretty hilarious and had fun thinking up some potential rides like “Escape from Elba Island!” or “Waterloo: The Experience,” a ride that ends with you being thrown out of the park and being told not to come back!

 

You can read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17397172

 

photos of the day

April 4, 2012

 

Yang Guang, a male giant panda, chews on bamboo inside his enclosure at Edinburgh zoo in Scotland.- David Moir/Reuters

 

Pakistani Abdul basheer Khan, who sells camel milk on a roadside feeds the camels with his son Raha, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.- Muhammed Muheisen/AP

 

Market Closes for April 4, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13074.75	-124.80
		-0.95%
S&P 500	1398.96	-14.42
		-1.02%
NASDAQ	3068.09	-45.48
		-1.46%
TSX	12178.66	-144.95
		-1.18%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	9819.99	-230.40
		-2.29%
HANG SENG	20790.98	+268.72
		+1.31%
SENSEX	17486.02	-111.40
		+0.63%
FTSE 100	5703.77	-134.57
		-2.30%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.125	2.196
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.683	2.736
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2233	2.2988
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3572	3.4404

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00349	1.00905
US $	0.99653	0.99103
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.30941	0.76370
US $	1.31397	0.76105

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1612.30	1670.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	102.02	104.04

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

April 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell to their lowest point of the year, led by metal and oil producers, after Spain missed its maximum goal in a debt sale and U.S. oil stockpiles surged.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold-mining company, declined 3.2 percent. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal, decreased 4.9 percent.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 4.5 percent. Oil-sands developer BlackPearl Resources Inc. fell 5.5 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 144.95 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,178.66 in Toronto, its lowest point since Dec. 30.

“The overnight bond auction from Spain didn’t do that well,” Marcus Xu, director of equity investments at Genus Capital Management in Vancouver, said in a telephone interview.

The firm oversees about C$1.7 billion ($1.7 billion). “The yield was really backing up there and less demand than anticipated. The lingering effect from the European debt crisis is going to come back and hound the market from time to time.”

The benchmark equity gauge rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter this year as economic data surpassed estimates and investors speculated that the euro area would contain its sovereign-debt crisis. The Canadian index fell 2 percent in March, after two straight months of increases.

A measure of materials companies in the S&P/TSX fell today as gold slid to a 12-week low in New York on a stronger dollar after the Federal Reserve signaled yesterday it may refrain from providing more stimulus measures. Copper headed for its biggest drop in almost a month.

Barrick Gold Corp. declined 3.2 percent to C$41.16. Goldcorp Inc. decreased 4.9 percent to C$41.01. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, fell 3.8 percent to C$18.38.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX declined as oil tumbled after the Energy Department said U.S. stockpiles surged the most since 2008 as U.S. crude output climbed to the highest level in 12 years.

Futures fell as inventories rose 9.01 million barrels to 362.4 million in the seven days to March 30, the most since June. U.S. output rose 2.9 percent to 6.05 million barrels a day, the most since 1999.

BlackPearl Resources fell 5.5 percent to C$3.92. Suncor Energy lost 4.5 percent to C$31.26. MEG Energy Corp., a Calgary- based oil-sands developer, dropped 6.1 percent to C$36.70.

“In general, investor sentiment had become pretty positive,” Bruce McCain, who helps oversee more than $20 billion as chief investment strategist at the private-banking unit of KeyCorp in Cleveland, said in a telephone interview.

“When that happens, there’s a tendency for the market to sober up a bit and take a second look at problems they had ignored up to that point. I think we’re in the early stage of that process.”

 

US

By Michael Shanahan and Lu Wang

April 4 (Bloomberg) — Stocks and commodities slid for a second day as weaker demand at a Spanish debt auction and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s reluctance to add more monetary stimulus fueled concern the global economic recovery will slow. The euro fell and Spanish, Italian and Portuguese bond yields surged.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 1 percent as of 4 p.m. in New York, its second-worst drop of the year, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 124.8 points to 13,074.75. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index tumbled 2.1 percent. The euro depreciated against 12 of 16 major peers, while 10-year Treasury yields fell seven basis points to 2.23 percent. Spanish 10-year yields surged 24 basis points to 5.69 percent. Silver and gold plunged more than 3 percent and oil extended losses after U.S. supplies grew by the most since 2008.

The S&P 500 has tumbled 1.4 percent from an almost four- year high of 1,419.04 on April 2 following a 12 percent rally in the first three months of the year, the best first-quarter gain in 14 years. The Fed will refrain from increasing monetary accommodation unless the economic expansion falters or prices rise at a rate slower than its 2 percent target, minutes of a March 13 policy meeting released yesterday showed.

“I can’t remember a time where knowing where you are in the trading cycle is as almost important as the news that’s coming,” Wayne Wilbanks, chief investment officer at Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees about $2 billion, said in a telephone interview. “When you are at the top of a trading range between 1,100 and 1,400, it will take very little bad news — and maybe some news about quantitative easing, which is not bad news — for the market to go down.”

U.S. stocks retreated even after an ADP Employer Services report showed companies expanded payrolls by 209,000 following a revised 230,000 gain in February. The median estimate in the Bloomberg News survey called for a 206,000 increase. Economists project a government report in two days will show private employers added 215,000 jobs and total payrolls, including government positions, increased by 205,000.

Service industries in the U.S. expanded less than forecast in March as orders grew at the slowest pace in three months. The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index dropped to 56 from a one-year high of 57.3 in February. Readings above 50 signal expansion, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected 56.8 for the gauge, according to the median estimate.

Losses in U.S. stocks today were led by financial, technology and commodity companies, with gauges of each group dropping at least 1.2 percent as nine of the 10 main industry groups in the S&P 500 retreated. Bank of America Corp., Alcoa Inc. and Microsoft Corp. lost more than 2 percent for the biggest declines in the Dow.

SanDisk Corp. slid 11 percent, the most since January, after the biggest maker of flash-memory cards cut its forecast for first-quarter sales and profitability, citing weaker-than- expected pricing and demand for components that store data in mobile phones.

General Electric Co. fell 1.1 percent after its debt rating was cut by Moody’s Investors Service because of “heightened risk” from its finance unit, whose own grade was cut below the parent company’s for the first time in two decades.

U.S. equities retreated yesterday as the Fed minutes showed less urgency to add stimulus. Policy makers last month affirmed the plan, first announced in January, to hold interest rates near zero through late 2014 on concern the economy may fail to grow fast enough to continue bringing down unemployment.

“There’s no justification for the Fed to ease monetary policy further,” Vasu Menon, vice president for wealth management at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., said in a Bloomberg Television interview from Singapore. “The market has run up at a very heavy pace, so I think a breather or a correction would be a welcome change for now.”

Almost 50 shares fell for each that advanced in the Stoxx 600. Automakers slumped after U.S. sales of cars and light trucks in March missed the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. PSA Peugeot Citroen slid 5.8 percent and Volkswagen AG fell 2.7 percent. Petropavlovsk Plc, a producer of gold in Russia, sank 6.5 percent as the precious metal retreated for a second day.

Germany’s DAX Index slumped 2.8 percent and Sweden’s OMX Stockholm 30 Index tumbled 3.6 percent to lead losses among major European national indexes. German factory orders increased in February less than economists had forecast. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, increased 0.3 percent from January, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said. Economists had predicted a gain of 1.5 percent, according to the median of 35 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

The euro weakened 0.7 percent to $1.3142, falling for a third straight day and reaching the weakest level since March 16. Yields on Italian and Portuguese 10-year bonds surged 21 basis points each.

The cost of insuring sovereign debt rose, with the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of credit-default swaps linked to 15 governments climbing 6.1 basis points to 271. Swaps on Spain jumped 22 basis points to 461, the highest since November, according to CMA.

Spain sold 2.59 billion euros ($3.41 billion) of bonds due between January 2015 and October 2020, compared with a planned maximum of 3.5 billion euros.

European Central Bank officials meeting in Frankfurt today kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 1 percent, as predicted by all 57 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

ECB President Mario Draghi said while a moderate economic recovery is expected this year, the outlook is subject to “downside risks” as the debt crisis damps momentum. Draghi also said any talk of an exit strategy from stimulus measures is premature for now.

Oil tumbled 2.4 percent to $101.47 a barrel, extending losses after the U.S. Energy Department said stockpiles rose

9.01 barrels to 362.4 million. Gold plunged 3.5 percent to

$1,614.10 an ounce, the lowest since January, silver sank 6.7 percent and copper dropped 3.3 percent to $3.7905 a pound as 21 of 24 commodities tracked by the S&P GSCI Index retreated, sending the gauge down 2 percent for its biggest drop of the year.

Markets in China and Taiwan were shut for holidays. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 1.7 percent, halting a three- day, 2.2 percent climb. The Micex Index fell 2.4 percent in Moscow and the FTSE/JSE Africa All Shares Index slid 2.3 percent in Johannesburg as oil and metals fell. Turkey’s ISE National

100 Index retreated 1.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index slid 1.5 percent, the biggest loss since Dec. 19.

China accelerated the opening of its capital markets by more than doubling the amount foreigners can invest in stocks, bonds and bank deposits. The China Securities Regulatory Commission increased quotas for qualified investors to $80 billion from $30 billion, according to a statement yesterday.

Offshore investors will also be allowed to pump an extra 50 billion yuan ($7.95 billion) of local currency into the country, up from 20 billion yuan.

Australia’s dollar sank to an 11-week low as data showed the nation had an unexpected trade deficit. The Aussie slid 0.7 percent to $1.0257 after Australia posted a trade deficit for a second month in February, completing the first consecutive shortfalls in two years.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

 

Kind regards,

 

Ellora Howie

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Tel: 778-430-5808

Fax: 778-430-5838

 

Hello All,

 

Tangents:

 

Canada has now been ranked one of the happiest countries in the world – giving us something else to smile about! According to a United Nations survey, Canada placed fifth in the World Happiness Report, after Denmark, Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands. You can read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/03/canada-happy-survey-says.html

 

photos of the day

April 3, 2012

A Buddhist monk looks through the binoculars at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.
Damir Sagoli/Reuters

An Indochinese tiger drinks water at a new enclosure at the Tierpark zoo in Berlin.
Marcus Schreiber/AP

Market Closes for April 3, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13199.55	-64.94
		-0.49%
S&P 500	1413.38	-5.66
		-0.40%
NASDAQ	3119.57	-6.13
		-0.20%
TSX	12323.61	-183.45
		-1.47%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10050.39	-59.48
		-0.59%
HANG SENG	20790.98	+268.72
		+1.31%
SENSEX	17597.42	+119.27
		+0.68%
FTSE 100	5838.34	-36.55
		-0.62%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.196	2.124
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.736	2.665
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2988	2.1785
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.4404	3.3204

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00905	1.00959
US $	0.99103	0.99050
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31188	0.76226
US $	1.32376	0.75542

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1670.00	1676.70
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	104.04	105.03

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

April 3 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in four weeks, led by lenders, after Royal Bank of Canada was sued by U.S. regulators over futures trades and lower-than-forecast U.S. factory orders fanned concern over economic growth.

Canada’s largest lender dropped 2.8 percent in Toronto Stock Exchange trading after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission claimed it engaged in trades worth hundreds of millions of dollars to garner tax benefits, and the bank said separately it would pay $1.1 billion for the 50 percent of RBC Dexia Investor Services Ltd. it doesn’t already own. Bank of Nova Scotia fell 1.3 percent. Research in Motion Ltd. plunged

9.5 percent as investors speculated that the BlackBerry maker’s possible acquirers are dropping off.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index declined 183.45 points, or 1.5 percent, to 12,323.61 in Toronto, the biggest decrease since March 6.

“It’s never great to attract the attention of the CFTC,” Todd Johnson, a money manager at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees C$340 million ($342 million). “It might detract some people that sell on macro news and headlines, but I don’t think it reflects longer-term loss of profitability.”

The benchmark equity gauge rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter this year as economic data surpassed estimates and investors speculated that the euro area would contain its sovereign-debt crisis. The Canadian index fell 2 percent in March, after two straight months of increases.

Canadian financial companies fell for the fifth time in six days after Royal Bank was sued by the CFTC, which claimed in a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court that the lender made false and misleading statements about the trades from 2007 to 2010. Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon rejected the allegations and said that the financial impact of the lawsuit won’t be “material.”

The U.S. Commerce Department reported factory orders rose 1.3 percent in February, less than the 1.5 percent median of economist projections in a Bloomberg survey.

Royal Bank dropped 2.8 percent to C$57.10 on the Toronto exchange. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender, declined 0.9 percent to C$83.79. Bank of Nova Scotia, the country’s third-biggest lender, fell 1.3 percent to C$55.45. The banks are the three most heavily-weighted stocks in the S&P/TSX, making up almost 15 percent of the index.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX decreased after oil fell, as supplies in the U.S. were forecast to climb to a seven-month high. Futures slid 1.2 percent as a Bloomberg News survey of analysts showed stockpiles probably increased 0.7 percent last week to 355.9 million barrels.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 1.4 percent to C$32.74. Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s second- largest energy company, fell 1.9 percent to C$45.28. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s third-largest energy company by market value, decreased 1.8 percent to C$33.13.

Materials companies in the benchmark index dropped as gold stocks extended losses on a strengthening U.S. dollar after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting showed policy makers saw no need for more monetary stimulus unless economic growth slows.

Goldcorp. Inc., the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal, decreased 5.8 percent to C$43.10. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s partner in the Oyu Tolgoi Mongolian gold and copper mine, fell 7.9 percent to C$14.37 after being downgraded by both Toronto-Dominion and Bank of Montreal.

Research in Motion Ltd. decreased 9.5 percent to C$12.91.

The technology company has dropped 13 percent this year.

 

US

By Lu Wang and Inyoung Hwang

April 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slid, while Treasuries and gold tumbled and the dollar rallied, as Federal Reserve minutes showed central bankers saw no need for more monetary stimulus unless economic growth slows.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent to close at 1,413.38 at 4 p.m. in New York, retreating from an almost four-year high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 64.94 points to 13,199.55. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes surged 11 basis points to 2.30 percent after falling as much as three basis points. The Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency against six major peers, climbed 0.7 percent. Gold, silver and oil lost more than 1 percent to lead the S&P GSCI Index of commodities down 0.3 percent.

Minutes from the March 13 Fed policy meeting showed the Fed is holding off on increasing monetary accommodation unless the U.S. economic expansion falters or prices rise at a rate slower than its 2 percent target. The S&P 500 surged 1.4 percent on March 26, its second-biggest gain of the year, after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that stimulative monetary policy is still need to spur job growth.

“Bernanke’s been clear that he stands ready to support the economy if needed and he’s certainly not in favor of removing the stimulus that we have, but there hasn’t been any indication from him that he’s planning to go another round,” Peter Jankovskis, who helps manage about $3 billion at Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois, said in a telephone interview.

The S&P 500 yesterday closed at the strongest level since May 2008 and the Dow reached the highest since December 2007. Gauges of commodity producers and financial companies led declines in nine of the 10 main industry groups in the S&P 500 today. Bank of America Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. fell at least 1.4 percent to pace losses in the Dow.

General Motors Co. sank 4.6 percent after posting vehicle sales that trailed estimates. Apple Inc. advanced 1.7 percent to a record $629.32 after two analysts said the stock could surge to $1,000.

Wall Street strategists cut their recommended holdings in U.S. equities to almost the lowest level since 1998, a sign that the six-month stock rally may have more room to go, according to Bank of America Corp.

Strategists advised investors to reduce equity allocations in six out of the past eight months, with money earmarked to stocks falling to 55.8 percent in March. The level was the lowest since January 1998, except for the seven months ended July 2009, and compared with a 15-year average of 60.7 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bank of America.

Savita Subramanian, head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America, said the decline in recommended stock holdings signaled rising pessimism that she considers as a contrarian indicator because investors who have sold shares now have more money to purchase stocks.

Stocks extended losses today as the Fed minutes showed decreased urgency to add more monetary stimulus, with  no sentiment expressed for additional easing without a deterioration in conditions.

The Fed last month affirmed its plan, first announced in January, to hold interest rates near zero through late 2014 as the economy may fail to grow fast enough to continue bringing down the unemployment rate. Bernanke has defended the pledge as appropriate since the meeting, saying that despite some improvement in the economy it’s “far too early to declare victory.”

Among the 24 commodities tracked by the S&P GSCI index, 15 retreated. Gold futures tumbled 1.9 percent to $1,647.60 an ounce, silver sank 1.4 percent and oil slid 1.2 percent to $104.01 a barrel.

The dollar strengthened against 13 of 16 major peers, rallying 0.9 percent against the yen and 0.6 percent to $1.3236 versus the euro. Two-year Treasury yields increased four basis point to 0.37 percent and 30-year rates added nine points to 3.43 percent.

The Fed minutes will cause even more scrutiny of the government’s monthly jobs report on April 6, according to Alan Ruskin, New York-based global head of Group-of-10 currency strategy at Deutsche Bank AG. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey projects growth of 201,000 jobs in March. Ruskin said a gain of less than 150,000 jobs would “quickly reawaken QE expectations.”

“Ironically, the more bonds sell-off now, the more they will be forced to contemplate such actions,” Ruskin wrote in a note to clients.  “It seems clear that bonds in particular are vulnerable and need serious support from weak employment data. Equities generally are likely to be more resilient,” he said, since better-than-expected jobs data may overshadow reduced odds the Fed will buy more bonds to suppress interest rates.

Earlier losses in U.S. stocks came amid concern the rally that sent the S&P 500 to an almost four-year high has outpaced prospects for economic growth. Commerce Department data showed orders to U.S. factories climbed 1.3 percent in February, trailing the median economist forecast for an increase of 1.5 percent.

European markets closed before the release of the Fed minutes, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipping 1.1 percent.

Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl led a gauge of banking shares lower, sliding 6.6 percent. Cairn Energy Plc advanced 4 percent as the U.K. oil company exploring in Greenland agreed to buy Agora Oil & Gas AS to expand in the North Sea.

Germany’s DAX Index slipped 1.1 percent today, while benchmark gauges in Italy and Spain slid more than 2 percent.

German stocks are posting their best start to a year relative to the U.S. since 2006 as investors bet companies in Europe’s biggest economy will benefit most from improving global growth. The DAXK Index, a German equities gauge that strips out gains from dividends, surged 19 percent in 2012 through yesterday after sinking to the cheapest valuation in at least six years in 2011. That’s the largest advance since 1998 and 6.3 percentage points more than the S&P 500’s increase, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Germany’s benchmark DAX Index topped every developed market tracked by Bloomberg this year through yesterday as Citigroup Inc. and BNP Paribas SA raised forecasts for economic expansion after efforts to tackle Europe’s debt crisis succeeded in bringing down borrowing costs from record highs.

The ECB will keep its benchmark rate unchanged at a record low 1 percent tomorrow, according to the median of 57 economist forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

Bonds in Portugal, Spain and Italy extended losses after Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund, said Portugal was headed for a debt “haircut” — a restructuring that imposes losses for investors — after yields on the nation’s 10-year note today touched the highest level in a week.

Spanish 10-year bonds fell for the first time in three days after a report showed registered unemployment rose for an eighth month. Spain’s public debt will rise to a record this year as it sells almost 37 billion euros ($49 billion) of bonds to finance a budget deficit that was nearly three times the euro-area limit last year.

Total borrowing will reach 79.8 percent of gross domestic product as the country breaches the European Union’s deficit rules for a fifth year. That’s the highest since before the country’s return to democracy in 1978 and up from 68.5 percent last year, according to the 2012 budget that the government presented to Parliament today in Madrid.

The yield on Spain’s 10-year securities climbed 10 basis points to 5.45 percent. Italy’s 10-year bond yield rose five basis points to 5.16 percent and Portugal’s yield increased 17 basis points to 11.84 percent.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 0.6 percent, taking its three-day increase to 2 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index jumped 1.2 percent as PT Bank Danamon Indonesia surged 39 percent after DBS Group Holdings Ltd. offered to buy the lender for about $7.2 billion. Taiwan’s Taiex index sank 1.3 percent on concern the government may impose capital-gains tax on stock trades. The Micex Index advanced 1.5 percent in Moscow and the ISE National 100 Index climbed 0.5 percent in Turkey.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Nadia Aziz

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Hello All,

 

Tangents:

Canadian politics can get pretty heated but never before have our representatives come to blows! Last Saturday Liberal MP Justin Trudeau and Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau duked it out to see which politician would reign supreme. Well sort of…. Trudeau and Brazeu actually entered into fisticuffs as part of a charity boxing event. The match aimed to raise awareness and funds for cancer research, a disease that has affected the lives and families of both men deeply (Trudeau lost his father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, to prostate cancer and Brazeau lost his mother to lung cancer).

While some commentators have branded the event as sophomoric or plain silly, I found it to be pretty fun and for an excellent cause. Both fighters had fun with the event and handled their respective victories and defeats gracefully. Speaking of victories, was anyone else surprised that Trudeau pulled off the win? What a twist!

If you want to read more, I would recommend this excellent article from The Ottawa Citizen: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Truly+honourable+members/6394435/story.html#ixzz1qqMyNIph

You can also watch the match yourself and catch all the glory and upset here (the commentary is pretty hilarious!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XuSpZ3_5pTc#!

 

photos of the day

April 2, 2012

A woman walks past an Orthodox church during heavy snowfall in central Minsk, Belarus.

Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

Judges from Senegal’s top court arrive at the inauguration of newly-elected Senegalese President Macky Sall in the capital Dakar. Sall took his oath as president of the West African country under the gaze of regional leaders due to hold emergency talks later on the crisis in neighbouring Mali.

Joe Penney/Reuters

 

Market Closes for April 2, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13264.49	+52.45
		+0.40%
S&P 500	1419.04	+10.57
		+0.75%
NASDAQ	3119.7	+28.13
		+0.91%
TSX	12507.06	+114.88
		+0.93%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10109.87	+26.31
		+0.26%
HANG SENG	20522.26	-33.32
		-0.16%
SENSEX	17478.15	+73.95
		+0.42%
FTSE 100	5874.89	+106.44
		+1.85%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.124	2.111
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.665	2.656
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1785	2.2106
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3204	3.3375

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00959	1.00113
US $	0.99050	0.99887
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31972	0.75774
US $	1.33238	0.75054

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1676.70	1667.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	105.03	103.04

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli  April 2 (Bloomberg)

Canadian stocks rose the most in more than five weeks, led by materials and energy shares, after oil and copper advanced on an improving economic and manufacturing outlook in China.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, gained 1.6 percent. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metal producer, gained 3 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest energy company by market value, increased 2.1 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 114.88 points, or 0.9 percent, to 12,507.06 in Toronto, the biggest increase since Feb. 21.

“The numbers that came out today are surprisingly better than most people were thinking,” Gerry Brockelsby, a money manager at Marquest Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees C$250 million ($252 million). “This is just confirmation that China is OK, and if concerns fade, people will get more and more positive about the global economy, which we think is in great shape and improving.”

The benchmark equity gauge rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter as economic data surpassed estimates and investors speculated that the euro area would contain its sovereign-debt crisis. The index fell 2 percent in March, after two straight months of increases.

Canadian materials companies increased for the second straight day, driven by gold and copper, after a measure of manufacturing in China signaled stronger demand. A Purchasing Managers’ Index touched a one-year high of 53.1 last month, China’s logistics federation and the National Bureau of Statistics said. Readings above 50 signal growth.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold-mining company, gained 1.2 percent to C$43.86. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. increased 1.6 percent to C$19.32. Teck Resources Ltd. climbed 3 percent to C$36.67.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX gained as oil rose the most in six weeks. A report showed that manufacturing in the U.S.

expanded at a faster pace than forecast, signaling economic growth in the world’s biggest crude-consuming country.

Canadian Natural Resources increased 2.1 percent to C$33.75. TransCanada Corp., the developer of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, gained 1.1 percent to C$43.29.

Progress Energy Resources Corp., a western Canadian natural gas producer, surged 7.9 percent to C$10.79 after Petroliam Nasional Bhd. said it will make a Canadian acquisition exceeding $5 billion. Petronas agreed in June to pay Progress Energy C$1.07 billion for a 50 percent stake in three Canadian natural gas fields.

“People have made the connection that if Petronas is looking to buy Canadian gas assets, Progress would be where they would look,” Roger Serin, an analyst at TD Newcrest Inc., said in a telephone interview. “They’re likely considering a number of companies, but will look more closely at one they already have a working relationship with.”

Progress isn’t currently in discussions with Petronas regarding any business transactions outside of its joint venture relations, the Calgary-based company said in a statement today.

US

By Michael P. Regan and Lu Wang – Apr 2, 2012

U.S. stocks gained, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index returning to an almost four-year high, and commodities reversed early losses following a report showing stronger-than-forecast growth in American manufacturing. Oil rallied the most in six weeks.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent to close at 1,419.04 at 4 p.m. in New York, adding to its 12 percent first-quarter rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 52.45 points to 13,264.49, the highest since December 2007. The S&P GSCI (SPGSCI) Index rose 1.7 percent as heating oil, gasoline and copper led gains in 19 of 24 commodities. Ten-year Treasury yields lost two basis points to 2.19 percent after decreasing as much as five points.

Stocks and commodities recovered from earlier losses after the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index increased to 53.4 last month and a gauge of factory employment climbed to the highest level since June. The data helped assuage concern about the global economy after earlier reports showed European unemployment rose to a 14-year high in February and manufacturing contracted for an eighth month in March.

“Here in the United States, things have stabilized,” Barry James, who helps oversee $3.3 billion as president of James Investment Research in Xenia, Ohio, said in a telephone interview. “The manufacturing side has been the strength of our economy and the exporting has been huge — that’s what has sustained us the past several years.”

The S&P 500 needs to rise only about 10 percent to reach its previous record high of 1,565.15 set in October 2007. Gains in U.S. stocks todaywere led by producers of raw materials and energy, with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. rallying 2.8 percent and Chevron Corp. rising 1 percent to pace the advance. Avon Products Inc. surged 17 percent after Coty Inc. offered to buy the cosmetics company for $10 billion.

Apple Inc. advanced 3.2 percent after Consumer Reports said on its website that the new iPad’s high-resolution screen provides the best detail and color accuracy of all tablets it has seen.

Groupon Inc. slid 17 percent after the largest provider of daily online deals reported a “material weakness” in its financial controls and said fourth-quarter results were worse than previously stated because of higher refunds to merchants.

The S&P 500 reversed a drop of 0.3 percent in the first hour of trading after the ISM’s factory index topped the median economist forecast of 53. The group’s production gauge climbed to a three-month high and its measure of employment reached the highest level since June.

The best first-quarter gain for the S&P 500 since 1998 sent U.S. stocks above gold by the most in more than a decade, a sign of growing investor confidence in corporate profits as analysts raise earnings estimates for the first time this year.

The S&P 500 climbed 12 percent, 5.3 percentage points more than gold for the widest gap to start a year since 1999, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P GSCI Total Return Index of 24 commodities gained 5.9 percent over the three months, while Treasuries slipped 1.3 percent, trailing equities by the most since 2009. Corporate bonds increased 2.4 percent and the dollar fell 1.6 percent.

Thirty-year Treasury bonds fell today, erasing earlier gains and sending their yield one basis point higher to 3.35 percent. Two-year yields were little changed at 0.33 percent.

The worst is over for the $10 trillion U.S. Treasury market following the biggest quarterly rout since 2010, say Wall Street’s largest bond trading firms.

After rising to as high as 2.4 percent last month from 1.88 percent at the end of 2011, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note will finish 2012 at 2.49 percent, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of the 21 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve. That’s the same as a January poll, suggesting the market isn’t ready to declare a bear market in bonds after a 30-year bull run.

Signs of strength in the economy, which caused a 5.56 percent loss in bonds maturing in 10 years or more last quarter, may fade in the second half of 2012, the dealers say. Tax cuts are expiring, $1 trillion of mandatory federal budget cuts are due to kick in and $100-a-barrel oil is eating into consumer spending. With inflation in check, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that the central bank will consider further stimulus, even after upgrading its economic outlook March 13.

Among commodities tracked by the S&P GSCI index, heating oil, gasoline and nickel surged more than 2.2 percent. Oil for May delivery rose $2.21, or 2.1 percent, to settle at $105.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest gain since Feb. 21.

Commodities also advanced after data showed manufacturing growth in China. A Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to a one-year high of 53.1 in March, China’s logistics federation and the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. The gauge has a pattern of rising each March. The data failed to end predictions for policy loosening as analysts described the gain as seasonal and a separate survey showed exporters struggling.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) increased 1.5 percent as national benchmark gauges in the U.K. and Germany led gains in the region. Among European stocks, Oriflame Cosmetics SA jumped 2.6 percent after Coty’s offer for Avon. Cookson Group Plc jumped 6 percent after the Sunday Times said the company may spin off a unit.

The yield on Italian 10-year bonds dropped one basis point to 5.11 percent, leaving the difference in yield with bunds two basis points lower. The Spanish 10-year yield was little changed at 5.35 percent.

The Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of credit- default swaps tied to the debt of 15 governments dropped 3.2 basis points to 266.75.

The yen appreciated 1 percent versus the euro, while the Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against those of six trading partners, lost 0.2 percent.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.7 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi Index advanced 0.8 percent after the country’s credit rating outlook was raised by Moody’s Investors Service to positive from stable, boosting demand for the nation’s assets.

The FTSE/JSE Africa All Shares Index advanced 1.3 percent in Johannesburg. The ISE National 100 Index added 0.9 percent in Istanbul after Turkish economic growth in the fourth quarter was 5.2 percent, exceeding economists’ estimates.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Ellora Howie

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Hello All,

 

Tangents:

 

Two Cambridge graduates, Ed Moyse and Ross Harper, have come up with a unique way to pay off their student debt: selling their faces. Through their website, www.buymyface.co.uk, the former students sell advertising space on their faces. Companies can “buy” a day, and the two will then paint the company logo on their faces and go about their daily lives. Daily fees originally started at £1, but businesses are now paying up to £400 (approximately $630) due to an increase in popularity and demand. The two have been running this business for 182 days out of a total planned 366 — and they have already raised just over £33,000 (approximately $52,246). What a great example of viral marketing!

 

photos of the day

March 30, 2012

Children from the area of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture perform a Soma region traditional dance during a visit to the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Portugal.
Armando Franca/AP

Sculptures entitled Blue Men, by Ofra Zimbalista, are seen on the wall of a building on Borough High Street in south London.
Toby Melville/Reuters

Market Closes for March 30, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13212.04	+66.22
		+0.50%
S&P 500	1408.47	+5.19
		+0.37%
NASDAQ	3091.57	-3.79
		-0.12%
TSX	12392.18	+52.82
		+0.43%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10083.56	-31.23
		-0.31%
HANG SENG	20555.58	-53.81
		-0.26%
SENSEX	17404.20	+345.59
		+2.03%
FTSE 100	5768.45	+26.42
		+0.46%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.111	2.082
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.656	2.637
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2106	2.1587
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3375	3.2731

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00113	1.00341
US $	0.99887	0.99660
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.33237	0.75054
US $	1.33386	0.74970

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1667.00	1660.10
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	103.04	103.33

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, paring a monthly decline, as commodity producers gained after gold advanced on a weaker dollar and oil rebounded from the year’s biggest drop.

Goldcorp, the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal by market value, increased 1.5 percent. China Gold International Resources Corp. jumped 3.4 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, rose 1.9 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rebounded 52.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,392.18 in Toronto. It fell 2 percent this month after gains of 4.2 percent in January and 1.5 percent in February.

“Everybody’s hoping for a correction, so if there’s a dip, people are buying,” Sebastian van Berkom, a money manager at Van Berkom & Associates in Montreal, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$1.7 billion ($1.7 billion).

“A lot of investors missed the train when it was leaving the station. Every time there’s a check back in the market, they get back in because they have too much cash.  We’re climbing a wall of worry.”

The benchmark equity gauge fell this month as materials and energy shares slipped on signs of slower growth in China and rising crude stockpiles. The index rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter.

Materials companies increased today, driven by metals stocks. Gold completed a quarterly advance, climbing as the U.S. dollar dropped after European finance ministers agreed to increase rescue funds for indebted nations.

Goldcorp gained 1.5 percent to C$44.96. China Gold International Resources increased 3.4 percent to C$4.92.

Copper shares increased on signs of economic expansion in the U.S. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer was at 62.2 in March. Readings greater than 50 signal growth. The metal is set for its biggest quarterly gain since 2010.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, gained 2.6 percent to C$35.61. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia, increased 0.8 percent to C$15.69.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX increased as oil rose after reports showed that U.S. consumer sentiment and spending gained and euro-area finance ministers agreed to boost rescue funds.

Crude oil for May delivery advanced 0.2 percent, for a 4.2 percent gain in the quarter.

Canadian Natural Resources rose 1.9 percent to C$33.06.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd., which operates in Albania, increased 3.5 percent to C$4.12.

 

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, extending the biggest first-quarter advance since 1998 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as stronger-than-forecast growth in consumer sentiment and spending bolstered optimism in the economy.

Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Dow Chemical Co. advanced more than 1.2 percent to pace gains in commodity producers. Walt Disney Co. (DIS), the largest U.S. entertainment company by market value, climbed 1.8 percent after Lazard Ltd. raised its recommendation for the shares. Apple Inc. (AAPL), which has surged 48 percent in the first three months of 2012, retreated 1.7 percent today.

The S&P 500 rose 3.1 percent in March (SPX), rallying for a fourth straight month. The Dow added 2 percent since the end of February, posting a sixth month of gains. Both capped the longest stretches of monthly rallies since 2009.

Over the last 100 years, the Dow advanced 1.3 percent on average in April (INDU) and gained 57 percent of the time, according to data compiled by Bespoke Investment Group. The index rose an average 2.1 percent in April over the last 50 years and 2.9 percent in the past 20 years, the data showed, marking the best month for the Dow in both time frames.

Stocks rose today as Americans increased their spending by the most in seven months, Commerce Department data showed. Another report showed that the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final index of consumer sentiment climbed to 76.2, the highest since February 2011, from 75.3 last month. European (SXXP) governments capped fresh rescue lending at 500 billion euros ($666 billion), after a Germany-led coalition opposed a further expansion of the firewall.

Nine out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 rose today as energy, health-care and consumer-staple companies had the biggest gains. Twenty-seven out of 30 companies in the Dow advanced. Commodity shares gained as the S&P GSCI index of raw materials added 0.7 percent. Halliburton, the world’s largest provider of hydraulic-fracturing services, rose 1.3 percent to $33.19. Dow Chemical, the biggest U.S. chemical maker, increased 1.4 percent to $34.64.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) climbed 3 percent to $31.17. The 4.8 percent drop in the oil and gas company’s shares yesterday after the occurrence of a flash fire at the Williams Partners LP- operated Lathrop compressor station in Pennsylvania was “overblown,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a note. Disney added 1.8 percent, the biggest advance in the Dow, to $43.78 after Lazard raised its recommendation for the shares to buy from neutral. Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) jumped 7.1 percent to $14.70. The maker of BlackBerry smartphones said it plans to refocus on the business market and review strategic options after struggling to compete against Android devices and Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Vivus Inc. (VVUS) gained 5.1 percent to $22.36 and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNA) rose 1.2 percent to $3.08. The biopharmaceutical companies, which are competing to win U.S. regulatory approval for weight-loss treatments, probably won’t be affected by an advisory panel’s recommendation for heart-risk studies, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said.

Financial shares, which had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 among 10 groups this quarter, swung between gains and losses today before closing 0.5 percent high. The KBW Bank Index rose 0.3 percent today, after falling as much as 0.8 percent earlier.

Technology shares, which comprise 21 percent of the S&P 500, had the only decline among 10 industries today. The group had the second-biggest advance in the S&P 500 this quarter, surging 21 percent.

Apple, the most valuable technology (S5INFT) company, lost 1.7 percent to $599.55. An audit of Foxconn Technology Group, the biggest maker of Apple devices, found “serious and pressing” violations of Chinese labor laws, prompting the company to pledge to cut working hours and give employees more oversight.

The S&P 500 ended the first quarter 3.4 percent above the 1,362 mean year-end projection of strategists surveyed by Bloomberg. The index slumped 0.9 percent over the previous three days on concern this year’s rally has outpaced prospects for economic growth.

“The best of 2012 is probably behind us,” Alan Brown, chief investment officer at Schroders Plc, said in a telephone interview from London. His firm oversees $291 billion. “We’ve had a very substantial rally. I’m not sure where the fresh round of good news comes from that we haven’t already discounted in today’s prices. I’m rather more cautious at the present time.”

Profit margins are poised to start falling in the U.S. as they have worldwide, according to Pierre Lapointe, Brockhouse & Cooper Inc.’s global macro strategist. Shrinking margins may weigh on earnings in the next few quarters and hurt stocks, the report said.

S&P 500 margins have narrowed by 0.2 percentage point this year, to 13.8 percent. The comparable declines for companies in the European (SXXP) and Japanese benchmarks are 2 points and 0.9 point, respectively.“Corporate America can no longer rely on cost-cutting,” Lapointe wrote in a report with colleagues Alex Bellefleur and Frances Donald. “The only way to grow the bottom line will be to grow the top line” by increasing sales, the Montreal-based strategist wrote.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Nadia Aziz

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Hello All,

 

You may have noticed in Carolann’s last newsletter, Carolann and Gary have gone to Japan for a week. As we all wish them bon voyage and sayonara Nadia and I will be filling in for the daily newsletter.

 

Tangents:

Coffee is the second most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water. However researchers have often called into question its nutritional value, putting it on the balanced breakfast no-no list. But according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, coffee may not only be not bad for you, but it might actually have positive heath effects.

In fact, evidence is mounting that coffee drinkers may be less likely to suffer from numerous chronic diseases. The National Post reports:

 

Much of its controversy stems from the fact that, not only does coffee contain caffeine — in and of itself a challenge to study — but numerous compounds such as caffeic acid and magnesium, some of which act as antioxidants, while others improve blood pressure control or insulin sensitivity over time. Some of coffee’s benefits could also arise after habitual consumption: There is evidence our bodies adapt to coffee, and our metabolic response changes over time. Add to that the myriad ways to prepare coffee (drip, boiled, espresso, etc.), each of which affects coffee’s properties, and there are enough potential complicating factors to leave researchers with a headache that could rival a coffee-lover’s in withdrawal. –Jennifer Sygo

 

 

As an avid coffee drinking myself (I practically main-lined the bean beverage while writing papers in school) I can’t help but smile as I sip my double-shot venti latte.

 

You can read more at: http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/cutting-through-the-coffee-confusion-a-few-cups-of-joe-may-do-some-good/

 

photos of the day

March 29, 2012

In Rome, a woman pushes her Fiat 500 car as her dog sits inside. – Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Macedonian paraplegic athlete Mile Stojkoski pushes himself on a highway in Belgrade, Serbia, during a marathon from his native town of Krusevo, Macedonia, to the London Olympics. Stojkoski will travel a total of 2,175 miles to raise awareness about people with disabilities.- Marko Djurica/Reuters

Market Closes for March 29, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13145.82	+19.61
		+0.15%
S&P 500	1403.28	-2.26
		-0.16%
NASDAQ	3095.36	-9.6
		-0.31%
TSX	12339.36	-74.50
		-0.60%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10114.79	-67.78
		-0.67%
HANG SENG	20609.39	-276.03
		-1.32%
SENSEX	17058.61	-63.01
		-0.37%
FTSE 100	5742.03	-66.96
		-1.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.082	2.120
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.637	2.667
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1587	2.1997
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2731	3.3102

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00341	1.00476
US $	0.99660	0.99526
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32563	0.75436
US $	1.33015	0.75179

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1660.10	1657.90
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	103.33	105.41

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli – Mar 29, 2012 12:19 PM PT- Canadian stocks fell the most in more than three weeks, led by raw material and energy shares, as gold declined on slowing demand in India and oil dropped as governments discussed releasing strategic reserves.

Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the world’s largest gold-mining company, fell 1.3 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU), Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 0.7 percent. Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (BIR), a western Canadian oil and gas producer, plunged 25 percent after saying it’s no longer seeking a buyer after turning down two bids.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (SPTSX) retreated 121.51 points, or 1 percent, to 12,292.35 at 2:59 p.m. in Toronto, after falling 1.8 percent, the most intraday since March 6.

“Commodities are once again leading us down, even though commodity prices themselves, on an absolute basis, continue to be at very, very profitable levels for companies,” Barry Schwartz, a money manager at Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$400 million ($400 million). “The market seems to be telling us that we’re in for a rough time going forward in terms of Europe, China and demand for these commodities.”

The benchmark equity gauge has fallen 1.8 percent in March through yesterday, heading for its first monthly decline of the year, as materials and energy shares have slipped on signs of slower growth in China and rising crude stockpiles.

Materials companies fell for the third straight day on concern that demand for raw materials may fall after U.S. jobless claims exceeded forecasts.

Commodities also fell after Moritz Kraemer, the head of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s, said Greece probably will have to restructure its debt again, adding to global growth concerns. A jeweler strike in India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, extended to 13 days, reducing demand for the precious metal.

China Gold International Resources Corp. decreased 1.5 percent to C$4.69 after Credit Suisse lowered the shares to neutral from outperform, meaning the firm expects the stock to be in line with a relevant benchmark over the next 12 months. Barrick, the world’s largest gold-mining company, fell 1.3 percent to C$42.58.

Mercator Minerals Ltd. (ML), a copper and molybdenum producer, dropped 3.6 percent to C$1.36. Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK/B), Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, declined 1.5 percent to C$34.05.

Energy companies in the S&P/TSX declined, led by oil shares, as U.S. equities retreated and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the prospects are good for an accord between the U.S. and Europe to tap strategic reserves to curb price gains.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 0.7 percent to C$32.27. Trican Well Service Ltd. (TCW), Canada’s largest oil and gas services company, fell 5.1 percent to C$14.33. The shares were cut to buy from action list buy at Toronto-Dominion Bank. (TD)

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. plummeted 25 percent to C$6.67 after rejecting verbal and written offers in response to its Oct. 3 sale announcement. The Calgary-based company is no longer for sale, it said in a statement today.

Financial shares also declined on S&P’s Greece restructuring outlook and higher-than-forecast U.S. jobless claims. Royal Bank of Canada (RY), the country’s largest lender by assets, declined 1.6 percent to C$57.82. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender, dropped 1.2 percent to C$84.03.

US

By Stephen Kirkland and Rita Nazareth – Mar 29, 2012- The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) trimmed losses in the final two hours of trading ahead of data forecast to show growth in consumer confidence and spending tomorrow, the final day of the best first-quarter rally since 1998. Treasuries and the dollar rose, while oil tumbled.

The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.2 percent to close at 1,403.28 at 4 p.m. in New York after tumbling as much as 1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 19.61 points to 13,145.82. The yen appreciated against all 16 most-traded peers and the dollar climbed versus 11. Ten-year Treasury yields fell five basis points to 2.16 percent, while Italian and Spanish bonds slid. Oil lost 2.5 percent, the biggest drop of the year, as France said governments are moving closer to releasing stockpiles from emergency reserves.

U.S. benchmark equity indexes recovered from their lows of the session, with the Dow reversing a 94-point loss, amid speculation a three-day slump was overdone given improving economic data and as investors prepared for the final session of the quarter. More than $5.6 trillion has been added to equity values worldwide this year on signs of a U.S. economic recovery and efforts to contain Europe’s debt crisis.

“The market’s momentum is decidedly upward,” David Sowerby, a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles & Co., which oversees about $160 billion, said in a phone interview. “The decline that we’ve had is normal after the run-up in stocks. The better economic news is winning a tug- of-war with any concerns about the economy.” U.S. stocks followed global equities lower earlier after S&P said Greece may have to restructure its debt again and lower-than-forecast profits fueled concern China’s growth is slowing.

Alcoa Inc., Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Coca-Cola Co. climbed more than 1.5 percent for the biggest gains in the Dow. Red Hat Inc. surged 20 percent to a 12-year high of $61.43 after profit and sales topped projections. Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. (CI) added at least 4 percent as investors speculated the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn aspects of the Affordable Care Act, benefitting the health-insurance industry.

Best Buy Co. (BBY), the largest consumer-electronics retailer, slumped 7 percent as sales missed estimates. American Express Co. (AXP), the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, dropped 2 percent as Wells Fargo & Co. cut its recommendation on the shares.

The S&P 500 has retreated for three straight days after reaching an almost four-year high on March 26. The index will likely remain stuck in the 500-point range where it’s been four- fifths of the time since 2000 until the Federal Reserve allows interest rates to rise, according to Piper Jaffray Cos.

The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks has traded between 1,000 and 1,500 for about 80 percent of the time since 2000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Equity gains stalled in the past 12 years as the economy suffered from the bursting of bubbles in technology and real estate, forcing the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate to near zero from 6.5 percent to spur growth. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has pledged to keep borrowing costs low through at least late 2014.

“The S&P 500 is approaching the upper end of the secular trading range,” Craig W. Johnson, a Minneapolis-based technical market strategist with Piper Jaffray, wrote in a note yesterday. “This resistance will likely remain intact until 2014-2015, and will correspond with a secular change in bond yields.”

Thirty-year U.S. bonds also rallied today, sending their yield down four basis points to 3.27 percent. Rates on two-year notes slipped one basis point to 0.34 percent. Treasuries remained higher after the U.S. auctioned $29 billion in U.S. seven-year securities, the last of three note offerings this week totaling $99 billion. The notes drew a yield of 1.590 percent, compared with a forecast of 1.572 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of nine of the Federal Reserve’s primary dealers.

S&P 500 futures extended losses before the open of exchanges in New York today as government data showed initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 359,000 last week, the lowest since April 2008 while above the 350,000 median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The government data also contained revisions dating back to 2007.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer confidence is forecast to rise to 74.5 in March, near the highest level in a year, after a preliminary reading of 74.3, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Personal income is projected to have grown 0.4 percent and consumer spending rose 0.6 percent, economists predicted before government data tomorrow.

The economy in the U.S. grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2011, the same as previously estimated, while corporate profits climbed at the slowest pace in three years, raising the risk that business investment and hiring will cool.

The increase in gross domestic product was the biggest in more than a year and followed a 1.8 percent gain in the prior period, revised figures from the Commerce Department showed today. Company earnings were up 0.9 percent from the third quarter, the smallest advance since the last three months of 2008.

About ten shares fell for every one that advanced in the Stoxx 600 (SXXP). Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, slid 4.9 percent as increased textile costs and markdowns led to the weakest profitability in eight years. Banks led declines among 19 industries, falling 2.9 percent as a group. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Italy’s third- biggest bank, tumbled 11 percent after posting a record loss. FirstGroup Plc, Britain’s biggest train operator, sank 14 percent amid “challenging trading conditions” at its bus unit.

In European bond markets, rates on 10-year Italian, Spanish and Portuguese debt climbed at least 10 basis points. The Italian 10-year bond yield rose 11 basis points to 5.21 percent even as borrowing costs fell at the sale of 3.25 billion euros ($4.3 billion) of bonds due in September 2022. The yield on similar-maturity German bunds, Europe’s benchmark government security, fell three basis points to 1.81 percent.

Greece will probably have to restructure its debt again and this may involve bailout partners such as European governments, said Moritz Kraemer, head of sovereign ratings at S&P.

European governments are preparing for a one-year increase in the ceiling on rescue aid to 940 billion euros to keep the debt crisis at bay, according to a draft statement written for finance ministers before a meeting in Copenhagen tomorrow. The European Union had its AAA long-term issuer default rating affirmed by Fitch Ratings, which cited the support from the EU’s 27 member states, nine of which are rated AAA by Fitch. The outlook is stable.

Oil fell to a six-week low of $102.78 a barrel in New York, extending yesterday’s 1.8 percent decline. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the prospects of an accord on tapping strategic reserves are good and the International Energy Agency said it’s ready to act if supplies are disrupted.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slumped 1.6 percent after China’s PICC Property & Casualty Co., Sany Heavy Industry Co. and Zijin Mining Group Co. reported net income that trailed estimates.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) lost 1.1 percent. Russia’s Micex tumbled 1.7 percent as oil retreated. Benchmark gauges in Taiwan, Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic sank at least 1.4 percent.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone!

 

 

Ellora Howie

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

I turned on the radio this morning to Classical King FM and was greeted by the most beautiful music.  It was appropriately enough the orchestral composition, Spring, by Alexander Glazunov followed by Antonio Vivaldi’s magic.    But nothing compares to the  sound of the birds in the early mornings this time of year – creating the most beautiful sounds of all.  The birth and renewal that characterizes this special season…. next week will see many people in the world contemplating this rebirth through celebrations and commemorations, Easter, Passover…

We are off to Japan tomorrow for a week, so I wish you and yours a very happy time gathering with family and friends in the days ahead.

photos of the day

March 28, 2012

Men throw water onto a woman as part of traditional Easter celebrations during a media presentation in the World Heritage village of Holloko, Hungary. The traditional ‘watering of the girls’ is a Hungarian tribal fertility ritual rooted in the area’s pre-Christian past.

Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

A bumble bee in search of nectar lands on the blossom of an azalea near Springville, Ala.

Joe Songer/The Birmingham News/AP

Market Closes for March 28, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13126.21	-71.52
		-0.54%
S&P 500	1405.54	-6.98
		-0.49%
NASDAQ	3104.96	-15.39
		-0.49%
TSX	12413.86	-98.18
		-0.78%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10182.57	-72.58
		-0.71%
HANG SENG	20885.42	-161.49
		-0.77%
SENSEX	17121.62	-135.74
		-0.79%
FTSE 100	5808.99	-60.56
		-1.03%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.120	2.124
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.667	2.671
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1997	2.1836
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3102	3.2975

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00172	1.00476
US $	0.99828	0.99526
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32966	0.75207
US $	1.33195	0.75078

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1657.90	1679.80
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	105.41	106.79

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks declined the most in two weeks, led by materials and energy shares, after orders for U.S. durable goods rose less than projected in February.

Goldcorp Inc. decreased 0.9 percent as a strike by jewelers in India curbed demand. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, fell 3 percent on indications that demand for the metal is weakening in China.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, declined 1.6 percent after U.S. oil inventories climbed the most in 20 months last week.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 98.18 points, or 0.8 percent, to 12,413.86 in Toronto for the biggest decline since March 14.

“In Canada, energy and materials are two of the most economically sensitive sectors,” Pat McHugh, senior managing director and Canadian equity strategist at Manulife Financial Corp.’s asset-management unit, said in a telephone interview.

The unit oversees about $217 billion. “Anything that indicates a weakness in the economy, whether consumer or capital goods related, would impact them negatively. I’m not surprised they’re taking it on the chin today.”

The benchmark equity gauge increased 0.4 percent this week through yesterday after rising to a three-week high on Monday, led by commodity producers. The index fell 1 percent in March through yesterday, heading for its first monthly decline of the year, as materials and energy shares have declined due to growing concern that demand may slow in China and rising crude stockpiles.

Canadian gold companies declined as futures fell for a second straight day after a trade group said jewelers in India, the world’s biggest buyer, will extend a nationwide strike until the government withdraws a levy on non-branded products.

Goldcorp, the world’s second-biggest gold producer by market value, decreased 0.9 percent to C$44.45. Jaguar Mining Inc., which produces gold in Brazil, dropped 6.1 percent to C$4.78.

Copper shares dropped as the metal fell the most in three weeks after Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s top producer, recorded an 18 percent decline in second-half 2011 profit and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its three-month outlook for raw materials.

First Quantum Minerals fell 3 percent to C$18.27. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia, decreased 3.6 percent to C$15.52.

Energy companies in the S&P/TSX fell for a second day after U.S. oil inventories increased 7.1 million barrels to 353.4 million, the most since July 2010 and more than twice the gain predicted in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Oil also fell after French Industry Minister Eric Besson said the U.S. proposed releasing oil from strategic reserves.

Canadian Natural Resources declined 1.6 percent to C$32.83.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, decreased 1.3 percent to C$32.47.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 28 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down for a second day, as a slump in crude oil drove energy producers lower and government data showed that orders for durable goods rose less than forecast.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. paced losses in 42 out of 43 energy companies in the S&P 500 as oil slumped following an increase in supplies. The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy lost 1.6 percent as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the recovery isn’t assured. Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc. slid more than 2.2 percent. Financial shares had the only gain among 10 S&P 500 groups as Bank of America Corp. rallied 1.6 percent.

The S&P 500 slid 0.5 percent to 1,405.54 at 4 p.m. New York time. While the benchmark gauge has lost 0.8 percent in two days, it rebounded from its intraday low of 1,397.20 in the final two hours of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 71.52 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,126.21 today.

“Investor jitters have been heightened by another economic report coming in a bit light and by the Fed chairman suggesting the economy may be vulnerable to another period of turbulence,” said James Paulsen, who helps oversee about $333 billion as chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management. “The selloff is also being fueled by a collapse in energy stocks. After such a significant advance in the market, investors are already worried about a correction.”

Today’s loss pared this month’s rally in the S&P 500 to 2.9 percent. The index is still poised for the best first quarter since 1998, up 12 percent. Financial and technology shares have risen the most among 10 groups, surging more than 21 percent so far in 2012.

Stocks fell today after a Commerce Department report showed that bookings for goods meant to last at least three years advanced 2.2 percent, less than projected after a revised 3.6 percent decline the prior month. Bernanke said unemployment remains too high, the economic recovery isn’t guaranteed and policy makers don’t rule out any further options to boost growth.

“It’s far too early to declare victory,” Bernanke said, according to a transcript of last night’s interview with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer provided by the network. “The recent news has been good. But I think we need to be cautious and make sure this is sustainable. And we haven’t quite yet got to the point where we can be completely confident that we’re on a track to full recovery.”

Energy and raw-material producers had the biggest losses in the S&P 500 among 10 groups, falling at least 1.2 percent. Crude oil for May delivery tumbled 1.8 percent to $105.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Exxon slipped 0.9 percent to $85.86. Occidental Petroleum dropped 3.6 percent to $94.85.

Coal producers slipped. U.S. electricity generators are on track to burn 22 percent less coal this year than in 2011, said Lucas Pipes, an analyst at Brean Murray Carret & Co. in New York, citing data published in Coal & Energy Price Report, an industry newsletter. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. fell 4.2 percent to $14.87. Peabody Energy Corp. declined 3.4 percent to $28.83.

Concern about the economy weighed on companies whose earnings are most-dependent on growth. Alcoa retreated 2.3 percent to $9.83. Caterpillar lost 3.5 percent to $104.26.

Walt Disney Co. dropped 1.5 percent to $43.51. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is taking steps to start a national U.S. sports network on cable television aimed at challenging Disney’s ESPN, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

A123 Systems Inc. plunged 13 percent to $1.22, the lowest price since it went public in 2009. The battery maker may be unable to raise capital and could lose contracts as a result of its recall of defective packs sent to customers, a Deutsche Bank AG analyst said.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell 10 percent to $2.92 in its biggest drop since August. The biotechnology company was cut to neutral from overweight at Piper Jaffray Cos., which cited the share price. The stock had gained 85 percent from March 16 through yesterday.

The KBW Bank Index rallied 1.1 percent as 22 of its 24 stocks gained. Bank of America increased 1.6 percent to $9.75 after the lender slumped 3.3 percent yesterday.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. added 3.2 percent to $71.20 after saying it expects its $29.1 billion takeover by Express Scripts Inc. to close as soon as next week. Express Scripts will probably get a Federal Trade Commission ruling on the deal as early as March 30, said two people familiar with the case who declined to be identified because the review is private. Express Scripts increased 1.3 percent to $53.89.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. surged 54 percent, the most in the Russell 1000 Index, to $23.77. The maker of the diabetes drug Bydureon rejected a $3.5 billion unsolicited takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. earlier this year, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Pentair Inc. rallied 15 percent to $46.32. The maker of Everpure water filters agreed to combine with the Tyco International Ltd. division that makes valves and other flow- control instruments in a deal that values Tyco Flow at $4.53 billion. Tyco increased 4.3 percent to $55.81.

U.S. companies are better positioned for “cashing out” shareholders than at any other time in more than half a century, according to Myles Zyblock, chief institutional strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

Corporate cash increased by more than $200 billion in each of the past three years, including a $340.9 billion surge last year. Companies are poised to sustain the growth rate in their “cash mountain,” Zyblock wrote two days ago in a report.

Many companies are raising more money through bond sales because interest rates are low, the Toronto-based strategist wrote. The yield on a Moody’s Investors Service index of Baa rated corporate debt has averaged 5.2 percent this quarter, about 0.9 percentage point less than a year earlier.

Increased cash and relatively cheap debt financing will lead to growth in dividends as well as stock repurchases, the report said.

Health-care and technology companies have the most room to lift payouts and buy back more shares, Zyblock wrote. The groups have the highest percentage of cash to assets for non-financial companies, based on figures for the S&P 500 that he cited.

Energy producers are another possibility, he added, because they have relatively little debt.

 

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

If you are in the moment, you are in the infinite.

-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.  The friends

who listen to us are the ones we move toward.  When we are listened to,

it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.

-Shel Silverstein, 1930-1999

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I was reading an interesting story in The New York Times this past Sunday morning… It was about a couple of beekeepers from upstate New York who were hired to begin producing honey on the roof of the Whitney Museum which is located on the Upper East Side.  The idea was inspired by the museum’s director after learning that the Tate museums around the world are doing the same thing as is the Louvre in Paris.  They are selling the honey in their shops in addition to the art books and other paraphernalia that helps the income stream.  What I found fascinating was the comment by one of the beekeepers that the honey is actually better than from the rural area in which they live and keep 9 hives.  The reason being that there are less pesticides used in urban areas than in rural agricultural areas.  Just amazing to me….also thinking about the future possibilities for roof tops in urban areas.  It would be fabulous if all that vacant roof-top real estate was rendered useful by replacing some of the natural world left diminished by development.

Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World.
You run out of time (and quit).
You run out of money (and quit).
You get scared (and quit).
You’re not serious about it (and quit).
You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).
-Seth Godin

photos of the day

March 27, 2012

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the six-floor Titanic Belfast building tells the story of the Titanic from the ship’s construction in Belfast to her sinking in the Atlantic on her maiden voyage one hundred years ago. The building opens to the public in April.

David Moir/Reuters

A red carpet leads the way to the UK film premiere of ‘Titanic 3D’ at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, west London. The re-launch of the 3D version comes 15 years after the film was a huge box office hit.

Joel Ryan/AP

Market Closures for March 27, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13197.3	-43.90
		-0.33%
S&P 500	1412.52	-3.99
		-0.28%
NASDAQ	3120.35	-2.22
		-0.07%
TSX	12512.04	-62.75
		-0.50%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10255.15	+236.91
		+2.36%
HANG SENG	21046.91	+378.05
		+1.83%
SENSEX	17257.36	+204.58
		+1.20%
FTSE 100	5869.55	-33.15
		-0.56%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.124	2.189
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.671	2.721
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.1836	2.2479
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2975	3.3391

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00476	1.00878
US $	0.99526	0.99129
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32557	0.75439
US $	1.33188	0.75082

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1679.80	1689.60
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.79	107.12

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 27 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell from a three- week high as oil producers retreated after a U.S. Energy Department official said the U.S. may release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Nexen Inc., an energy producer with operations on five continents, fell 2.6 percent. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s fourth-biggest gold producer by market value, declined 2.6 percent. First Quantum Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest publicly traded copper producer, fell 1.9 percent.

Centerra Gold Inc. plunged 15 percent after cutting its output forecast.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 62.75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,512.04 in Toronto.

“The financials have shown some improvement, but we counter that against weakness we continue to see in oil and gas,” Andrew Pyle, an associate money manager on a Bank of Nova Scotia team that oversees about C$200 million ($200 million), said in a phone interview. “For the last couple of weeks we’ve been seeing decent movements in the price of oil without really a commensurate improvement in the oil and gas sector.”

The index slipped 0.3 percent last week as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and gold fell to a 10-week low before rebounding on March 23. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX fell, driven by oil shares, after Charles McConnell, the acting assistant secretary for fossil energy, said a release from the reserve is “being considered.”

Nexen Inc. fell 2.6 percent to C$18.08. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., which explores for oil in Colombia, decreased 2.4 percent to C$28.44.

Canadian materials companies fell after two days of increases on concern that an index of property values that showed the drop in U.S. house prices is slowing may undermine the case for more Federal Reserve economic stimulus.

Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-biggest gold producer by market value, declined 2.6 percent to C$9.84. Centerra Gold plummeted 15 percent to C$13.70 after cutting production forecasts at its flagship Kyrgyz mine by a third because of access delays caused by ice movement.

First Quantum fell 1.9 percent to C$18.84. Inmet Mining Corp., which produces copper, gold and zinc, dropped 2.7 percent to C$55.88.

The S&P/TSX has declined 1 percent in March after gaining

4.2 percent in January and rising 1.5 percent in February.

“This has not been an impressive month for the TSX,” said Pyle. “We’re not seeing the same improvement we saw in January and February.”

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 27 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks retreated as a report showing American consumer confidence near the strongest level in a year failed to encourage investors after the Standard & Poor’s

500 Index advanced to an almost four-year high.

Losses accelerated in the final 15 minutes of trading as financial companies slumped. Bank of America Corp. lost 3.3 percent as Robert W. Baird & Co. cut its rating. Apollo Group Inc. fell 8.5 percent on new enrollment concern. Homebuilder Lennar Corp. surged 4.7 percent amid better-than-estimated earnings. Pfizer Inc. added 1.5 percent as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised the possibility of a full breakup of the company.

The S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,412.52 at 4 p.m. New York time, after rising 1.7 percent in two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 43.90 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,197.73. About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S.

exchanged today, or 8.8 percent below the three-month average.

“There’s maybe some short-term vulnerability, but it doesn’t really dent my longer-term optimism,” said Liz Ann Sonders, the New York-based chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab Corp. Her firm has $1.81 trillion in client assets. “We had a huge day yesterday. So, it’s not a big surprise not to see an immediate follow-through.”

The S&P 500 yesterday erased last week’s loss. The index rose 3.4 percent in March, poised for a fourth straight monthly gain, the longest winning streak since 2009. It trades for 14.6 times reported earnings, the highest valuation level since July while below the average since 1954 of 16.4.

The Conference Board’s confidence index dropped to 70.2 from a revised 71.6 reading in February that was higher than initially reported. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a decrease to 70. The S&P/Case- Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, after decreasing 4.1 percent in December.

“The trend of economic data has been improving and that’s helped provide a better backdrop for investors to feel comfortable putting money into stocks,” Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group in Westport, Connecticut, which oversees $650 million, said in a telephone interview. “Yet we really haven’t seen much in terms of profit taking. It could be choppy.”

Seven out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 fell. Financial shares had the biggest decline among 10 industries, dropping 1 percent. Bank of America dropped 3.3 percent to $9.60 after being downgraded to neutral at Robert W. Baird. The 12-month share-price estimate is $10.

Apollo Group slumped 8.5 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $39.54. Co-Chief Executive Officer Gregory Cappelli told investors on a conference call that new enrollments will continue to be “volatile.” Credit Suisse Group AG cut its recommendation for the shares to neutral.

A measure of homebuilders in S&P indexes gained 2.9 percent. Lennar rallied 4.7 percent to $27.63. Net income for the three months ended Feb. 29 fell to $15 million, or 8 cents a share, from $27.4 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier. Lennar was expected to earn about 5 cents a share, the average estimate of 20 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Pfizer climbed 1.5 percent, the most in the Dow, to $22.50.

The shares have increased 8.3 percent since July 6, the day before Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said the New York-based company was exploring strategic alternatives for its animal health and nutrition businesses.

Read, at a recent meeting with Goldman analysts, indicated he may be willing to further split up the company after selling or spinning off those two units, Jami Rubin, a Goldman Sachs analyst, wrote in a note to investors.

American International Group Inc. advanced 2.1 percent to

$29.67 after Deutsche Bank AG said the insurer may repurchase

$20 billion of stock in the next 12 months.

Walgreen Co. added 1.3 percent to $34.80. The largest U.S.

drugstore chain reported second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after new grocery and household items boosted sales.

Opnext Inc. surged 53 percent, the most in the Russell 2000 Index, to $1.73. The maker of optical components for communications networks will be purchased by Oclaro Inc. in an all-stock deal. Holders of Fremont, California-based Opnext will get 0.42 shares of Oclaro stock, or about $1.96, for every Opnext share they own.

JDS Uniphase Corp. gained 3.3 percent to $14.79 and Finisar Corp. advanced 3.8 percent to $20.14 after Jefferies & Co. said they may gain market share while Opnext and Oclaro integrate their businesses.

The S&P 500 has climbed 12 percent since the end of last year, poised for the best first quarter since 1998, amid better- than-forecast earnings and economic data. Financial companies and computer makers rose the most among 10 groups, surging at least 21 percent so far in 2012.

Peter Lee, the New York-based chief technical analyst for UBS AG, said fund managers’ purchases of the best-performing stocks at the end of the quarter are likely to push the S&P 500 toward his 2012 target range of 1,440 to 1,450 sooner than the second half of the year, as he had anticipated.

The S&P 500 would need to rise 1.7 percent to reach 1,440 from yesterday’s closing level of 1,416.51. A failure of the benchmark index to hold gains above these levels may trigger a pullback of 5 percent to 10 percent, he said.

“When the quarter has been extremely strong, these institutional investors are pressured or motivated to dress up their portfolios to show clients that they actively participated in the marketplace during the quarter,” Lee wrote in a note yesterday. “The focus on momentum stocks and sectors leaves the overall market vulnerable for a correction.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Contemplation is seeing the here and now.

-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

 

Carolann

Follow your honest convictions and stay strong.

-William Thackeray, 1811-1863

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear  Friends,

 

Tangents: Well I finally watched Mad Men for the very first time last night, the season’s premiere.  I very seldom watch television except for the BBC news every night, but I was curious because of the societal impact this show appears to be having, from cocktails to fashion.   About halfway through, Gary asked me what I thought, and I said, it’s like a daytime soap opera.  He said he agreed but he had actually liked Dynasty better, so we switched the channel to the BBC.

 

I read  a  short book yesterday entitled Here is New York by E.B. White (published by The Little Bookroom, NY).  It is a reissue of the one originally published in 1949, with a new introduction by his step-son, Roger Angell.

 

“In the summer of 1948, E.B. White sat in a New York City hotel room and, sweltering in the summer heat, wrote a remarkable, pristine essay, Here is New York.

Perceptive, funny, and nostalgic, the author’s stroll around Manhattan – with the reader arm-in-arm – remains the quintessential love letter to the city, written by one of America’s foremost literary figures.

Like most of White’s prose (his essays, his ‘Talk of the Town’ columns, The Elements of Style), this book is of modest length.  Yet, like Charlotte’s Web, it speaks more eloquently about what lasts and what really matters than other, more expansive pieces.

The New York Times has chosen Here is New York as one of the ten best books ever written about the grand metropolis.  The New Yorker calls it ‘the wittiest essay, and one of the most perceptive, ever done on the city.’

This edition of Here is New York marks the 100^th anniversary of E.B. White’s birth, and appears with a new introduction by Roger Angell.” –from the publisher.

If you love New York like me, you will love this little book.

photos of the day

March 26, 2012

People take a stroll in the garden of Schwetzingen Castle in Schwetzingen, Germany.

Ronald Wittek/dapd/AP

People walk along a tidal causeway in the town of Peel on the Isle of Man. The British Isles have seen a spell of particularly warm weather over the past few days.

Raphael Satter/AP

 

Market Closures for March 26, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13241.63	+160.90
		+1.23%
S&P 500	1416.51	+19.40
		+1.39%
NASDAQ	3122.57	+54.65
		+1.78%
TSX	12574.79	+109.13
		+0.88%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10018.24	+6.77
		+0.07%
HANG SENG	20668.86	+0.06
		–%
SENSEX	17052.78	-308.96
		-1.78%
FTSE 100	5902.70	+47.81
		0.82%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.189	2.179
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.721	2.717
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2479	2.2317
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3391	3.3051

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00878	1.00215
US $	0.99129	0.99785
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32411	0.75522
US $	1.33574	0.74865

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1689.60	1662.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	107.12	106.81

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 26 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to a three- week high, led by commodity producers, as investors speculated that the European Union will increase the size of its bailout fund and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said accommodative monetary policy is still needed to reduce U.S. unemployment.

San Gold Corp., the developer of a project in Manitoba, advanced 6.4 percent. Yamana Gold Inc., Canada’s third-largest producer by market value, gained 1.5 percent. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, rose 1 percent, as oil erased an earlier loss after Bernanke’s comments. Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., which operates in Peru and Mexico, plunged 9.2 percent after it reported a fourth-quarter loss.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 109.13 points, or 0.9 percent, to 12,574.79 in Toronto.

“Commodities have clearly been pushing the market higher,” Brian Huen, a managing partner at Red Sky Capital Management Ltd. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$55 million ($55 million). “You’re seeing oil prices firm up and you’re seeing a rally in gold today. The rally in gold is mainly driven by Bernanke’s comments that the job market in the U.S. isn’t recovering as quickly as he’d like it to.”

The index slipped 0.3 percent last week as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and gold fell to a 10-week low before rebounding on March 23. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Materials stocks in the S&P/TSX gained after Bernanke said that while he’s encouraged by the unemployment rate’s drop to 8.3 percent, further improvement in the job market will require continuing the central bank’s stimulative monetary policies.

Commodities also increased after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany may back plans for the temporary and permanent euro-area rescue funds to run in parallel. European finance ministers will meet on March 30 to discuss raising a 500 billion-euro ($664 billion) ceiling on the region’s financial firewall.

San Gold advanced 6.4 percent to C$1.50. Yamana Gold gained 1.5 percent C$16.16. Suncor advanced 1 percent to C$33.12.

Fortuna Silver Mines dropped 9.2 percent to C$5.60 after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of $1.2 million. Excluding some items, the company broke even, missing the the 8.4 cent average of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The results were hurt by higher tax rates in Peru, Trevor Turnbull, an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, said in a telephone interview.

Financial stocks in the S&P/TSX rose. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, advanced 1.2 percent to C$58.67. Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services Inc. increased 2.5 percent to C$31.10.

“This market strength could last for a little while longer,” said Huen. “The Canadian markets have lagged the U.S. markets year-to-date, so you could see a bit of a catch-up.”

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., Canada’s largest engineering and construction company, rose 5.2 percent to C$41.31, reversing an earlier loss prompted by the resignation of Pierre Duhaime as the company’s chief executive officer after a probe into project payments.

The discovery of incorrectly booked payments does not appear to have caused the loss of any contracts, company executives said in a statement today. SNC-Lavalin isn’t planning legal action against Duhaime, Chairman Gwyn Morgan said on a conference call.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to the highest level since May 2008, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that accommodative monetary policy is still needed to spur jobs.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy rose 1.3 percent. Apple Inc. jumped 1.8 percent to a record as the world’s most-valuable technology company said it plans to increase investment in China. Amazon.com Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. climbed at least 2.2 percent to pace gains among the largest companies. Pfizer Inc. added 1.6 percent as health-care shares rose the most among 10 S&P 500 groups.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.4 percent to 1,416.51 at 4 p.m. New York time, erasing last week’s loss and posting the fourth- biggest gain of 2012. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 160.90 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,241.63 today. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies rallied 1.9 percent to 846.13, the highest level since July. About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, or 6 percent below the three-month average.

“Bernanke is in a difficult situation because the Federal Reserve is mostly relying on the Fed’s speech as opposed to money to move markets,” said David Kelly, who helps oversee about $394 billion as chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds in New York. “What he’s trying to say is that they’re going to be pretty slow to remove stimulus.”

Equities rose as Bernanke said in a speech that while he’s encouraged by the unemployment rate’s decline, the economy still needs help. The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes held in February near an almost two-year high, a sign that the real estate market may be stabilizing.

Gains in stocks were also driven by speculation the European Union will increase the size of its bailout fund.

European finance ministers meet March 30 to discuss raising a 500 billion-euro ($664 billion) ceiling on the region’s financial firewall. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany may back plans for the temporary and permanent euro-area rescue funds to run in parallel.

“Europe took care of a liquidity problem, but the solvency concern still remains,” E. William Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, said in a telephone interview. His firm manages about $107 billion. “Some action to bolster the firewall would be viewed as positive.”

All 10 groups in the S&P 500 rose today as some of the largest companies rallied. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, a proxy for the economy, gained 1.4 percent. The KBW Bank Index added 1.5 percent as 23 of its 24 stocks rose. Amazon.com increased 4 percent to $202.87. JPMorgan climbed 2.2 percent to $46.17.

Apple jumped 1.8 percent to a record $606.98. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited the world’s most populous country, where store openings have trailed a forecast the company made two years ago. Cook had “great meetings” with Chinese officials, Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman, said by phone, without identifying the officials.

A measure of health-care companies in the S&P 500 rose the most among 10 industries, adding 1.7 percent. Pfizer added 1.6 percent to $22.16. Tenet Healthcare Corp. had the second-biggest advance in the S&P 500, adding 5.5 percent to $5.54.

The U.S. Supreme Court opened historic arguments on President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul by debating whether it should rule this year at all. The justices are considering whether an 1867 law bars them from ruling for now on the measure that requires almost every American to get health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared 25 percent to $3.01, the highest level since September 2010. The weight-loss pill maker faces an advisory panel on May 10 as Food and Drug Administration staff said in a report today that obesity treatment manufacturers may need to study the heart risks of their medicines before U.S. regulators weigh approval.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. rallied 5.9 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $75.51. The company’s Sapien device replaces damaged aortic heart valves as well as surgery, without cracking open the chest or triggering higher rates of stroke or death after two years, a company-funded study found.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. added 4.5 percent to $15.18.

“The Hunger Games” collected $155 million in weekend sales in the U.S. and Canada, a record opening for the company and for the month of March.

Safeway Inc. declined 3.4 percent, the biggest loss in the S&P 500, to $20.42. The grocer was cut to neutral from outperform at Credit Suisse Group AG, meaning the firm expects the stock to perform in-line with the market over the next 12 months.

A123 Systems Inc. tumbled 12 percent to $1.49, the lowest price since it went public in September 2009. The company said it’s replacing defective battery packs and modules it supplies to customers, including Fisker Automotive Inc., and that the flaw caused a Fisker Karma to shut down in a Consumer Reports test.

The S&P 500 today erased last week’s 0.5 percent decline and extended its monthly advance to 3.7 percent. The benchmark measure is poised for a fourth straight monthly gain, the longest winning streak since September 2009. The index has risen 13 percent in 2012 amid better-than-estimated economic and corporate data. It trades for 14.6 times reported earnings, below the average since 1954 of 16.4.

Hedge funds trailing the S&P 500 for the last five months are giving up on bearish bets and buying stocks at the fastest rate in two years.

A gauge of hedge-fund bullishness measuring the proportion of bets that shares will rise climbed to 48.6 last week from 42 at the end of November 2011, the biggest increase since April 2010, according to data compiled by the International Strategy & Investment Group. The Bloomberg aggregate hedge fund index gained 1.4 percent last month, lagging behind the S&P 500 by 2.65 percentage points.

Money managers struggling to catch up with the gains have contributed to the rally that pushed the S&P 500 up 27 percent since October.

Market bulls say they are a continuing source of cash that can move stocks higher. Bears say capitulating hedge funds are further evidence that equities have risen too far, too fast as economic growth remains sluggish, warning that the pool of potential buyers is being depleted.

“It’s encouraged me to gradually increase my exposure to stocks,” Barton Biggs, founder of hedge fund Traxis Partners LP in New York, said in a March 23 phone interview, referring to an improving economic outlook. “The shift has occurred gradually in the six or so months since the beginning of October. I’d be inclined to raise my net long further because the potential to the upside would be greater” should the S&P 500 fall 5 percent to 7 percent, he said.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Such awareness is like living with a snake in the room;

you watch its every movement, you are very, very sensitive to the slightest sound it makes.

Such a state of attention is total energy;

in such awareness the totality of yourself is revealed in an instant.

Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never,

ever have enough.
– Oprah Winfrey, 1954-

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:

March 23^rd, 1922, Mahatma Gandhi, at his trial on a charge of sedition:

 

Non-violence is the first article of my faith.  It is the last article of my faith.  But I had to make my choice.  I had either to submit to a system which I considered has done an irreparable harm to my country or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips.  I know that my people have sometimes gone mad.  I am deeply sorry for it;  and I am therefore, here, to submit not to a light penalty but to the highest penalty.  I do not ask for mercy.  I do not plead any extenuating act.  I am here, therefore, to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.  –from The Book of Days.

photos of the day

March 23, 2012

A bird sits on the head of a deer shortly after dawn in south west London.

Toby Melville/Reuters

People relax in the sun near the fountains at Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower as unusually warm temperatures hit Paris.

Charles Platiau/Reuters

 

The secret of health for both mind and body is not mourn for the past, not to worry about the future,

not to anticipate the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.     ~ Buddha

 

Market Closures for March 22, 2012:

North American Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	13080.73	+34.59
		+0.27%
S&P 500	1397.11	+4.33
		+0.31%
NASDAQ	3067.92	+4.6
		+0.15%
TSX	12465.66	+103.85
		+0.84%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	10011.47	-115.61
		-1.14%
HANG SENG	20668.80	-232.76
		-1.11%
SENSEX	17361.74	+165.27
		+0.96%
FTSE 100	5854.89	+9.24
		0.16%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.179	2.199
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.717	2.730
U.S. 10 Year Bond	2.2317	2.2781
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3051	3.3596

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00215	1.0061
US $	0.99785	0.9939
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32420	0.75517
US $	1.32705	0.75355

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1662.00	1645.10
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	106.81	105.53

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 23 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, paring a weekly decline, as precious metal producers rallied after a decline in the U.S dollar spurred demand for gold and silver as alternative investments.

Barrick Gold Corp., the biggest producer of the metal, advanced 1.6 percent. Silver Wheaton Corp., the country’s third- biggest precious metals company by market value, rose 5.3 percent after reporting fourth quarter profit that beat analysts’ average estimate. West Fraser Timber Co., Canada’s largest forestry company, fell 2.2 percent after a U.S. report showed purchases of new homes unexpectedly fell.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 103.85 points, or 0.8 percent, to 12,465.66 in Toronto, reducing its weekly decline to 0.3 percent.

“The dollar is the flipside of commodity prices,” Irwin Michael, a money manager at ABC Funds in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. Michael’s firm oversees C$1 billion ($1 billion). “It doesn’t take very much to cause a move. People are very nervous.”

The index had its fourth-straight weekly decline, the longest slump since November 2011, as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and gold fell to a 10-week low before rebounding today. Energy and raw-materials companies make up 45 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Materials companies increased today, driven by precious metals stocks, as gold advanced the most in four weeks on speculation that investors will buy more bullion as an alternative to the slumping dollar. Gold had dropped 4 percent this month on concern over an economic slowdown in China before rebounding.

Gold futures for April delivery climbed 1.2 percent on the Comex in New York while silver futures for May delivery increased 3 percent, the most since Feb. 28.

Barrick Gold advanced 1.6 percent to C$43.80. Silver Wheaton rose 5.5 percent to C$33.74 after reporting fourth- quarter earnings excluding some items of 41 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 1 cent.

Construction and building materials companies declined after purchases of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in February for a second month, a sign the recovery in the housing market may be uneven. West Fraser Timber, which earned 47 percent of its revenue in the U.S. last year, dropped 2.2 percent to C$48.70.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX increased as oil surged almost

$3 a barrel after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day this month because of tighter sanctions.

Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s second-largest oil company by revenue, rose 2.6 percent to C$45.44. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, increased 1 percent to C$32.80.

US

By Inyoung Hwang

March 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, trimming the biggest weekly drop of the year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as gains in commodity and energy companies amid rising oil prices offset an unexpected decline in new-home purchases.

Material and energy shares each climbed 1 percent, the most among 10 groups in the S&P 500, as crude rose on a report that sanctions will reduce Iranian exports. Chevron Corp. gained 1 percent. Morgan Stanley added 3.8 percent, pacing an advance among financial companies, after it was raised to sector perform by Royal Bank of Canada. Bats Global Markets Inc. withdrew its initial public offering after errors on its own system derailed trading in the stock and forced a halt in Apple Inc.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,397.11 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring the benchmark index’s decline for the week to 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 34.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,080.73 today.

“Energy’s leading and it’s a reflection of the news out of Iran and concerns about a potential shortage of oil,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird, which oversees $85 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The market’s had a big run the first quarter and we could see some sort of consolidation phase, but I don’t see the market vulnerable to any significant correction. Despite the big run in stocks, investor sentiment has been contained.”

U.S. stocks retreated yesterday as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. tumbled amid a disappointing forecast. The S&P 500 is still up 2.3 percent for March, heading for its longest monthly rally since September 2009 as economic data topped forecasts and the European Central Bank disbursed more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to lenders.

At the same time, American equity trading has struggled.

Shares changing hands on all U.S. exchanges slumped 30 percent to 5.9 billion today from last week. The average volume in the past three months has been 6.61 billion, compared with the one- year average of 7.53 billion.

Raw-material and energy companies had the biggest gains out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 today as commodity prices rose. Oil surged almost $3 a barrel after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day because of tighter sanctions.

Alcoa jumped 1 percent to $10.11, while Caterpillar added

1.3 percent to $107.83. Chevron climbed 1 percent to $106.36.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. jumped 3.2 percent to $32.52, while Consol Energy Inc. jumped 2.5 percent to $33.76.

Financial shares advanced 0.9 percent as a group. Morgan Stanley added 3.8 percent to $20.33. The New York-based firm was raised to sector perform from underperform at Royal Bank of Canada. Discover Financial Services climbed 4.1 percent to

$33.83 after the payments network company was raised to conviction buy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The S&P Supercomposite Homebuilding Index fell 1.2 percent.

Stocks declined earlier today after figures from the Commerce Department showed that new-home sales fell 1.6 percent to a

313,000 annual pace, the slowest since October, from a 318,000 rate in January that was weaker than previously reported. The median estimate of 78 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for 325,000.

KB Home, the Los Angeles-based homebuilder that targets first-time buyers, sank 8.5 percent to $10.29. Revenue in the first quarter was $254.6 million, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $328.6 million.

Micron Technology Inc. fell 3.6 percent to $8.40 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500 after reporting a third consecutive quarterly loss as sluggish demand for personal computers dragged down chip prices.

“There’s a little bit of nervousness this week,” Nick Sargen, chief investment officer at Fort Washington Investment Advisors in Cincinnati, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees $40 billion. “This was the week where the market had a little bit of second guessing on how strong is Europe, how strong is China, and that raises the question, ‘How confident are we that the economy is going to continue to grow at the pace we’ve seen in recent months?’”

Bats Global Markets withdrew its initial public offering after the six-year-old equity exchange priced the deal yesterday.

Pulling the IPO capped a day of missteps for the electronic exchange, beginning just as the shares were making their debut.

Data received by Bloomberg around 11 a.m. in New York showed the stock, the first ever listed on its Lenexa, Kansas-based market, quoted at pennies after being priced yesterday at $16.

Around the same time, a transaction in Apple was executed on Bats so far away from the market price that it triggered a halt. A single trade for 100 shares executed on a Bats venue briefly sent Apple down to $542.80, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bats sent a notice about 10 minutes before the Apple trade saying it was investigating “system issues” affecting companies with ticker symbols ranging between A and BF. Apple’s symbol is AAPL; Bats’s ticker is BATS. Apple finished regular trading down

0.6 percent at $596.05.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

There is no weapon more powerful in achieving the truth than acceptance of oneself.

Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

As ever,

Carolann

Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and

in surpassing itself.  If all it does is maintain itself,

then living is only not dying.

-Simone de Beauvoir, 1908-1986

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor