Author: Carolann

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

I went to see Michaëlle Jean last night with one of my clients who lives in Vancouver.  She spoke for an hour and a half about her life, fleeing Haiti with her family to escape the brutal regime of Papa Doc Duvalier, what it was like to live under the oppression of a tyrant dictator.  She arrived with her parents and sister in Thetford Mines, Quebec, in February!  She and her sister had never seen snow before.  When asked what the greatest gift she ever received was, she replied:  Trust.   What a wonderful thought.

 

I am off to the distinguished alumni awards at UVic tonight, where one of my friends will be a recipient, very justly so.

 

photos of the day

February 8, 2012

Skaters ride a stretch of the 11 Cities Tour itinerary as they pass through the village of Hindeloopen, northern Netherlands. Dutch troops are joining a race against time to prepare ice for a legendary 125-mile (200 kilometer) race across frozen waterways in the northern Netherlands that could be staged for the first time in 15 years.

Peter Dejong/AP

Overnight snow covered these crocus that were blooming near Maysville, Kentucky. The area received nearly an inch of snow.

Terry Prather/The Ledger Independent/AP

Market Closes for February 8, 2012:

North American Markets

	Market  Index	Close	Change
	Dow Jones	12883.95	+5.75  +0.04%
	S&P 500	1349.96	+2.91  +0.22%
	NASDAQ	2915.86	+11.78  +0.41%
	TSX	12521.02	+8.60  +.07%
International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 9015.59 +98.07  +1.10% HANG SENG 21018.46 +319.27    +1.54% SENSEX 17707.32 +84.87  +0.48% FTSE 100 5875.93 -14.33  -0.24% CAC 40 3410.00 -1.54  -0.05% DAX 6748.76 -5.44  -0.08% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	2.066	2.035
CDN. 30 year bond	2.642	2.619
U.S. 10-year bond	1.9822	1.9751
U.S. 30-year bond	3.1509	3.1492

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian   $	0.99693	0.99444
US   $	1.00308	1.00560

 

Euro  Rate  1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31929	0.75798
US  $	0.75566	1.32335

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1729.30	1745.90

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	98.71	98.72

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Katia Porzecanski and Matt Walcoff

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) — Most Canadian stocks fell as mining and energy shares declined after gold futures retreated and the U.S. reported a bigger-than-forecast increase in gasoline supplies.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second- biggest energy company by market value, decreased 1.6 percent.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest producer of the metal by market value, lost 1.3 percent as Greek political parties failed to agree on austerity measures and the U.S. dollar strengthened. Agrium Inc., a fertilizer producer and farm retailer, climbed 1.9 percent after its fourth-quarter earnings topped all 23 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Of the 253 stocks in the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index 130 fell, 116 rose and seven were unchanged. The Canadian equity benchmark rose 8.6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,521.02 in Toronto, as financial companies gained after housing starts in the country fell less than forecast.

Investors “are waiting for Greece,” Gareth Watson, vice president of investment management and research at Richardson GMP Ltd. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$16 billion ($16 billion). “Politicians and now the market are saying to Greece, ‘Look, you can’t keep pushing this off, and you need to come to a resolution now.’”

The S&P/TSX has risen 4.7 percent this year as manufacturing data from the U.S., Europe and China surpassed most economists’ forecasts in Bloomberg surveys, overshadowing the European debt crisis. Resources companies make up 48 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Euro-area finance ministers are due to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels tomorrow as the Greek government pushes to complete talks on terms of a rescue.

U.S. gasoline supplies increased 1.63 million barrels last week, the Energy Department said today in Washington. Analysts had forecast a gain of 875,000 barrels, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The U.S. also reported higher distillate-fuel supplies. Most surveyed analysts had forecast a decline.

Canadian Natural decreased 1.6 percent to C$37.92.

Birchcliff Energy Ltd., a western Canadian oil and gas producer, retreated 4.6 percent to C$13.05.

Encana Corp., the country’s largest natural gas producer, fell 1.8 percent to C$19.48. The company’s bonds have dropped the most among global energy companies this year as investors project further declines in prices of the fuel. Natural gas tumbled 50 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the eight months ending today.

The S&P/TSX Gold Index declined for a fourth day as the metal retreated for a third time in four days on the Comex in New York.

Goldcorp slipped 1.3 percent to C$46.97. Yamana Gold Inc., Canada’s fourth-largest producer of the metal by market value, lost 1.2 percent to C$16.60. Among base-metals producers, Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest, decreased 2 percent to C$40.75.

Nevsun Resources Ltd., which mines gold in the African country of Eritrea, slumped 4.6 percent to C$4.20 after plunging 31 percent yesterday. At least three analysts cut their share- price forecasts on Nevsun today, a day after it said production may fall 50 percent this year.

The S&P/TSX Financials Index rose for a fourth day after Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. reported that work began on 197,900 units at a seasonally adjusted annual pace. Economists had forecast 194,000 starts, according to the median of 19 responses to a Bloomberg News survey. Royal Bank of Canada, the biggest stock by weight in the S&P/Index, rose 0.7 percent to C$53.93.

Chartwell Seniors Housing Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns retirement and long-term-care residences, rose 2.1 percent to C$8.80. Canadian Western Bank, the country’s eighth- biggest lender, gained 1.8 percent to C$27.39.

Agrium rallied 1.9 percent to C$82.63 after its quarterly profit beat the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts by 16 percent, excluding certain items. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, climbed 1.1 percent to C$46.31.

ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., which makes factory- automation equipment, surged 7 percent to C$7.60 after reporting third-quarter earnings that surpassed the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 13 percent, excluding certain items. The shares jumped as much as 12 percent, the most intraday since June 2009.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. gained 4.2 percent to C$13.65 after the Calgary-based carrier posted fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and it moved closer to starting a low-cost regional unit next year as a majority of employees backed the idea after management sought their input.

Theratechnologies Inc. fell 14 percent, the most since Aug. 8, to C$2.26. The HIV drug developer failed to provide a sales forecast with its quarterly financial results.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a seven-month high, as Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos began talks with political leaders on terms required for a bailout.

Financial and technology shares gained the most in the S&P 500 among 10 groups. Bank of America Corp. rallied 3.6 percent to the highest price since Aug. 31. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. rose 7.6 percent as billionaire investor John Paulson said the insurer needs to take “drastic” action to reverse its decline. Cisco Systems Inc. jumped 3.2 percent at 4:09 p.m. New York time, extending its gain in regular trading, after reporting profit and sales that beat analyst estimates.

The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to 1,349.96 at 4 p.m. New York time, after dropping as much as 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 5.75 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,883.95, the highest level since May 2008. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.4 percent to 2,915.86, the highest since December 2000.

“There’s just a news vacuum,” James Paulsen, who helps oversee about $333 billion as chief investment strategist at Minneapolis-based Wells Capital Management, said in a telephone interview. “If you just get Greece to come out with anything, you can actually maybe have people move on. I do think they are going to come out with some sort of agreement. That would be a big step forward in dealing with Europe’s debt crisis.”

Global stocks entered a bull market as the MSCI All-Country World Index extended its gain from last year’s low to 20 percent. Papademos began talks with political parties supporting his government as he works to secure a second aid package.

Greece will pledge permanent spending cuts, including lower pensions and a 20 percent reduction in minimum wages, according to the draft of the financing deal.

The S&P 500 closed 1 percent away from its peak nine months ago of 1,363.61, which was the highest level since June 2008.

The index has risen 7.3 percent this year amid better-than- expected economic data and corporate profits. Earnings beat projections at 68 percent of the 304 companies in the S&P 500 that reported quarterly results since Jan. 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Be 100 percent in equities,” Laurence D. Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager, said in a Bloomberg Television interview from Hong Kong today. “I don’t have a view that the world is going to fall apart, so you need to take on more risk. You need to overcome all this noise, and there are great values in equities.”

The S&P 500 trades for about 14 times its companies’

earnings and has been stuck below its five-decade average multiple of 16.4 since May 2010, the longest stretch since a 13- year period beginning in 1973.

Companies most-tied to economic growth led the gains in the S&P 500 as measures of financial and technology shares added more than 0.6 percent. Bank of America climbed 3.6 percent, the most in the Dow, to $8.13.

Hartford jumped 7.6 percent to $20.58. Paulson, a hedge fund manager who controls the largest stake in Hartford, told Chief Executive Officer Liam McGee he needs to reverse the insurer’s stock slide. It declined 39 percent last year and trades at less than half of the company’s book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities.

“Hartford needs to do something drastic because the stock is the lowest valuation relative to book value of any major insurance company,” Paulson said today at a conference call for analysts and investors held by Hartford. The company hired advisers to evaluate splitting the life insurance and property- casualty businesses, Hartford said today.

Cisco added 3.2 percent to $21.08 after the close of regular trading. Fiscal second-quarter net income rose to $2.18 billion, or 40 cents a share, from $1.52 billion, or 27 cents, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings were 47 cents.

Sales rose 11 percent to $11.5 billion in the period, which ended Jan. 28. Analysts had estimated 43 cents in profit and $11.2 billion in revenue, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Chief Executive Officer John Chambers began a turnaround plan last year, when he cut jobs, eliminated businesses and refocused on more profitable products. Cisco also boosted its dividend and got a lift from so-called enterprise customers, which use its gear in their internal networks. The shares rose 1.1 percent to $20.43 in regular trading before the earnings report.

Ralph Lauren Corp. rallied 9.2 percent to $171.49. The retailer of its namesake brand clothing said revenue in the current fiscal year may gain more than it previously expected.

Computer Sciences Corp. surged 19 percent, the most since at least 1980, to $31.39. The technology contractor for governments and companies named Mike Lawrie as its next chief executive officer as it renegotiates a contract with the U.K.’s National Health Service.

A measure of energy shares had the biggest decline among 10 industries in the S&P 500 today, falling 0.6 percent. Exxon Mobil Corp. lost 0.6 percent to $85.32.

Sprint Nextel Corp. slumped 1.6 percent to $2.41 after reporting widening losses for the first quarter it offered the Apple Inc. iPhone, signaling the best-selling device may not be helping Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse turn around the carrier’s business.

Moody’s Corp. lost 1.7 percent to $38.31. The owner of the world’s second-largest provider of credit ratings said fourth- quarter profit fell 30 percent as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis slowed bond sales around the world, reducing demand for its services.

Western Union Co. tumbled 10 percent, the biggest decline in the S&P 500, to $17.73. The world’s largest money-transfer business forecast earnings in 2012 will be no more than $1.75 a share, less than the average analyst estimate of $1.81.

The Nasdaq Composite Index has entered a bull market and stocks may continue to rally through the end of March, according to Louise Yamada, who said in December that equity charts were signaling further losses.

“The Nasdaq has initiated a new structural bull market,” Yamada, managing director of Louise Yamada Technical Research Advisors LLC in New York, said in a radio interview today on “Bloomberg on the Economy” with Sara Eisen. “We’ve entered the year with short-term positive signals with the possibility that we could see a rally through the first quarter.”

Yamada, who worked as a technical analyst at Salomon Smith Barney, said in a December report that investors may be better off selling “weaker stocks into strength” after a 14 percent gain in the S&P 500 since October. She said in November that evidence the market’s advance will continue hadn’t materialized and the year-end rally may falter.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

We would be happy to do the millions of things that we are not able to do.

The will is there, but we are not able to fulfill our desire.  Thus when we feel a desire,

but we are unable to realize that desire, we undergo a reaction we call suffering.

What is the cause of desire?  I am, only me.

As a result, I myself am the cause of all of the suffering that I have known.

-Swami Vivekananda, 163-1902

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

 

To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin

to understand.

-José Ortega Y Gasset, 1883-1955

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

Today is the 200^th anniversary of Charles Dickens birthday.   Author of so many characters and aphorisms indelibly impressed on our minds from Great Expectations, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, among others, he probably ranks only second to Shakespeare.

It was the Best of times, it was the worst of times…

There are celebrations happening all over the world, including a street party in Portsmouth, southern England, where he was born.

In this undated file photo, novelist Charles Dickens poses for a photograph. Britain’s Prince Charles will lay a wreath at Dickens grave in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey, to mark his 200th birthday.

AP/File

Market Closes for February 6, 2012:

North American Markets

	Market Index	Close	Change
	Dow Jones	12878.20	+33.07 +0.26%
	S&P 500	1347.05	+2.72 +0.20%
	NASDAQ	2904.08	+2.09 +0.07%
	TSX	12512.42	-47.43 -0.38%
International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8917.52 -11.68 -0.13% HANG SENG 20699.19 -10.75   -0.5% SENSEX 17622.45 -84.86 -0.48% FTSE 100 5890.26 -1.94 -0.03% CAC 40 3411.54 +6.27 +0.18% DAX 6754.20 -10.63 -0.16% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	2.035	1.974
CDN. 30 year bond	2.619	2.576
U.S. 10-year bond	1.9751	1.9066
U.S. 30-year bond	3.1492	3.0966

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.99444	0.99640
US $	1.00560	1.00362

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31921	0.75803
US $	0.75381	1.32659

 

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1745.90	1722.20

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	98.72	97.15

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Katia Porzecanski and Matt Walcoff

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a second day as commodities producers dropped after reports from China and Germany signaled that demand may slow.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., the country’s second-biggest publicly traded copper producer, decreased 2 percent. Nevsun Resources Ltd., which mines gold in Africa, plunged 30 percent after saying production may tumble by half this year. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, fell 3.7 percent as it said it will curtail production because of unplanned maintenance.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 41.22 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,518.63 at 3:00 p.m. Toronto time. The benchmark equity index hasn’t declined two straight days since Dec. 15.

“China is the marginal driver of the Canadian stock market,” Mathieu Roy, a money manager at Louisbourg Investments Inc. in Moncton, New Brunswick, said in a telephone interview.

“A healthy China that grows quickly and can manage inflation will go a long way into the success of the Canadian stock market.”

The S&P/TSX gained 5.1 percent this year through yesterday as raw-materials and energy companies advanced in part on manufacturing data from the U.S., Europe and China that surpassed most economists’ forecasts in Bloomberg surveys.

Resources companies make up 48 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Chinese industrial output growth is likely to decline from December’s pace of 12.8 percent a year due to a slowing global economy and the European debt crisis, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said today in Beijing.

German factory production retreated 2.9 percent in December, the country’s Economy Ministry reported today. Most economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast an increase or no change from November.

Base-metals producers dropped as copper fell as much as 1.8 percent on the Comex in New York before erasing its decline.

Teck declined 2.4 percent to C$41.47. First Quantum Minerals lost 2 percent to C$22.19.

Nevsun sank 30 percent to C$4.45 after plunging as much as

31 percent, the most intraday since October 2008. The company said production may fall 50 percent this year after it revised its reserve estimate for the Bisha mine in Eritrea.

The S&P/TSX Energy Index fell 0.8 percent, the most intraday since Jan. 30. Energy stocks slipped as natural gas fell on the New York Mercantile Exchange on speculation that a government report will show a smaller-than-normal drop in U.S.

inventories, boosting a surplus of the fuel over the five-year average.

Canadian Natural Resources lost 3.7 percent to C$38.79. The country’s second-largest energy company by market value said it curtailed production because of unplanned maintenance at the Horizon upgrader. Enerflex Ltd., which provides products and services to the energy industry, fell 2.3 percent to C$12.65.

Gold producers gained as the precious metal climbed for the first time in three sessions after the U.S. dollar weakened, increasing demand for the commodity as an alternative investment.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest producer by market value, rallied 1 percent to C$47.75.

Golden Star Resources Ltd., the owner of the Bogoso/Prestea mine in Ghana, rallied 2.5 percent to C$2.08. Avion Gold Corp.

rose 4.1 percent to C$1.54 after announcing drilling results.

US

By Rita Nazareth and Michael P. Regan

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average above its highest closing level since May 2008, while Treasuries fell and the euro strengthened as Greece’s government made progress on measures to secure international aid. Crude oil led gains in commodities.

The Dow increased 27.81 points, or 0.2 percent, to

12,872.94 at 1:20 p.m. in New York and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 0.1 percent after slipping as much as 0.6 percent earlier. Ten-year Treasury yields increased seven basis points to 1.98 percent and the euro advanced 0.9 percent to $1.3243.

Oil rallied 1.5 percent to $98.38 a barrel.

Greece’s government and international creditors are working on the final draft of an agreement on budget and structural measures needed to free up a second aid package, a Greek official said. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos plans to convene the nation’s political leaders to seek consensus on the cuts required for a bailout, as unions called a strike to protest and European leaders pressed Greece to reach a deal.

“Greece is on the front page again,” Paul Zemsky, the New York-based head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management, said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees

$160 billion. “It’s been the theme for at least a year that you had to take these governments near the edge of the abyss and look into it before they would agree to additional cuts or fiscal tightening or other types of concessions to get money.”

The S&P 500 declined yesterday for the first time in four days, retreating from a six-month high. The index is up 7.2 percent so far in 2012 and has rallied almost 23 percent from last year’s low in October.

Coca-Cola Co. climbed 1.1 percent to help lead gains in the Dow today after the world’s largest soft-drink maker reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as teas and juices boosted sales in Asia.

Yum! Brands Inc., owner of the KFC and Taco Bell fast-food chains, climbed 2.9 percent as profit surged 30 percent.

Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, slid 1.8 percent after Citigroup Inc. cut its recommendation for the shares.

Becton Dickinson & Co., a maker of medical devices and supplies, slumped 3.8 percent after a disappointing forecast.

Walt Disney Co. is among seven companies in the S&P 500 scheduled to release earnings after markets close today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profits have beaten estimates at about 68 percent of the 280 companies in the S&P

500 that have released results since Jan. 9, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Earnings-per-share have increased 3.5 percent for the group on a 6.5 percent increase in sales.

U.S. Treasuries remained lower after the U.S. sold $32 billion of three-year notes in the first of three auctions this week totaling $72 billion.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke repeated that the job market is still far from healthy after signs of economic improvement over the past year, and he called on U.S. lawmakers to reduce the long-term budget deficit.

“We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally,” Bernanke said in testimony prepared for the Senate Budget Committee that is identical to remarks he gave on Feb. 2 to the House Budget panel. “Particularly troubling is the unusually high level of long-term unemployment.” The jobless rate unexpectedly fell to

8.3 percent in January, a government report showed last week.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3 percent, paring a loss of as much as 1 percent. Swatch Group AG sank 4 percent after the largest Swiss watch maker reported 2011 operating profit that missed analysts’ estimates. Alfa Laval AB, the world’s biggest maker of heat exchangers, sank 7.1 percent as fourth-quarter orders declined from the previous three months because of contraction in the shipbuilding industry.

Greek Prime Minister Papademos will issue a statement tonight at the conclusion of a meeting with political leaders on measures and policies Greece has agreed in return for a second financing package, a spokeswoman at the premier’s office in Athens said. The spokeswoman, who declined to be named, said the Cabinet would meet tomorrow at around midday to approve the accord and that a meeting of euro area finance ministers was likely to be held on Feb. 9 on the bailout agreement.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index was little changed after yesterday slipping 0.1 percent from a six-month high. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong dropped 0.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index slid

1.7 percent, the most in six weeks, after China’s government said industrial output growth is likely to slow this quarter as the world economy cools and Europe’s debt crisis worsens.

A “hard landing” for China is a key risk for the global economy, Andrew Colquhoun, the Hong Kong-based head of Asia- Pacific ratings for Fitch Ratings, said in an e-mail.

The yen weakened versus all 16 most actively traded peers after Finance Ministry data released today showed Japan conducted 1.02 trillion yen ($13.3 billion) worth of unannounced intervention during the first four days of November, after selling a record 8.07 trillion yen on Oct. 31, when the yen climbed to a post World War II high of 75.35 per dollar.

The Australian dollar appreciated 0.6 percent to $1.0787 after the Reserve Bank of Australia signaled optimism global economic growth will strengthen.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

We must always bear in mind

that we are not going to be free,

but are free already.

Every idea that we are bound is a delusion.

Every idea that we are happy or unhappy

is a tremendous delusion.

-Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

 

Carolann

Because of our routines we forget that life

is an ongoing adventure.

-Jean Atwater

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

Queen’s Jubilee today.

Babe Ruth’s birthday:

I have only one superstition.  I touch all the bases when I hit a home run.

-Babe Ruth, 1895-1948

We went to hang out with some friends in Vancouver on the weekend and yesterday before we left for home, I suggested to  Gary that we should check out the Armory District which I had read about in Western Living magazine.   It is a wonderful area.   It is right around  the Seaforth Armoury on Burrard Street at First Avenue, hence the name.   It encompasses a small area east of Burrard to the Granville Street Bridge,  beginning at First Avenue up to and including Third Avenue. There are some neat shops and galleries.  We found a wonderful shop, Les Amis du Fromage, which sells an amazing variety of cheese and baguettes and other things.  We scored some great French olive oil there which our local supplier has been out of for some time.  Also found the most fantastic cook book store named Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks, www.bookstocooks.com, where I picked up Adam Gopnik’s latest, The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food (2011). I started reading it on the way home and it begins with a letter from an imprisoned resistance fighter in Nazi occupied France, to his parents, telling them about the meal he began that day with, an attempt to alleviate their anguish as well as underscore for the reader, the importance of the meal to in France.

There are also a few edgy furniture and carpet stores, and fabulous art galleries that we had to peak through windows to see the art because they were closed on Sunday.  One that seemed to have especially intriguing art is Gallery Jones on 3^rd Avenue.  A welcome discovery.

 

photos of the day

February 6, 2012

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth smiles after visiting Dersingham Infant and Nursery School in Dersingham, Norfolk, eastern England. Today marks the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne.

Andrew Winning/Reuters

A dragon dance is performed amid fireworks during a Lantern Festival celebration in Chongqing municipality, China. The Lantern Festival occurs on the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year and marks the end of the Spring Festival.

Reuters

Market Closes for February 6, 2012:

North American Markets

	Market Index	Close	Change
	Dow Jones	12845.13	-17.10 -0.13%
	S&P 500	1344.33	-0.57 -0.4%
	NASDAQ	2901.99	-3.67 -0.13%
	TSX	12559.85	-17.43 -0.14%
International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8929.20 +97.27 +1.1% HANG SENG 20709.94 -47.04   -0.23% SENSEX 17707.31 +102.35 +0.58% FTSE 100 5892.20 -8.87 -0.15% CAC 40 3405.27 -22.65 -0.66% DAX 6764.83 -1.84 -0.03% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	1.974	2.016
CDN. 30 year bond	2.576	2.610
U.S. 10-year bond	1.9066	1.9224
U.S. 30-year bond	3.0966	3.1192

 

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.99640	0.99410
US $	1.00362	1.00594

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.30712	0.76504
US $	1.31185	0.76228

 

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1722.20	1737.90

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	97.15	97.84

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff and Katia Porzecanski

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks declined for the first time in five days as oil fell after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “time is running out” for Greece to accept the conditions for a bailout.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest energy company by market value, dropped 1.4 percent as crude futures declined for the sixth time in the last seven days. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. rallied 1.2 percent after William Ackman, the largest investor, renewed his call to replace Chief Executive Officer Fred Green. Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s biggest wireless provider, lost

1.5 percent after an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. cut his rating on the shares.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 17.43 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,559.85 in Toronto after closing at a four-month high Feb. 3.

“Greece has been an almost-deal for a long time,” Todd Johnson, a money manager at BCV Asset Management in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about

C$335 million ($336 million). “The longer it goes on, the more one has to realize that there might eventually be what’s been called the ‘hard default.’ It’s going to be a huge political chaos if that happens. Likely, everyone’s going to hit the sell button at the same time.”

The S&P/TSX gained each of the previous seven weeks, the longest streak since April 2009, and has advanced 5.1 percent this year. Canadian stocks have climbed as improvements in U.S.

employment and manufacturing data have overshadowed the European debt crisis.

European leaders stepped up pressure on Greek politicians to meet the conditions of a 130 billion-euro ($171 billion) bailout. A gathering of Greek political leaders was delayed by a day until tomorrow as they struggled for a unified response.

Antonis Samaras, the head of the second-largest party, indicated he would oppose some measures put forward by international creditors.

“I can’t quite understand why we need a few more days — time is running out,” Merkel said today in a joint briefing with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

The S&P/TSX Energy Index fell for the first time in five days as crude futures declined on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Canadian Natural lost 1.4 percent to C$40.28.

Antrim Energy Inc., which explores for oil and gas in the North Sea and Argentina, plunged 22 percent, the most since August 2006, to C$1.07 after abandoning a North Sea well.

Cenovus Energy Inc., the country’s fifth-biggest energy company, fell 1.8 percent to C$38.11.

C&C Energia Ltd., an oil and gas producer with operations in Colombia, sank 13 percent to C$7.80 after reporting a well in the Putumayo Basin is a dry hole and will be abandoned.

Most gold producers fell as the metal retreated to the lowest price in more than a week as a rally in the dollar curbed demand for the metal as an alternative investment.

Alamos Gold Inc., which mines in Mexico, fell 4 percent to C$18.75. Romarco Minerals Inc., which is developing a gold project in South Carolina, sank 7.9 percent to C$1.16.

Great Basin Gold Ltd., which mines in Nevada and South Africa, dropped 8.7 percent to C$1.05 after saying its 2011 production trailed its forecast.

Base-metals and coal producers fell as copper dropped on the Comex in New York. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, declined 3.4 percent to C$22.64.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, decreased 2.1 percent to C$42.50 after Greg Barnes, an analyst at Toronto-Dominion Bank, reduced his rating on the stock to “buy” from “action list buy.” Barnes cited a lower coal-price forecast and higher copper-mining-cost estimates in a note to clients.

Rogers retreated 1.5 percent to C$38.07 after Greg MacDonald, an analyst at Macquarie, cut his rating on the stock to “neutral” from “outperform.” The company may report lower margins in the fourth quarter due to subsidies related to strong sales of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, MacDonald wrote in a note to clients.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. advanced 1.2 percent to C$74.34. Ackman, the founder of New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management LP, told shareholders at a meeting in Toronto the board “has chosen the wrong CEO.”

Ackman, 45, buys stakes in companies he deems undervalued and pushes changes to improve returns. He arranged the meeting in Toronto to win support for his slate of five directors, a group that he said would help persuade the board to replace the current CEO, Fred Green, with Hunter Harrison, the former head of Canadian National Railway Co.

SXC Health Solutions Corp., a pharmacy-benefits manager, fell 3.8 percent to C$61.02 after Reuters reported that “key people” at the Federal Trade Commission are seeking to stop the acquisition of Medco Health Solutions Inc. by rival pharmacy benefits company Express Scripts Inc.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined, following a five-week advance for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid concern about Europe’s debt crisis as Greek leaders wrestled with spending cuts to get aid and avert a default.

Banks in the S&P 500 dropped 1.1 percent, following a retreat in European lenders. Boeing Co. decreased 1.2 percent as it ordered inspections of 787 Dreamliners after finding signs of fuselage delamination. Toll Brothers Inc. and Lennar Corp.

slumped at least 2.3 percent after Raymond James Financial Inc.

cut its recommendation for the homebuilders. Medco Health Solutions Inc. tumbled 8.1 percent amid concern that its proposed acquisition by Express Scripts Inc. may be blocked.

The S&P 500 decreased less than 0.1 percent to 1,344.33 as of 4 p.m. New York time, paring a decline of as much as 0.6 percent as energy companies advanced. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 17.10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,845.13.

“It’s an ongoing Greek tragedy,” Stephen Wood, the New York-based chief market strategist for Russell Investments, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees $137.6 billion. “We’re in the hands of the best efforts of European politicians. That’s a source of risk that’s difficult to forecast.”

Stocks fell as European leaders stepped up pressure on Greek politicians to meet the conditions of a 130 billion-euro

($171 billion) bailout, saying time was running out. French President Nicolas Sarkozy met German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Greece’s interim prime minister, Lucas Papademos, planned to confer with the so-called troika of international lenders. A gathering of Greek political leaders was delayed by a day until tomorrow as they struggled for a unified response.

Today’s decline in equities came after the S&P 500 capped the best start to a year since 1987 as a report showed that employment growth topped estimates and the jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 8.3 percent. Financial and commodity shares had the biggest losses among 10 industries.

“Markets are not a very patient beast,” Michael A. Gayed, chief investment strategist in New York at Pension Partners LLC, said in a telephone interview. “When you have these talks that the Greece situation is going to be resolved, then, it gets postponed, markets get impatient.”

Boeing fell 1.2 percent to $75.46. The new checks add to challenges in boosting output of the twin-engine 787, which entered service in 2011 after more than three years of delays.

Boeing said 2012 deliveries for the jet should stay on schedule after an initial slowdown for inspections. Delamination is a term for the separation that can occur in a composite material when its layers crack and lose strength.

A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes slumped 1.7 percent.

Toll Brothers, the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, slid 2.4 percent to $23.28. Lennar slid 2.8 percent to $22.69. KB Home tumbled 3.5 percent to $10.43. The companies are among those downgraded at Raymond James, which cited valuation concern.

Medco Health Solutions tumbled 8.1 percent to $58.47.

Reuters reported that “key people” at the Federal Trade Commission are seeking to stop the company’s proposed $29.1 billion acquisition by rival pharmacy benefits company Express Scripts. Medco and Express Scripts said they still expect to complete the transaction in the first half of this year. Express Scripts slumped 4.6 percent to $49.67.

Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, gained 1.9 percent to $34.28.

Humana Inc. slid 5.4 percent to $85.25. The second-largest Medicare provider raised its 2012 earnings forecast less than analysts estimated as more Americans were expected to seek medical care in a recovering economy.

Micron Technology Inc. retreated 2.8 percent to $7.73. The company named Mark Durcan as its chief executive officer, replacing Steve Appleton, who died on Feb. 3 after crashing an experimental plane. The shares fell 3.1 percent to $7.70 in late trading Feb. 3, after having been halted at $7.95.

With today’s drop in stocks, the S&P 500 traded for about

14 times its companies’ earnings and has been stuck below its five-decade average multiple of 16.4 since May 2010, the longest stretch since a 13-year period beginning in 1973.

Earnings beat projections at 66 percent of the 268 companies in the S&P 500 that reported quarterly results since Jan. 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profits probably grew 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The projection has fallen from 6.2 percent at the end of last year.

Energy shares had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 among 10 industries, rising 1.1 percent as a group. Alpha Natural Resources Inc., a coal miner, rallied 3.3 percent to $23.54.

Baker Hughes Inc. added 2.1 percent to $52.09.

Walt Disney Co. gained 1.2 percent to $40.46. The world’s biggest theme-park operator was raised to “buy” from “neutral” at Davenport & Co. by equity analyst Michael Morris.

The 12-month share-price estimate is $46.

Sprint Nextel Corp. climbed 6 percent to $2.46. The third- largest U.S. wireless, scheduled to release its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 8, offers a buying opportunity for investors because earnings during the period most likely marked the trough, Macquarie Group Ltd. said.

Kroger Co. rose 0.6 percent to $24.06. The largest U.S.

grocery-store chain traded last week at an 86 percent discount to its projected sales this fiscal year, leaving it cheaper than

99 percent of companies in the S&P 500, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company, which has increased sales in every year since at least 1987 even as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

grabbed market share from other supermarkets, may now become a target for retailers outside the U.S. or private equity firms, according to Northcoast Research Holdings LLC.

Valued at $13.7 billion last week, Kroger could still attract a takeover offer 30 percent above its current price, Point View Wealth Management Inc. said, making it the largest grocery acquisition on record.

“Of the traditional pure-play grocery stores, Kroger is the crown jewel,” David Dietze, president and chief investment strategist at Summit, New Jersey-based Point View, which owns shares of Kroger, said in a telephone interview. “They have a long consistent record of positive same-store sales performance.

It’s timely to acquire Kroger because it’s cheap.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Like a silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself.  Who will save you?

Burst your own cocoon and come out as the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul.

-Swami Vivekananda, 1863-1902

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Make voyages. Attempt them.

There’s nothing else.

-Tennessee Williams, 1911-1983

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

Today is Gertrude Stein’s birthday, born 1874.

A rose is a rose is a rose.

-Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946

Super Bowl Sunday:  Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest sports gambling day on the calendar. According to RJ Bell, CEO of Pregame.com, $10 billion will be laid down on this year’s Super Bowl. Of that, a paltry $90 million will be wagered in legal Nevada sportsbooks.

(Reuters)

photos of the day

February 3, 2012

The Vince Lombardi Trophy sits between a New York Giants and a New England Patriots helmet during a press conferene for Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, Indiana. Super Bowl XLVI is set for play on February 5.

Gary Hershorn/Reuters

 

A women swims at the Szechenyi Bath during a winter morning in Budapest. The Hungarian government has ordered a cold alert in eleven counties in Hungary from Friday due to freezing temperatures that are expected to fall under minus 20 degrees in some places, well below the seasonal average.

Bernadett Szabo/Reut

Market Closes for February 3^rd, 2012:

North American Markets

	Market Index	Close	Change
	Dow Jones	12862.23	+156.82 +1.23%
	S&P 500	1344.90	+19.36 +1.46%
	NASDAQ	2905.66	+45.98 +1.61%
	TSX	12577.28	+23.80 +0.19%
International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8831.93 -44.89 -0.51% HANG SENG 20756.98 +17.53   +0.08% SENSEX 17604.96 +173.11 +0.99% FTSE 100 5901.07 +105.00 +1.81% CAC 40 3427.92 +51.26 +1.52% DAX 6766.67 +111.04 +1.67% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	2.016	1.944
CDN. 30 year bond	2.610	2.553
U.S. 10-year bond	1.9224	1.8212
U.S. 30-year bond	3.1192	3.0028

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.99410	0.99919
US $	1.00594	1.0081

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.30811	0.76446
US $	1.31588	0.75995

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1737.90	1759.50

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	97.84	96.59

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, completing a seventh straight weekly advance, as the lowest U.S. unemployment since February 2009 signaled Canada’s biggest trade partner is weathering the European debt crisis.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, gained 1.4 percent. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, lost 2.3 percent as the metal retreated the most in five weeks. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., the country’s second-biggest railroad, advanced 2.3 percent after an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised his rating on the shares.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 23.8 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,577.28, extending its weekly rally to 0.9 percent. The streak of gains was the longest since a seven-week advance ended April 2009.

“The number was a huge improvement over expectations,” 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. “Almost twice as many jobs were created last month than economists had been predicting. The biggest beneficiary of an improvement in U.S. consumers is the banking system.”

The S&P/TSX has climbed to the highest since September, led by raw-materials producers, as U.S. gains in employment and manufacturing outweighed concern that Europe’s debt crisis will slow world growth. The U.S. accounted for 75 percent of Canada’s exports in 2010, according to Statistics Canada.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 243,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said today in Washington. None of the 89 economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast a gain that big.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent.

The S&P/TSX Financials Index rose for the third time in four days. TD climbed 1.4 percent to C$78.83. Royal Bank of Canada, its bigger domestic rival, gained 0.7 percent to C$53.32. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth- largest insurance company, rallied 3.4 percent to C$12.34.

Gold stocks dropped as the metal declined on the Comex in New York after settling at a two-month high yesterday. Barrick lost 2.3 percent to C$48.59.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest producer by market value, decreased 2.9 percent to C$47.25. Eldorado Gold Corp., Canada’s fifth-biggest gold company by market value, slumped 5.1 percent to C$14.64.

“The strength in the economy implies that the probability of more Fed easing or another quantitative package is being diminished, and gold’s going to take it on the chin,” McHugh said. “The flight-to-safety movement doesn’t appear to be as important as a result of the stats we’ve seen today.”

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX advanced for a fourth day as crude oil futures climbed on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, increased 1.9 percent to C$34.90. Cenovus Energy Inc., the country’s fifth-biggest energy company, rose 2.9 percent to C$38.80. Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. jumped 6.8 percent to C$15.12.

Base-metals companies gained as copper futures advanced the most in two months. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest company in the industry, increased 2.1 percent to C$43.40. First Quantum Resources Ltd., the country’s second-biggest publicly traded copper producer, climbed 3 percent to C$23.43.

Copper Fox Metals Inc., owner of a mining project in British Columbia, jumped 12 percent to C$1.54 after reporting test results from four exploratory drill holes at its Schaft Creek property.

Canadian Pacific surged 2.3 percent to C$73.47, the highest since May 2008. Thomas R. Wadewitz, an analyst at JPMorgan, boosted his rating on the stock to “overweight” from “neutral,” saying the company is in the early stages of a turnaround.

Shares of the Calgary-based company have soared 59 percent since Sept. 22 as William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP bought a stake in the company and began pushing it to replace its chief executive officer.

Canadian National Railway Co., the country’s largest railroad, rose today for a fourth session, gaining 0.9 percent to C$77.91.

Smart Technologies Inc., which makes electronic whiteboards, plunged 12 percent, the most since May, to C$3.66 after cutting its 2012 earnings forecast. At least five analysts reduced their price estimates on the shares.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, extending the best start to a year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1987, after a report showed that employment growth topped estimates and the jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 8.3 percent.

Bank of America Corp., Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc. rallied at least 3.2 percent to pace gains among companies most- tied to economic growth. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 1.2 percent as FedEx Corp. climbed 1.9 percent. Genworth Financial Inc., a mortgage guarantor and life insurer, surged 14 percent after swinging to a profit. Tyson Foods Inc. rose 4.1 percent as earnings at the meat processor beat estimates.

The S&P 500 added 1.5 percent to 1,344.90 at 4 p.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge has rallied for five straight weeks, the longest streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 156.82 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,862.23, the highest level since 2008. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies jumped 2.2 percent to 831.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.6 percent to 2,905.66, the highest since 2000.

“Spectacular,” Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank, said in a telephone interview from Phoenix. His firm manages $169 billion.

“It’s a very, very strong jobs number. It shows that companies have confidence that they see global demand growth through their products and services. That will support risk assets.”

Stocks and bond yields jumped as the report fueled optimism the economy is weathering Europe’s debt crisis. The 243,000 increase in payrolls was the most since April and beat all forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate fell to the lowest since February 2009. Service industries in the U.S. expanded in January at the fastest pace in almost a year.

The S&P 500 has gained 6.9 percent so far this year, the most since it surged 14 percent over the same period in 1987.

The index has recovered after plunging 19 percent between April 29 and Oct. 3 amid better-than estimated economic data and corporate profits. It’s 1.4 percent away from surpassing its peak nine months ago, which would send it to the highest level since June 2008. It has rallied 2.2 percent this week.

Better economic data should help drive solid corporate earnings, said Brad Sorensen at Charles Schwab Corp. Earnings in the S&P 500 are forecast to rise 9 percent this year to $104.68, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. At yesterday’s close of $104.68, the index was trading at 12.7 times projected earnings in 2012 and 11.2 times predictions for 2013. It has traded at an average price-earnings ratio of 16.4 since 1954, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“It will be a decent year for the stock market,” Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at San Francisco-based Charles Schwab, said in a telephone interview.

His firm has $1.68 trillion in client assets. “Investors are starting to rotate some money into stocks as they become more confident in the economic outlook.”

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index climbed 2.8 percent amid economic optimism. The KBW Bank Index rallied 3.3 percent. A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes gained 5.8 percent.

Bank of America added 5.2 percent to $7.84. Caterpillar, the largest construction and mining-equipment maker, increased 3.3 percent to $113.94. Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, climbed 3.3 percent to $10.76. FedEx, an economic bellwether as it moves goods from pharmaceuticals to financial documents, jumped 1.9 percent to $94.54.

Genworth Financial soared 14 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $9.17. Chief Executive Officer Michael Fraizer has scaled back the retirement-products business to conserve capital as Genworth seeks to maintain sales of U.S. mortgage coverage.

Tyson Foods rose 4.1 percent to $19.38. The meat processor reported first-quarter earnings of 42 cents a share. On average, the analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated profit of 34 cents.

Gilead Sciences Inc. jumped 11 percent to $54.70. The drugmaker that acquired Pharmasset Inc. last month for its experimental hepatitis C treatments gained after one of the medicines produced positive clinical trial results.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. rose 1.4 percent to $5.91. Blackstone Group LP is studying a leveraged buyout of the company, said a person with knowledge of the situation. While Blackstone is in talks with Brocade, which has been seeking a buyer since 2009, reaching a deal may be difficult, said the person.

Estee Lauder Cos. lost 2.3 percent to $57.48. The maker of Mac cosmetics and Clinique skin care forecast third-quarter earnings of no more than 32 cents a share, before restructuring charges, missing the average analyst estimate of 41 cents.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. slipped 4.8 percent to $114.98. Wynn Macau Ltd.’s full-year profit missed analysts’ estimates as the Hong Kong-listed unit benefited less than its competitor, Sands China Ltd., from surging gambling revenue in the former Portuguese colony.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The freedom of the seed resides in its fulfillment of its dharma, of its nature and its destiny,

which is to become a tree; the failure to achieve this

becomes for the seed a prison.

The sacrifice through which one thing reaches its fulfillment is not a sacrifice that leads to death;

it is the casting off of chains and the attainment of freedom.

-Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1901

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Many men go fishing all of their lives without

knowing it is not fish they are after.

-Henry David Thoreau, 1817-62

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

Groundhog day: Punxsutawney Phil first predicted weather 126 years ago and has had about 39% accuracy ever since. –HuffingtonPost.com

Birthdays: a couple of my favorite writers,

Ayn Rand, Born 1905

James Joyce, born 1882

Part of PBS’s celebration of Black History Month, Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock, form “Independent Lens,” tells the story of an unconventional revolutionary who paid dearly for her public support of nine black students who registered to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., which culminated in a constitutional crises – pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself.  It airs tonight.

photos of the day

February 2, 2012

Groundhog handler John Griffith holds famed weather prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil before Phil makes his annual weather prediction on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Penn., on the 126th Groundhog Day. Phil saw his shadow, signaling six more weeks of winter.

Jason Cohn/Reuters

A gargoyle in a fountain in Zurich, Switzerland, wears a beard of ice. A cold spell has reached central and eastern Europe with temperatures far below zero.

Alessandro Della Bella/Keystone/AP

Market Closes for February 2nd, 2012:

North American Markets

	Market Index	Close	Change
	Dow Jones	12705.41	-11.05 -.09%
	S&P 500	1325.54	+1.45 +0.11%
	NASDAQ	2859.68	+11.41 +0.40%
	TSX	12553.48	+35.82 +0.29%
International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8876.82 +67.03 +0.76% HANG SENG 20739.45 +406.08   +2.0% SENSEX 17431.85 +131.27 +0.76% FTSE 100 5796.07 +5.35 +0.9% CAC 40 3376.66 +9.20 +0.27% DAX 6655.63 +38.99 +0.59% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	1.944	1.905
CDN. 30 year bond	2.553	2.517
U.S. 10-year bond	1.8212	1.8300
U.S. 30-year bond	3.0028	2.9958

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.99919	1.00228
US $	1.0081	0.99773

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31373	0.76119
US $	1.31477	0.76059

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1759.50	1743.80

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	96.59	97.46

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a third day, led by gold producers, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he sees signs the economy is improving and U.S.

initial jobless claims declined.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, gained 2.1 percent as the metal advanced to a two- month high. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, dropped 0.7 percent after Bank of Nova Scotia said it will sell shares. Open Text Corp., Canada’s biggest software company, rallied 15 percent in Toronto Stock Exchange trading after reporting earnings that beat the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 35.82 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,553.48, the highest level since Sept. 8.

“Global economic growth seems to be improving,” Robert McWhirter, a money manager who oversees about C$140 million

($140 million) at Selective Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. “Europe may continue to have its own problems, but the rest of the world is picking up in economic growth to offset some of that.”

The index has jumped 5 percent this year as the U.S.

reported declines in unemployment and the Federal Reserve extended its low-interest-rate pledge to late 2014. The U.S.

accounted for 75 percent of Canada’s exports in 2010, according to Statistics Canada. The Labor Department is scheduled to report January’s unemployment rate and payrolls data tomorrow in Washington.

Precious-metals producers rose with gold futures after the U.S. reported a bigger decline in first-time unemployment claims than most economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast.

Bernanke told a congressional committee today that economic indicators “have shown some signs of improvement.”

Goldcorp advanced 2.1 percent to C$48.67. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest company in the industry, increased

0.9 percent to C$49.73. Silver Wheaton Corp., Canada’s fifth- largest precious-metals company by market value, rallied 1.2 percent to C$36.61, extending its streak of gains to seven days, the longest since August 2010.

NovaGold Resources Inc., which is developing mines in Alaska and British Columbia, sank 8.6 percent to C$9.44 after disclosing a 35-million-share offering at $9.50 a share.

Atac Resources Ltd., which explores for gold in Yukon, soared 23 percent, the most since September 2010, to C$3.87, to extend its six-day jump to 61 percent. The company has no announcements immediately pending and does not know the reason for the shares’ surge, Vanessa Pickering, a company spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview.

Wildcat Silver Corp., which is developing a mine in Arizona, surged 20 percent to C$2.03 after Graeme Jennings, an analyst at Cormark Securities Inc., began coverage of the company with a “speculative buy” rating. New Millennium Iron Corp., which has projects in eastern Canada, jumped 17 percent to C$2.44 after Adam Low, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc., assigned it an “outperform” rating in new coverage, citing the prospect of high ore prices.

Natural gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 7.2 percent after the U.S. reported stockpiles declined more last week than most analysts in a Bloomberg survey had forecast. The fuel sank 45 percent in the year ending yesterday.

Encana Corp., the country’s largest natural gas producer, advanced for the first time in six days, increasing 5.3 percent to C$19.87. Tourmaline Oil Corp., a western Canadian natural gas and oil producer, climbed 3.3 percent to C$25.02.

Oil-sands developer MEG Energy Corp. rose 4.1 percent to

C$46.50 after reporting a fourth-quarter profit more than twice as high as the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey, excluding certain items.

Canada’s six largest banks each dropped after Scotiabank, the country’s third-largest lender by assets, said it will sell

30 million shares at C$50.25 a share to help pay for acquisitions.

Royal Bank declined 0.7 percent to C$52.93. Bank of Montreal, Canada’s No. 4 lender, slipped 0.6 percent to C$58.43.

Scotiabank lost 0.9 percent to C$51.38 in TSX trading. In composite trading, which includes trading platforms that remained open after the company’s announcement yesterday, the shares rebounded 1.9 percent to C$51.38 after decreasing 2.2 percent yesterday.

Open Text surged 15 percent, the most since August 2010, to

C$60.34 in TSX trading after its second-quarter profit surpassed the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 14 percent, excluding certain items. The shares gained 7.6 percent to C$60.34 in composite trading after soaring 10 percent yesterday.

Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, soared 9.5 percent to C$1.27 to extend its seven-day rally to 32 percent, the most since August 2009. The shares have advanced as Delta Air Lines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. reported earnings that beat analysts’ average estimates.

US

By Michael P. Regan and Rita Nazareth

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Most U.S. stocks gained as a drop in jobless claims fueled optimism about the economy before tomorrow’s employment data. Oil slid to a six-week low as supplies rose. The dollar and Treasuries were little changed.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent to

1,325.54 at 4 p.m. in New York as three stocks rose for every two that fell on U.S. exchanges. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 11.05 points to 12,705.41. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index reached to a six-month high as mining shares surged after Xstrata Plc confirmed takeover talks. The S&P GSCI Index of raw materials lost 0.5 percent as oil’s drop overshadowed a rally in natural gas. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields were little changed at 1.83 percent. The Dollar Index rose less than 0.1 percent.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers in Washington that while the world’s largest economy is still vulnerable to shocks, measures of spending, production and jobs have improved. U.S. unemployment claims dropped by 12,000 to

367,000 last week. Olli Rehn, the European Union’s economic commissioner, said he expects a debt-swap agreement between Greece and private bondholders by the end of the week.

“It’s a wait-and-see approach,” Peter Jankovskis, who helps manage about $2.6 billion at Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois, said in a telephone interview. “You have a number of people waiting for the jobs report tomorrow to make a decision which way they go. You have the ongoing negotiations on the Greek debt on the background. I wouldn’t read too much into today’s trading.”

U.S. stocks rose for a second day after yesterday halting a four-day retreat, the longest for the Dow since August.

Tomorrow’s monthly payrolls data is forecast to show employment grew by 140,000 last month after rising 200,000 in December and the jobless rate held at an almost three-year low of 8.5 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Gains among the 10 main S&P 500 industry groups were led by energy, financial and consumer-staples companies, while raw- materials producers, health-care companies and utilities declined.

MasterCard Inc., the second-largest payments network, jumped 6.7 percent after profit climbed 24 percent. Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, advanced 2 percent after raising its sales and earnings targets. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., the maker of Keurig brand single- cup pods and brewers, surged 24 percent as profit exceeded estimates.

Profits have topped estimates at about 67 percent of the

246 companies in the S&P 500 that have released results since Jan. 9, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Earnings-per-share have increased 3.2 percent for the group on a 6.6 percent increase in sales.

Internet and social media companies rose after Facebook Inc. filed to raise $5 billion in an initial public offering.

Zynga Inc., the largest developer of games for Facebook, surged

17 percent. Groupon Inc., the biggest Internet daily-deal site, added 7.4 percent.

Oil slipped to a six-week low, dropping 1.3 percent to

$96.36 a barrel, after government data showed supplies climbed and fuel demand tumbled. Natural gas in New York rose 5.6 percent, the first advance in four days, following a bigger- than-forecast drop in U.S. stockpiles.

The Stoxx 600 rose for a third straight day. Shares of Xstrata Plc jumped 9.9 percent as the mining company said Glencore International Plc offered to buy the shares it didn’t already own. Glencore advanced 6.9 percent. Joining the two natural resources companies would combine the world’s largest listed commodity trader with a producer of coal, copper and nickel from Africa to Asia.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed 1.4 percent, heading for the highest close since Aug. 4. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 2 percent. Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index jumped 2.8 percent amid speculation policy makers will implement more measures to support the market.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Do we still not know that the appearance of a seed is in direct contradiction to its true nature?

If you submit the seed to a chemical analysis, you would find in it perhaps some carbon, proteins,

and many other things, but never the hint of the leaf of a tree.

-Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1901

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Life is unchartered territory.  It reveals

its story one moment at a time.

-Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1998

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

February is Black History Month

February was the month of purification among the ancient Romans (Latin februum means purgation).

The Dutch used to call the month Spokkelmaand, “vegetation month.”

The Anglo-Saxons knew it as solmönath, meaning “mud month.”

In the French revolutionary calendar, its equivalent from January 21 to February 19^th, was Pluviôse m “rain month.”

 

An old proverb:

February fill dyke, be it black or be it white;

But if it be white it’s better to like.

 

photos of the day

February 1, 2012

A copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, painted at the same time as the original in the same studio, is displayed at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The museum says the copy is perhaps the earliest replica of the masterpiece. A museum spokeswoman said the work was done by one of da Vinci’s key students and was painted side by side with the 16th century original that hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

Paul White/AP

An airplane flies past the moon over Freudenberg, Germany.

Ina Fassbender/Reuters

 

Market Closes for February 1^st, 2012:

North American Markets

 

	Market Index	Close	Change
	Dow Jones	12716.46	+83.55 +0.66%
	S&P 500	1324.08	+11.67 +0.89%
	NASDAQ	2848.27	+34.43 +1.22%
	TSX	12517.66	+65.51 +0.53%
International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8809.79 +7.28 +0.08% HANG SENG 20333.37 -57.12   -0.28% SENSEX 17300.58 +107.03 +0.62% FTSE 100 5790.72 +109.11 +1.92% CAC 40 3367.46 +68.91 +2.09% DAX 6616.64 +157.73 +2.44% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	1.905	1.889
CDN. 30 year bond	2.517	2.500
U.S. 10-year bond	1.8300	1.7919
U.S. 30-year bond	2.9958	2.9344

 

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00228	1.00291
US $	0.99773	0.99710

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31395	0.76106
US $	1.31694	0.75885

 

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1743.80	$1739.80

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	97.46	$98.40

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second day, led by banks and energy producers, after manufacturing indexes in Europe and China surpassed most analysts’ forecasts.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, increased 1.6 percent as banks climbed for the first time in seven days. Cenovus Energy Inc., Canada’s fifth-biggest energy company, rallied 2.5 percent as oil and gas stocks advanced. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Canada’s largest drugmaker, gained 4.6 percent after saying it will buy a Brazilian food supplements company.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 80.86 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,533.01 at 1:47 p.m. Toronto time.

“Canada is very much tied to global growth,” Jennifer Radman, a money manager at Caldwell Investment Management Ltd.

in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$1 billion ($1 billion). “Over the last several months, there’s been a pick-up in economic numbers. In China, there’s more and more confidence they’re not going to have this hard landing some people were talking about.”

The S&P/TSX gained 4.2 percent in January, its second monthly advance in 11 months, as raw-materials producers surged

10 percent on higher metals prices. Gold had its biggest January rally since 1983 and copper increased after the U.S. Federal Reserve extended its low-interest-rate pledge to late 2014. The industry accounts for 22 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Purchasing managers’ indexes from China and the U.K. showed manufacturing expanded faster in January than most economists in Bloomberg surveys had forecast. In the euro region, manufacturing contracted less than the median economist forecast.

Greece may offer to promise a reduction in bondholders’

losses in a debt swap that would take effect if the country’s economy rebounds, people with knowledge of the confidential talks said. Owners of Greek debt have been negotiating an exchange of their bonds for newer ones that would pay a lower interest rate.

Bank shares in the S&P/TSX ended their longest streak of losses since July. Royal Bank climbed 1.6 percent to C$53.20.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, rose 1 percent to C$78.28. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-biggest insurer, gained 2.6 percent to C$12.01.

The S&P/TSX Energy Index advanced for a second day. Cenovus increased 2.5 percent to C$37.49. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, climbed 1.1 percent to C$40.16.

Petrobank Energy & Resources Ltd., the majority owner of PetroBakken Energy Ltd., jumped 7 percent to C$14.93 after agreeing to sell its May River property in Alberta to Grizzly Oil Sands Ulc for C$225 million.

TransGlobe Energy Corp., which produces oil and gas in Egypt and Yemen, rose 8.3 percent to C$10.58 to extend its three-day surge to 12 percent. The company’s daily average oil production increased 41 percent in January from the fourth quarter of 2011, Calgary-based TransGlobe said Jan. 30.

Flint Energy Services Ltd., an oilfield-services company, rallied 6.4 percent to C$15.73 after gaining 5.6 percent yesterday. Frederic Bastien, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc., began coverage of the company with a “strong buy” rating yesterday, citing its diverse activities and growth in the shale gas and natural gas liquids industries.

Raw-materials companies in the S&P/TSX advanced as the U.S.

Dollar Index fell to the lowest intraday level since Dec. 9 and base-metals futures rose.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia, climbed for the first time in five days, increasing 3.6 percent to C$16.76. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, rose 0.9 percent to C$47.42 as wheat futures gained after settling at a four-month high yesterday.

Valeant gained 4.6 percent to C$50.80 after agreeing to buy Probiotica Laboratorios Ltda., based in Embu das Artes, Sao Paulo, for 150 million reais ($86 million). Probiotica had about

80 million reais in revenue last year, Valeant said in a statement.

Westport Innovations Inc., which develops natural-gas engine technologies, dropped 6 percent to C$39.14 after Navistar International Corp. said it will sell heavy-duty trucks with engines it is developing with Clean Air Power Ltd. Westport closed at a 10-year high yesterday.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, snapping a four-day decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid signs that manufacturing across the world is strengthening.

Financial and industrial shares in the S&P 500 rose at least 1.1 percent to lead gains among 10 groups. Morgan Stanley added 4 percent as Facebook Inc. was said to pick the firm to take the lead on its planned initial public offering. Whirlpool Corp. surged 13 percent as the appliance maker projected earnings that beat forecasts. Technology companies in the benchmark index rallied to an 11 year-high. Broadcom Corp.

jumped 8.1 percent as its sales forecast may top estimates.

The S&P 500 increased 0.9 percent to 1,324.08 at 4 p.m. New York time, following the biggest January advance in 15 years for the measure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 83.55 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,716.46. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies jumped 2.1 percent to 809.66.

“The manufacturing is looking pretty good,” Allan Flader, a senior vice president at RBC Wealth Management, said in a telephone interview from Phoenix. His firm oversees $227 billion. “It shows that there’s not a contraction going on and that we’re progressing and moving forward.”

Equities rallied after data showing manufacturing in the U.S. grew at the fastest pace in seven months. Factory indexes in China improved and a U.K. manufacturing gauge jumped to an eight-month high. In Germany, output grew for the first time since September. Manufacturing contracted less than initially estimated in the euro region. A spokesman said Greece expects to complete talks on a private sector debt swap and a second international financing deal for the country in the next days.

“The news on the economy is better,” David Sowerby, a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles & Co., which oversees $150 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The uncertainty in Europe has diminished. While corporate profits have been less robust, they are still growing.

That’s what’s moving stock prices higher.”

The S&P 500 rose 4.4 percent for the best January since it gained 6.1 percent in 1997, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Earnings beat projections at 67 percent of the 209 companies in the S&P 500 that reported quarterly results since Jan. 9, the data show. Profits probably grew 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The projection has fallen from 6.2 percent at the end of last year.

The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy rallied 1.6 percent. A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes jumped 3 percent. Construction spending increased 1.5 percent in December, the biggest gain since August, Commerce Department figures showed today.

The KBW Bank Index rose 1.7 percent as 23 of its 24 stocks gained. Bank of America Corp. added 3.2 percent, the most in the Dow, to $7.36. Citigroup Inc. advanced 2.9 percent to $31.60.

Morgan Stanley climbed 4 percent to $19.39. Facebook will file plans with regulators today to raise $5 billion, though the amount may increase, two people said. Morgan Stanley stands to earn a larger share of the fees collected by securities firms for arranging the IPO.

Whirlpool surged 13 percent to $61.64 after also reporting a 20 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit. Cost reductions and price increases “positively impacted” the results last quarter, the company said today in a statement.

A measure of technology shares in the S&P 500 gained 0.9 percent as some of the industry’s largest companies rallied.

Microsoft Corp., the largest software maker, advanced 1.2 percent to $29.89. Hewlett-Packard Co. increased 2.8 percent to $28.76. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.4 percent.

Broadcom jumped 8.1 percent to $37.13. The company is benefiting from demand for radio chips that help Apple Inc.’s smartphones and tablets connect over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals. Apple’s phone sales more than doubled to 37 million in the quarter.

Casino companies gained after revenue in Macau, the world’s largest gambling hub, rose 35 percent in January. MGM Resorts International climbed 5 percent to $13.70. Las Vegas Sands Corp.

increased 2.2 percent to $50.18.

AOL Inc. soared 9.6 percent to $17.76. Profit exceeded analysts’ estimates as display advertising sales gained for the fourth straight period.

Amazon.com Inc. tumbled 7.7 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $179.46. Sales missed estimates, signaling that its investments in media services, Kindle devices and shipping promotions have been slow to pay off.

NYSE Euronext slid 0.5 percent to $26.43. European Union regulators vetoed the plan by Deutsche Boerse AG and NYSE Euronext to create the world’s biggest exchange after concluding that the merger would have led to a “near-monopoly” in European exchange-traded derivatives.

Strategists at the biggest banks are capitulating on their bearish forecasts after the best start to a year for global stocks since 1994.

Just two weeks after saying that investors should “remain cautious,” Larry Hatheway, the chief economist at UBS AG, raised his recommendations on global shares and high-yield bonds in a Jan. 23 note to customers entitled, “Wrong, but not too late.” Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, and Benoit Anne, the global head of emerging-markets strategy at Societe Generale SA, said their estimates for developing nations were proven wrong.

The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 5.7 percent in January, surprising strategists at Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc who had forecast first-half losses because of Europe’s debt crisis.

“In hindsight, everybody was so beared up at the end of last year,” Mary Ann Bartels, the New York-based head of technical and market analysis at Bank of America, who predicted on Dec. 27 that the S&P 500 would probably fall about 15 percent in the first half before recovering, said in a Jan. 31 phone interview. “There was nowhere for the market to go but up.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Man must understand that when he cuts himself off from all stimulating and purifying contact with infinity,

and no longer relies on it for his subsistence and his health, he risks madness;

he tears himself asunder, and divorces himself from his very substance.

-Rabindranath Tagore,1861-1901

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Make learning your business,

speak little, do much and

receive everyone kindly.

-Shamma, 1963-

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

The composer Philip Glass, credited with the invention of minimalist music, turns 75 today and is celebrating with a performance at Carnegie Hall tonight.

Another noteworthy anniversary today is that of the Tet Offensive which began on this day in 1968 in Saigon.  It was the turning point that hastened the departure of the US;  eventually North Vietnamese tanks rolled into the city.  We saw one when we were in Vietnam last month.  It still sits in front of the old US embassy.

 

In the Globe & Mail today:

The perfect martini

“James Bond insists on his being shaken, but scientists claim preparing the perfect vodka martini requires stirring it with a wooden spoon,” The Daily Telegraph reports.  “Rather than mixing the secret agent’s favourite tipple with a long metal cocktail spoon – or risk bruising the alcohol by shaking it over ice – experts claim a thin piece of wood is the best tool for the job.  The revelation comes in the science magazine New Scientist, which asked its academic readers for the optimum way to serve the drink.  The magazine concluded that metal spoons warm up a drink too much because metal is a good heat conductor. …It is believed that the original Ian Fleming books called for Bond’s martini to be shaken, not stirred because vodka was originally made from potatoes, which left an oily after-taste if not shaken vigorously.”

photos of the day

January 31, 2012

A vendor arranges pineapple-shaped lanterns for sale ahead of the Lantern Festival at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The festival marks the last day of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations and falls on February 6 this year.

Leo Lang/Reuters

A worker picks out roses in preparation for the upcoming Valentine’s Day, at a farm in Cajica. A troubled global economy and bad weather has some growers in Colombia worried about this year’s crop. Colombia exports 450 million flowers for Valentine’s Day, and flower farmers say that day alone accounts for 12 percent of their annual income.

John Vizcaino/Reuters

Market Closes for January 31^ST, 2012

North American Markets

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	12632.91	-20.81 -0.16%
S&P 500	1312.40	-0.61 -0.05%
NASDAQ	2813.84	+1.90 +0.07%
TSX	12452.15	+15.73 +0.13%

 

International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8802.51 +9.46 +0.11% HANG SENG 20390.49 +230.08 +1.14% SENSEX 17193.55 +330.25 +1.96% FTSE 100 5681.61 +10.52 +0.19% CAC 40 3298.55 +32.91 +1.01% DAX 6458.91 +14.46 +0.22% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	1.889	1.938
CDN. 30 year bond	2.500	2.548
U.S. 10-year bond	1.7919	1.8439
U.S. 30-year bond	2.9344	2.9989

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00291	1.00262
US $	.99710	.99739

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31207	0.76215
US $	1.30820	0.76441

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	$1739.80	$1730.00

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	$98.40	$98.98

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, completing a monthly gain, as raw-materials producers finished their biggest advance in a month since August 2010.

Metro Inc., Canada’s third-largest grocer, rose 3 percent after its first-quarter earnings beat all nine estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Oil-sands developer BlackPearl Resources Inc. plunged 9.6 percent after saying it missed its year-end production goal. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, dropped 1 percent after an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut her rating on the stock.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 15.73 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,452.15, extending the monthly climb to 4.2 percent.

“We’ve had some fairly good reaffirmation that the U.S. economy is on track,” Greg Taylor, a money manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto, said in a note to clients. The firm oversees about C$5.5 billion ($5.5 billion). “It also feels like the European headlines are more in the background. A bit of the risk-on trade is back.”

The index rose for the second month in the last 11. Mining companies gained on economic data showing a stronger U.S. economy and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plan to keep interest rates at historical lows until at least late 2014. The S&P/TSX slumped 11 percent last year as the European debt crisis led to concern global growth would slow and demand for raw materials would decrease. Resources companies make up 48 percent of Canadian stocks by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

S&P/TSX consumer-staples companies advanced the most in two months after Metro reported first-quarter earnings that beat the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey by 4.9 percent and boosted its dividend.

Metro gained 3 percent to C$54.74. Viterra Inc., Canada’s largest grain handler, advanced 3.9 percent to C$10.79 as Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures climbed to the highest since September on drought conditions in the central U.S.

Alimentation Couche Tard Inc., the owner of Mac’s and Circle K convenience stores, increased 2.9 percent to C$30.45 after Keith E. Howlett, an analyst at Desjardins Securities, began coverage of the company with a “buy” rating.’’

Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s second-largest oil company by revenue, rose 2 percent to C$47.78 after its fourth-quarter profit surpassed the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey by 11 percent, excluding certain items.

BlackPearl Resources tumbled 9.6 percent to C$4.80 after saying 2011 output averaged more than 9,500 barrels a day, compared with its goal of 11,000 barrels a day. Mark J. Friesen, an analyst at Royal Bank, cut his rating on the shares to “sector perform” from “outperform.”

Mart Resources Inc., which produces oil and gas in Nigeria, sank 19 percent, the most since December 2009, to 87 Canadian cents after saying capacity constraints at an export terminal limited production in December and January.

Potash Corp. lost 1 percent to C$46.98 after Lindsay Drucker Mann, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, reduced her rating on the shares to “neutral” from “buy.” A possible reduction in Indian fertilizer subsidies may reduce consumption, she wrote in a note to clients.

Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow- based ARMZ Uranium Holding, slumped 6.2 percent to C$2.57.

Uranium-oxide concentrate for immediate delivery fell 1 percent in the week ending yesterday, Roswell, Georgia-based Ux Consulting Co. said in a report.

Papermaker Fortress Paper Ltd. surged 16 percent, the most since March 2010, to C$39.42 after agreeing to buy and upgrade a mill in Quebec. The purchase is likely to provide a “long overdue catalyst” for the stock, Richard Kelertas, an analyst at Dundee Securities, said in a note to clients.

Westport Innovations Inc., which develops natural-gas engine technologies, jumped 9.3 percent to a 10-year high of C$41.64. The shares soared 23 percent in January as natural gas prices plunged 16 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange and U.S. President Barack Obama promoted the fuel’s use.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for a fourth day, the longest streak for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since August, as reports showed consumer confidence trailed economists’ projections and business activity cooled.

Stocks pared earlier losses as financial shares rallied.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added at least 1.5 percent. Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest energy company by market value, dropped 2.1 percent on lower-than-forecast sales. Archer Daniels Midland Co. tumbled 3.6 percent as the world’s biggest grain processor reported an 89 percent plunge in earnings.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.1 percent to 1,312.41 at 4 p.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge fell as much as 0.5 percent and rose 0.6 percent earlier today. The Dow retreated 20.81 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,632.91.

“People are on the fence with respect to whether we accelerate in economic terms or slow down again,” John Carey, a Boston-based money manager at Pioneer Investments, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about $220 billion.

“We’d like to see better economic growth for sure.”

Stocks erased early gains as reports showed that consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped in January and a gauge of business activity fell, underscoring forecasts that the U.S. economy will cool after expanding at the fastest pace since the second quarter 2010. Earlier gains were triggered after most countries in Europe agreed to tighter budget controls and Greece made progress on debt talks.

Today’s decline trimmed the S&P 500’s monthly rally to 4.4 percent. The index still capped the best January gain in 15 years amid the Federal Reserve’s plans to keep interest rates low through at least late 2014 and better-than-estimated earnings. Of the 192 S&P 500 companies that reported results since Jan. 9, 129 posted per-share earnings that beat projections, Bloomberg data show.

“We’re moving closer to relief from the European problem becoming one of catastrophe,” Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages $54 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The market is recognizing that European officials are working towards solutions. As more of that fades, what takes prominence is the fact that the corporate picture remains pretty decent.”

Exxon Mobil dropped 2.1 percent, the biggest decline in the Dow, to $83.74. Revenue rose 16 percent to $121.6 billion during the quarter, less than the $124.4 billion average of five analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

ADM sank 3.6 percent to $28.63. The company, led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Woertz, has missed analysts’ estimates for three straight quarters. Operating profit at the agricultural-services unit, the company’s largest segment by revenue in fiscal 2011, fell 63 percent to $158 million after U.S. grain exports declined because of a smaller domestic crop and “adequate” global supplies, ADM said.

RadioShack Corp. tumbled 30 percent to $7.18 after the consumer-electronics retailer suspended share repurchases and reported preliminary fourth-quarter earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates.

The S&P 500 Diversified Financials Index rose 0.8 percent, the most among 24 groups. Morgan Stanley advanced 2.5 percent to $18.65. Goldman Sachs climbed 1.6 percent to $111.47.

U.S. financial stocks are hardly a bargain as they wrap up their best start to a year since the 1990s, according to Brian Belski, Oppenheimer & Co.’s chief investment strategist.

“Longer-term investors should not be fooled by what appear to be attractive valuations for financials,” Belski wrote in a Jan. 27 report. Anyone looking ahead three to five years ought to invest less money in these stocks than their S&P 500 weight would suggest, he added. They account for about 14 percent of the index’s value.

The financial index was valued at 12.4 times earnings yesterday. The ratio was about twice as high two years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Most of these companies operate in a ‘whole new world’ of increased scrutiny and regulation,” wrote Belski, based in New York. He added that more restrictive capital requirements, imposed as part of that shift, will hurt profitability.

This month’s gains in the shares resulted largely from buying to capitalize on a rising stock market, he wrote. S&P’s industry indicator swung by an average of 1.4 percent for every 1 percent move in the S&P 500 during the past 12 months, based on Bloomberg’s data. This reading, known as beta, was higher for financials than for any of the index’s nine other main industry groups.

U.S. Steel Corp. gained 5.1 percent to $30.19. The country’s largest producer of the metal by volume forecast improved prices and shipments at its biggest division.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Order is the very essence of the universe-

the order of birth and death and so on.  It is only man that seems to live in disorder, confusion.

He has lived that way since the world began.

-Krishnamurti, 1895-1986

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

I get it now; I didn’t get it then. That life is about losing

and about doing it as gracefully as possible… and

enjoying everything in between.

-Mia Farrow, 1945-

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

Today is the Holiday of the Three Hierarchs, Greece.  The three Hierarchs are Basil the Great, Gregory the theologian and John Chrysotom.  Maybe their spirits can intervene to help positively the attempt at debt restructuring.

I was speaking with a client today who is a former teacher and she brought up the term “free-range kids,” which I hadn’t heard before.  She was emphasizing the need for children to have time, to let their imaginations flourish.   I told her about an article I read this week in a magazine on the need for kids to have free time and just play.  I dug it up.   John Yemma wrote, “Standardized testing, helicopter parenting, a society obsessed with good colleges and successful careers – there are plenty of reasons why time for make-believe and play-acting  has been shrinking….Free time and make-believe boost physical development, socialization, and – most important – the imagination.  A huge amount of what we value as a civilization comes from the what-if side of us.  While we must follow rules and recipes, train ourselves and test our skills, our artistic side needs time to wonder, improvise, and dream.  Productive writers from Shakespeare to Charles Dickens, Dr. Seuss to J.K. Rowling, have coupled imagination with discipline.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart talked of musical ideas emerging when he was alone, sometimes when he was sleepless or taking a walk after a good meal.  To muse and mull and eventually hear a symphony in his head, he said, ‘is perhaps the best gift I have my Divine Maker to thank for.’  Mozart might have been the most overprogrammed child of the 18^th century.  Under his father’s tutelage, he was by the age of 5 adept at violin and keyboard, and composing and performing for European royalty.

By today’s standards, he would have been locked up and loaded for the Juilliard School while he was still in diapers.  It takes both imagination and discipline to produce works as original as ‘The Magic Flute.’  That twinning combination is true not just of literature, music, and painting but of science as well.  The scientific method is meant to prove or disprove a hypothesis.   But the hypothesis – the hunch, the what-if – had to come from  somewhere.  Angels must be entertained.”

photos of the day

January 30th, 2012

Members of a group of skiers using traditional ski equipment prepare for a competition in Skofja Loka, Slovenia.

Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters

People release sky lanterns to celebrate the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival in Pingxi, Xinbei city, northern Taiwan. Believers gathered to release sky lanterns as a form of prayer for good luck and blessings. The tradition of releasing lanterns began during the Ching Dynasty when bands of outlaws frequently raided villages, forcing local residents to seek refuge in the mountains. The lanterns were signals used by the village watchmen to inform the refugees that their houses were safe again.

Pichi Chuang/Reuters

 

Market Closes for January 30th, 2012

North American Markets

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	12653.72	-6.74 -.05%
S&P 500	1313.01	-3.32 -0.25%
NASDAQ	281194	-4.61 -0.16%
TSX	12436.42	-30.08 -0.24%

 

International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8793.05 -48.17 -0.54% HANG SENG 20160.41 -341.26 -1.66% SENSEX 16863.30 -370.68 -2.15% FTSE 100 5671.09 -62.36 -1.09% CAC 40 3265.64 -53.12 -1.60% DAX 6444.45 -67.53 -1.04% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	1.938	1.986
CDN. 30 year bond	2.548	2.599
U.S. 10-year bond	1.8439	1.8910
U.S. 30-year bond	2.9989	3.0582

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00262	1.00081
US $	.99739	.99920

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31747	0.75903
US $	1.31402	0.76102

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	$1730.00	$1737.70

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	$98.98	$99.63

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, led by producers of raw materials, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European leaders won’t complete a second aid program for Greece at a summit today.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, lost 5.6 percent as copper dropped the most in three weeks. Semafo Inc., which mines gold in West Africa, plunged 12 percent after saying production may decline this year. Ruggedcom Inc., which makes communications equipment used in industry, soared 25 percent after agreeing to be bought by Siemens AG.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index decreased 30.08 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,436.42 in Toronto.

“We’ve gotten a pretty robust move out of the blocks,”

Gerry Brockelsby, a money manager at Marquest Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$250 million ($250 million). “It’s understandable the market may take a pause, especially in the face of continuing concern about Europe regarding the Greece settlement.”

The S&P/TSX gained each of the previous six weeks, the longest streak since April 2009, as improving U.S. manufacturing and employment data and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plan to keep interest rates at historical lows until at least late 2014 overshadowed the European debt crisis.

Today’s summit won’t complete the Greek aid program because talks with banks over debt reduction aren’t completed, Merkel told reporters before the summit in Brussels today. Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos yesterday rejected the idea of European intervention in the country’s budget policy, citing “national dignity.”

U.S. personal spending was unchanged in December, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Most economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast an increase.

The S&P/TSX Materials Index retreated from the highest close since Dec. 1 as the U.S. Dollar Index climbed the most since Jan. 13.

First Quantum lost 5.6 percent to C$21.74. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, slipped 0.9 percent to C$48.78. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper project, decreased 4.5 percent to C$16.29.

Semafo sank 12 percent to C$7.04 after forecasting 2012 production of 235,000 to 260,000 ounces. The company, based in Montreal, produced 250,100 ounces of gold last year. Josh Wolfson, an analyst at Stifel Financial Corp., cut his rating on the shares to “hold” from “buy.”

Financial companies in the S&P/TSX dropped for a fifth day, the longest streak since July. Bank of Nova Scotia, the country’s third-largest lender by assets, declined 0.7 percent to C$51.96. Bank of Montreal lost 0.6 percent to C$58.18, while Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-largest insurer, decreased 0.5 percent to C$11.81. Great-West Lifeco Inc., Canada’s second-biggest insurance company, lost 1.1 percent to C$21.72.

Ruggedcom jumped 25 percent to a record C$32.85 after Siemens agreed to buy the Concord, Ontario-based company for

C$33 a share. Belden Inc., based in St. Louis, had made an unsolicited offer of C$22 a share last month.

Mood Media Corp., the owner of Muzak Holdings LLC, rallied

21 percent, the most since September 2009, to C$2.85. The company estimated fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $34 million, beating the average analyst forecast of $32.1 million, according to a Bloomberg survey. It was Mood Media’s first gain since Jan. 12.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a third day, as European leaders sparred with Greece over a second rescue program.

Equities pared declines as some of the biggest technology companies rallied. Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. added at least

1.2 percent. Bank of America Corp. fell 3 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its recommendation. Halliburton Co. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. dropped more than 1.1 percent as oil slumped. Gannett Co., the owner of 82 newspapers including USA Today, tumbled 6.9 percent as its profit plunged 33 percent.

The S&P 500 decreased 0.3 percent to 1,313.01 at 4 p.m. New York time. The benchmark index for American equities trimmed a decline of as much as 1.2 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 6.74 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,653.72.

“The low hanging fruit has been picked and now it’s a more difficult slog to get substantive changes in Europe,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus & Co, which has more than $107 billion in client assets. “There are near term doubts over the willingness of Greece and perhaps other countries to accept fiscal reforms.

Anything that could interrupt further progress in the euro area could be met with an opportunity for traders to sell.”

Today’s decline follows a four-week rally in the S&P 500, which was driven by the Federal Reserve’s plans to keep interest rates low through at least late 2014 and better-than-estimated earnings. Of the 171 S&P 500 companies that reported results since Jan. 9, 113 posted per-share earnings that beat projections, Bloomberg data show.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos rejected reports of plans to appoint a European Union commissioner to oversee the nation’s budget, citing “national dignity.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Greek debt-swap talks with private bondholders are “going in the right direction” and the issue should be settled in the next few days.

“The question isn’t whether or not Europe goes into a recession, but how deep that recession is going to be,” Tom Wirth, who helps manage $1.5 billion as senior investment officer for Chemung Canal Trust Co., in Elmira, New York, said in a telephone interview. “Greece as it stands currently is untenable. The market is getting comfortable with some sort of Greek default, whether it’s orderly or disorderly.”

Financial shares had the biggest decline in the S&P 500 among 10 industries, falling 1 percent as a group. Bank of America dropped 3 percent to $7.07 after Goldman Sachs cut its recommendation for the shares to “neutral” from “buy.”

A measure of energy shares in the S&P 500 retreated 0.4 percent. Halliburton slumped 1.2 percent to $36.67. Chesapeake decreased 1.6 percent to $21.69.

Nabors Industries Ltd. gained 3.5 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $18.56. Traders in the options market are betting the world’s largest land-drilling contractor may be a takeover candidate after the departure of its 81-year-old chief executive officer. In the past two weeks, calls priced 10 percent above Nabors’ stock rose the most in 18 months versus puts on one- month contracts, signaling traders are anticipating an acquisition, said JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC.

Gannett tumbled 6.9 percent to $14.17. Revenue from the publishing division, the largest unit, declined 5.3 percent as advertising and circulation fell. The newspaper industry overall has continued to lose ad business to Internet companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.

Staples Inc. declined 4.9 percent to $15.23. The world’s largest office products company was cut to “sell” from “neutral” by Goldman Sachs, which cited a “tough” outlook for the global printing segment.

Measures of telephone and technology companies in the S&P

500 rallied. Apple added 1.3 percent to $453.01. Microsoft gained 1.3 percent to $29.61. Verizon Communications Inc. rose

1.1 percent to $37.61.

Pep Boys — Manny, Moe & Jack surged 24 percent to $14.93 after agreeing to go private in an acquisition by Gores Group LLC valued at about $791 million. The cash offer of $15 a share is 24 percent higher than Pep Boys’ closing price on Jan. 27, the companies said today in a statement.

US Airways Group Inc. rallied 4.2 percent to $8.52. Delta Air Lines Inc. is studying a bid as North American carriers assess possible combinations after the bankruptcy of American Airlines parent AMR Corp., people familiar with the matter said.

Valuations for U.S. equities have been stuck below the five-decade average for the longest period since Richard Nixon’s presidency, a sign investors don’t trust earnings even after a three-year bull market.

Analysts estimate profits in the S&P 500 will reach a record $104.78 this year after increasing 125 percent since the end of 2009, the fastest expansion in a quarter century, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. American companies are boosting income so much that even after stocks doubled, the S&P

500 hasn’t traded above its 16.4 mean ratio for 446 days, the longest stretch since the 13 years beginning in 1973.

Battered by the 14 percent decline in the S&P 500 since 2000, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the flash crash 21 months ago, investors are staying away from stocks, even after record profits, 10 quarters of U.S. economic growth and promises by the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates near zero through 2014. Of the $37 trillion erased from global equities in the credit crisis, $24 trillion has been restored.

“After two significant bear markets, the flash crash and the lost decade, many have simply said, ‘No mas,’” Howard Ward, who helps oversee $35 billion at Gamco Investors Inc. in Rye, New York, said in an e-mail on Jan. 24. “Of course, bull markets have a history of climbing a wall of worry. And it is happening again.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything

and every being that exists or lives.

-Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

If you can’t change your fate,

change your attitude.

-Amy Tan, 1952-

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

Today  is Montreal author Mordecai Richler’s birthday. January 27^th, 1931.  Martin Levin writes in The Globe & Mail, “For young Mordecai Richler, the choice was always between the shtetl and the street, the rabbinic and the writerly.  Child of a distinguished religious clan that somehow made its way from Galicia to Montreal, he chose the street, and the writing life.  The street was St. Urbain, beating heart of emergent Jewish life in Canada, and Richler gave us a peerlessly detailed, often comic mapping of its terrain – psychological, social and emotional as much as physical – in such works as The Street and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.  Richler may be said to have been shaped by two things: From the orthodoxy he rejected, he salvaged the search for moral values: from the Nazi destruction of European Jewry, he formed the will to be a truth-teller, a fearless witness to his age.”

I absolutely loved his writing and I’ve read everything he has ever written.  I used to go walk the streets in his novels when I lived in Montreal, and still do when I visit the city savoring nostalgia.

The National Post today has an article entitled Heroines of Auschwitz, written by Bernie M. Farber, the former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress and the son of a Holocaust survivor.    He writes, “On Jan. 27, 1945, 67 years ago today, the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz.  From 1942 to late 1944, the concentration camp became the center of the wholesale murder….Yet within Auschwitz’s horror there were unique acts of bravery from which we must always take heart.  The courage of Anna (Wajcblum) Heilman and the women of the Auschwitz munitions factory is one such story.”  It is a very moving story of the heroics of these women.

photos of the day

January 27, 2012

Ultra-orthodox Jewish men pray at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Bernat Armangue/AP

Denmark’s Prince Joachim and French-born princess Marie showed off their newborn princess for the first time to the public at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. The baby was born Tuesday morning and weighed 6.45 pounds and measures 19.6 inches. The newborn is the couple’s second child and is 10th in line to Denmark’s throne.

Joachim Adrian/AP

Market Closes for January 27th, 2012

North American Markets

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	12,660.46	-74.17 -.58%
S&P 500	1316.32	-2.11 -0.16%
NASDAQ	2816.55	+11.27 +0.40%
TSX	12,466.50	+2.18 +.02%

 

International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8,841.22 -8.25 -.09% HANG SENG 20,501.67 +62.53 +0.31% SENSEX 17233.98 +156.80 +.92% FTSE 100 5733.45 -61.75 -1.07% CAC 40 3318.76 -44.47 -1.32% DAX 6511.98 -27.87 -0.43% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	1.986	2.015
CDN. 30 year bond	2.599	2.626
U.S. 10-year bond	1.8910	1.9313
U.S. 30-year bond	3.0582	3.0902

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00081	1.00284
US $	.99920	.99717

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32367	.75547
US $	1.32261	0.75608

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	$1737.70	$1719.70

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	$99.63	$99.86

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, extending a sixth-straight weekly advance, after borrowing costs fell at an Italian debt sale and the U.S. dollar declined for a fifth day against the euro.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, gained 1.6 percent as metal climbed after settling at a seven- week high esterday. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second- biggest lender by assets, dropped 0.5 percent as financial stocks declined for a fourth day. Celestica Inc., which makes electronics for companies including Research In Motion Ltd., surged 5.1 percent after its fourth-quarter earnings beat the average analyst estimate.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 38.78 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,503.06 at 1:52 p.m. Toronto time, extending its weekly advance to 0.9 percent.

“The euro has come under so much pressure in the past few months, and indications out of Europe have turned a little more constructive,” Andrew Pyle, an associate portfolio manager at Bank of Nova Scotia in Peterborough, Ontario, said in a telephone interview. Pyle’s team oversees about C$200 million

($200 million). “Maybe the euro has found a bottom against the U.S. dollar, and that would help support gold.”

The index’s streak of weekly gains would be the longest since April 2009. Gold stocks rallied this week after the U.S.

Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates at historical lows until at least late 2014 and the U.S. dollar retreated. Raw-materials companies make up 21 percent of Canadian equities by market value, according to Bloomberg data.

Italy’s Treasury sold 8 billion euros ($10.5 billion) of 182-day bills today at the lowest yields since May. It also sold

3 billion euros of 331-day bills. The U.S. dollar fell for a fifth day against the euro.

The S&P/TSX Gold Index headed for its biggest weekly rally since October. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer of the metal, increased 1.6 percent to C$49.76. Yamana Gold Inc., Canada’s fourth-biggest company in the industry by market value, climbed 2 percent to C$17.46 to extend its weekly surge to 13 percent, which would be the most since October 2009.

Premier Gold Mines Ltd., which said yesterday it intends to enter a joint venture with Newmont Mining Corp. in Nevada, jumped 10 percent to C$5.83. Christos Doulis, an analyst at Stonecap Securities Inc., raised his 12-month price estimate on the shares to C$8.85 from C$8.50, citing the joint venture in a note to clients.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, gained 2.5 percent to

C$47.12 after Robert B. Winslow, an analyst at National Bank, boosted his rating on the shares to “sector perform” from “underperform.” Winslow raised his earnings estimates for the company, citing “the potential for near-term upward pressure on grain prices” in a note to clients.

Financial stocks in the S&P/TSX fell after the U.S. said its gross domestic product increased at an annualized rate of

2.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Economists had forecast a 3 percent increase in GDP, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

TD dropped 0.5 percent to C$77.46. Royal Bank of Canada, its larger domestic rival, slipped 0.5 percent to C$52.45.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the country’s third-biggest lender by assets, declined 0.6 percent to C$74.83.

Celestica surged 5.1 percent to C$8.11 after its fourth- quarter profit surpassed the average estimates of analysts in a Bloomberg survey by 28 percent, excluding certain items. Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst at Scotiabank, increased his rating on the shares to “sector outperform” from “sector perform.”

US

By Rita Nazareth

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks erased losses as banks rallied after the Obama administration said it will relax rules on a loan-modification program and optimism grew that Greece will reach a debt-restructuring agreement with bondholders.

Wells Fargo & Co. and Regions Financial Corp. added at least 2 percent, pacing gains among banks. Ford Motor Co.

slumped 3.6 percent as profit missed estimates on overseas challenges. Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company, slid 2.2 percent after reporting its biggest earnings decline in two years. T. Rowe Price Group Inc., the asset manager that has posted a profit every quarter since going public in 1986, dropped 1.8 percent as earnings fell.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.1 percent to

1,319.35 as of 3:45 p.m. New York time, after earlier declining as much as 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 43.67 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,690.96 today.

The revised Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, would pay Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive debt on homes that have lost value. The government-owned companies so far have refused to reduce principal, citing cost. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the government was “one step away”

from completing talks on a voluntary debt swap and was negotiating with international creditors on the terms for a second financing package at the same time.

A gauge of banks rallied 1.2 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500 among 24 industries. Wells Fargo added 2 percent to $29.62. Regions Financial rose 2.3 percent to $5.29.

The rally in banks helped the market overcome earlier losses triggered by lower-than-forecast growth in the U.S.

economy. Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, climbed at a 2.8 percent annual rate following a 1.8 percent gain in the prior quarter. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 3 percent increase. Growth excluding a jump in inventories was

0.8 percent.

Benchmark gauges rose earlier this week as Federal Reserve officials said they were concerned about the economy’s lack of vigor two years after the recession ended, prompting a pledge to keep interest rates low at least until late 2014. The Fed also didn’t rule out bond purchases to bolster the economy.

“Having the world’s economic locomotive showing signs of strain is adding to investors concern worldwide,” Jack Ablin, who helps oversee $55 billion as chief investment officer for Chicago-based Harris Private Bank, said in a telephone interview. “The GDP report creates doubt about how solid the recovery is. It’s a very difficult environment to assess.”

The S&P 500 has risen 4.8 percent this year through yesterday, poised for the best January since it gained 6.1 percent during the first month of 1997, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Of the 169 S&P 500 companies that reported results since Jan. 9, 112 posted per-share earnings that beat projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Solar shares gained as chief executive officers from Suntech Power Holdings Co. and Trina Solar Ltd. said China may double its installations of solar panels this year, absorbing excess production that depressed prices and margins in 2011.

Suntech added 6.8 percent to $3.46. Trina rose 7.4 percent to $8.68. First Solar Inc. climbed 12 percent to $45.73 for the biggest gain in the S&P 500.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. gained 8 percent to $18.83. The maker of Sharpie pens and Graco car strollers reported fourth- quarter earnings of 40 cents a share, excluding some items, beating the average analyst estimate of 38 cents.

Eastman Chemical Co. rallied 6.4 percent to $50.12 after agreeing to buy Solutia Inc. for about $4.7 billion, including debt, to drive expansion into higher-margin specialty plastics and chemicals. Solutia surged 40 percent to $27.36.

The S&P 500 Automobiles & Components Index dropped 2.1 percent, the most among 24 industries. Ford slumped 3.6 percent to $12.28. In the fourth quarter, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker was hamstrung by a weakening European market and flooding in Thailand that wiped out profits in its Asian operations, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said today.

Chevron slid 2.2 percent to $104.28. Chief Executive Officer John Watson has been selling oil refineries and filling stations in Europe and Africa to focus on higher-profit crude production and gas-liquefaction projects.

T. Rowe Price retreated 1.8 percent to $59.93. Net income decreased 1.7 percent to $188.4 million, or 73 cents a share, from $191.6 million, or 72 cents, a year earlier, the Baltimore- based company said today in a statement. Earnings per share increased as the number of outstanding shares fell 2.7 percent.

The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for profit of 69 cents a share.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Man has lost his inner perspective, he measures his greatness by his size

and not by his vital attachment to the infinite ; he judges his activity by his own movement

and not by the serenity of perfection, not by the peace that exists in the starry vault,

in the rhythmic dance of incessant creation.

Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1901

As ever,

 

Carolann

Man is able to do what he is

unable to imagine.

-Rene Char, 1907-1988

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

Tomorrow is Mozart’s birthday, January 27, 1756.  To celebrate, the Seattle radio station, King FM (98.1 on the radio) has been playing Mozart all month, at least one composition an hour in their tribute program, Mozart Month – 31 days of Mozart.  I turn it on when I wake up and it has been a wonderful way to greet the day.  There are still five more days to go, so listen in.

Seattle Opera is doing Verdi’s Attila right now, so I am looking forward to this weekend.  The final performance is Saturday night.   Gary left for Toronto this morning for a few days at an Amgen meeting, so I’m taking a friend.  Exciting time for Amgen; their monoclonal antibody drug has received approval for prostate cancer, breast cancer and osteoporosis.

photos of the day

January 26, 2012

A car’s headlights illuminate the A9 dual carriageway approach to on a clear starry night near Inverness, Scotland.

Russell Cheyne/Reuters

A tourist swims in a lagoon at the entrance of La Cueva de los Peces (Cave of the Fish) along the coast of Playa Giron, near the Bay of Pigs, 100 miles south-east of Havana, in central Cuba. The Arab Spring, changes in US policy and economic reforms at home are driving a tourist rush that is giving communist-run Cuba one of its best seasons ever and stretching its ability to accommodate demand.

Reuters

Market Closes for January 26th, 2012

North American Markets

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	12,734.63	-22.33 -.18%
S&P 500	1,318.43	-7.62 -0.57%
NASDAQ	2,805.28	-13.03 -.46%
TSX	12,464.32	-74.89 -.60%

 

International Markets   Close Change NIKKEI 8,849.47 -34.22 -.39% HANG SENG 20,439.14 +328.77 +1.63% SENSEX 17077.18 +81.41 +.48% FTSE 100 5,795.20 1.26% CAC 40 3,322.65 -15.77 -0.47% DAX 6,539.85 +118.00 +1.84% Bonds

 

Bonds	%Yield	Previous %Yield
CDN. 10 year bond	2.015	2.082
CDN. 30 year bond	2.626	2.665
U.S. 10-year bond	1.9313	2.0564
U.S. 30-year bond	3.0902	3.1419

 

Currencies

 

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	1.00284	1.0108
US $	.99717	.9900

 

Euro  Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31314	0.76153
US $	1.30936	0.76373

 

Commodities

 

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	$1719.70	$1,665.10

 

Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	$99.86	$99.15

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell from a four- month high as financial companies dropped after the U.S. reported a decline in monthly new-home sales.

Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-largest insurer, lost 5.1 percent after an analyst at UBS AG reduced his rating on the shares. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, gained 2.2 percent as the metal advanced for a second day after the U.S. Federal Reserve extended its low-interest-rate pledge. Encana Corp., Canada’s biggest natural gas producer, lost 4.9 percent as the fuel retreated for the first time in five days.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 74.89 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,464.32 after rallying as much as 0.6 percent before the release of the housing data.

The home-sales number “is just a trigger,” Bob Decker, a money manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about $5.5 billion.

“Stocks are erasing their gain because people are wondering what lies ahead. We’re in a sell-on-news mode. It’s a second sober thought people are having about whether this Fed move indicates something more nefarious about their analysis.”

Canada’s benchmark stock gauge has gained 0.5 percent this week after advancing each of the five previous weeks. The S&P/TSX rose 7.8 percent from Dec. 16 to yesterday as employment and manufacturing data improved in the U.S. and the Fed said it expects to keep its benchmark interest rate near a record low until at least late 2014. Seventy-five percent of Canada’s exports went to the U.S. in 2010, according to Statistics Canada.

U.S. new-home sales fell 2.2 percent in December, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. All but six of 75 economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast an increase.

The S&P/TSX Financials Index dropped the most in two months. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, declined 1.5 percent to C$52.73. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s No. 2 lender, lost 1.1 percent to C$77.86. Bank of Montreal, the fourth-biggest bank, slipped 1.7 percent to C$59.64.

Manulife and Sun Life Financial Inc. declined after Peter A. Rozenberg, an analyst at UBS AG, cut his ratings on the stocks to “neutral” from “buy.” Low interest rates will hold back profit, Rozenberg wrote in a note to clients.

Manulife lost 5.1 percent to C$11.91. Sun Life, the country’s third-biggest insurance company, slumped 5 percent to C$20.05.

Gold futures climbed to a seven-week high on the Comex in New York. Goldcorp rose 2.2 percent to C$48.75. Franco-Nevada Corp., which owns royalties on precious-metals production, gained 3.6 percent to C$44.50. Gabriel Resources Ltd., which is developing a gold mine in Romania, soared 8.7 percent to C$6.13 for its first gain since Jan. 16.

Natural gas retreated after rebounding 18 percent from a nine-year low over the previous four days. The fuel fell today on speculation a larger-than-average inventory decrease in the U.S. last week won’t be enough to resolve a supply glut.

Encana decreased 4.9 percent to C$19.74 after Thomas R. Driscoll, an analyst at Barclays Plc, reduced his price estimate on its U.S.-traded shares to $17 from $22. Talisman Energy Inc., an oil and gas producer with operations in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, slipped 2.9 percent to C$11.90.

Oilfield-services company Calfrac Well Services Ltd. tumbled 5 percent to C$25.70.

US

By Rita Nazareth

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, reversing a rally that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average toward its highest level since 2008 earlier today, as banks tumbled and a report showed that sales of new homes unexpectedly declined.

Banks had the biggest drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index among 24 groups on concern about the industry’s ability to boost profits after the Federal Reserve yesterday pledged to keep the benchmark interest rate low. Wells Fargo & Co. and Fifth Third Bancorp slumped at least 3 percent.

PulteGroup Inc. and Lennar Corp. retreated more than 2.3 percent to pace losses in homebuilders. AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. phone company, slid 2.5 percent as its profit forecast trailed estimates.

The S&P 500 lost 0.6 percent to 1,318.43 at 4 p.m. New York time, reversing a gain of as much as 0.6 percent. The Dow fell 22.33 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,734.63, after earlier rising to the highest level on a closing basis since May 2008.

“It’s a little bit of cold water in the face,” 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. “We’re in risk territory because we’ve come a long way in the market and in terms of optimism on the economy. It’s premature to think that we’ve solved all problems.”

The S&P 500 has risen 4.8 percent so far this year, poised for the best January since it gained 6.1 percent during the first month of 1997, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Stocks are extending the measure’s 11 percent rally in the October-December period, its best fourth-quarter increase since 2003, as improvements in hiring, manufacturing and home sales bolstered confidence in the world’s largest economy.

Equities reversed gains today after a report showed that sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in December for the first time in four months, capping the slowest year on record for builders. Claims for U.S. jobless benefits rose last week, displaying the usual volatility around holidays that has masked an improvement in the labor market. Orders for U.S. durable goods advanced more than forecast in December.

Benchmark gauges rose yesterday as the Fed signaled low rates through at least late 2014 and didn’t rule out bond purchases to bolster the economy. Investors also watched earnings reports. Of the 151 S&P 500 companies that reported results since Jan. 9, 103 posted per-share earnings that beat projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A measure of banks in the S&P 500 slumped 3.3 percent.

Wells Fargo lost 3.8 percent to $29.05. Fifth Third Bancorp slid 3 percent to $13.08.

The Fed’s low interest rate pledge may hurt lenders’ profits as they struggle to find loans or securities with yields high enough to support their net interest margins, a gauge of profitability that measures the difference between the cost of funds and what they earn on assets.

“The statement itself was market friendly in terms of reiterating that the Fed is going to remain largely accommodative,” Ryan Larson, Chicago-based head of U.S. equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc., said in a telephone interview. His firm oversees $250 billion in assets.

“When you talk about the banking environment and some of these companies that are directly tied to interest rates, it’s going to probably put a cap on some of those companies going forward until rates start to increase.”

A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes slumped 3.4 percent.

PulteGroup retreated 2.4 percent to $7.80. Lennar decreased 2.9 percent to $22.13.

AT&T lost 2.5 percent to $29.45, the biggest decline in the Dow. The carrier projected “mid-single-digit or better earnings growth” for 2012. Analysts predicted 11 percent on average.

AT&T also reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $6.68 billion because of a pretax charge of about $4 billion for the failed takeover of T-Mobile USA, and expenses for revaluing benefit plans and other assets.

E*Trade Financial Corp. tumbled 15 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $7.99 after the online brokerage reported results that missed analyst estimates and Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP cut its rating.

SanDisk Corp. dropped 11 percent to $46.39. The biggest maker of flash-memory cards gave a sales forecast that fell short of estimates, citing lower prices for chips that store data in mobile phones.

Caterpillar Inc. rallied 2.1 percent, the biggest gain in the Dow, to $111.31. The largest construction and mining- equipment maker posted fourth-quarter earnings and forecast full-year profit that topped analysts’ estimates as demand rose for shovels and trucks.

3M Co. added 1.3 percent to $87.58. The maker of Post-it Notes and fuel system tuneup kits reported higher profit than analysts had estimated as demand increased for aerospace and auto industry products.

Netflix Inc. surged 22 percent, the most since January 2010, to $116.01. The online and mail-order video-rental service reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and forecast improving margins in its streaming business.

J.C. Penney Co. climbed 19 percent to $40.72 after saying cost reductions from new Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson’s turnaround plan may boost 2012 profit more than analysts estimated.

Time Warner Cable Inc. advanced 7.8 percent, the biggest gain since April 2009, to $74.51. The second-largest U.S. cable- television provider reported fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates and said it would repurchase $4 billion in shares.

“The backdrop that is coming forth is a nightmare for those who are way underinvested,” Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, said in a phone interview. His firm manages $300 billion. “Earnings continue to come in better than expected, our economy is improving. In addition, it looks like the ‘euro-quake’ situation appears at least in the short term to be on the backburner.”

European stocks advanced, climbing 20 percent from a September low and entering a bull market. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 1.1 percent to 257.86 today.

The S&P 500’s best January rally since 1997 has pushed a pair of momentum and sentiment gauges to levels seen only 6 percent of the time since 1993, a sign the market is due for a pullback, BTIG LLC said.

The benchmark index’s 14-day relative strength index, which measures the degree that gains and losses outpace each other, rose above 70 yesterday for the first time since Feb. 18, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some technical analysts consider RSI readings above 70 a sign that stocks have risen too far, too fast. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a gauge known as the VIX, fell below 20 for the first time since July on Jan. 19.

The last time RSI exceeded 70 while the VIX stayed below 20, 11 months ago, the S&P 500 reached a 32-month high before dropping 6.4 percent over the next month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The VIX is the benchmark gauge of S&P 500 options prices.

“We’re definitely in a rare spot,” Josh Dollinger, Chief quantitative and technical strategist at BTIG in New York, said in a telephone interview. “These are extreme readings. They more often than not prove to be exhaustion tops.”

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

What does it matter if we do not understand the exact meaning of the grand harmony?

Is it not like the bow player who touches a string and at once releases every resonance?  This is the language

of beauty, this is the caress that comes from the heart of the world and goes straight to our hearts.

-Rabindranath Tagore,1861-1901

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The art of listening needs its highest development in listening

to oneself.  Our most important task is to develop an ear that

can really hear what we’re saying.

-Sydney J. Harris, 1917-1986

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor