Author: Carolann

Dear Friends,

Students pose for a photo with a globe during a campaign to mark World Earth Day in a middle school in Dexing, Jiangxi province, China. World Earth Day falls on April 22 every year.

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Matt Walcoff

 April 21 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks headed for a weekly gain as companies including Morgan Stanley, Apple Inc. and General Electric Co. topped analysts’ profit estimates and the U.S. dollar fell from a 20-month low, boosting materials stocks.

 Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, increased 0.9 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, gained 1.6 percent after Mackie Research Capital Corp. raised its rating on the company. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. dropped 1.9 percent after Apple said iPhone unit sales more than doubled in the second quarter from a year earlier.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 57.07 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,954.55 at 2:32 p.m. in Toronto.

For the week, the Canadian stock benchmark has increased 1.1 percent.

 “There is a continuing downward pressure on the U.S. dollar, and that is likely to continue,” said Michael Smedley, who helps manage about C$1 billion ($1.05 billion) as a money manager at Morgan Meighen & Associates Ltd. in Toronto. “The upward power on the commodity prices is related to the weakness in the U.S. dollar. You need more U.S. dollars all the time to buy these things.”

 The S&P/TSX had gained 20 percent in the nine months ending yesterday as the U.S. Dollar Index fell 10 percent. Gold surged 32 percent to a record and silver soared 149 percent to the highest since 1980.

 U.S. Dollar

 The U.S. currency retreated today. The dollar has fallen due in part to concern about the country’s budget deficit, speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will not follow other central banks in raising interest rates soon and higher oil prices, Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Bank of Nova Scotia, said in a note to clients.

 Gold increased by $4.90 to $1,503.90 in New York, the first settlement over $1,500, while silver rallied 2.3 percent. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, climbed 0.9 percent to C$52.79. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest producer of the metal by market value, rose 0.9 percent to C$52.94. Semafo Inc., which mines gold in Africa, advanced 6.1 percent to C$8.74. 

Newstrike Capital Inc., which explores for gold in Mexico, soared 34 percent to C$2.28, building on yesterday’s record close, after reporting drilling results.

 Teck, Ivanhoe

 Copper climbed for a third day in New York. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, increased 2.2 percent to C$53.81. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., which is developing a copper and gold mine in Mongolia with Rio Tinto Group, rose 1.3 percent to C$25.35.

Potash Corp. rallied 1.6 percent to C$55.57 after John Chu, a Mackie analyst, boosted his rating on the shares to “buy”

from “hold.” In a note to clients, Chu cited a recent decline in the shares’ price relative to forecast earnings.     

Ninety-three of 115 S&P 500 companies and four of 10 S&P/TSX companies that have reported earnings since April 11 have beaten their average analyst estimate.    

Canada’s six largest banks and three biggest insurers each advanced. Scotiabank increased 0.9 percent to C$57.74. Toronto- Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, climbed 0.8 percent to C$82.93. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-biggest insurer, rose 1.5 percent to C$16.93.

Natural Gas

The S&P/TSX Energy Index gained for a third day after the U.S. reported a smaller increase in natural gas stockpiles than most analysts in a Bloomberg survey had forecast. Gas futures advanced 2.3 percent in New York.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, increased 1.3 percent to C$43.05. Nexen Inc., an oil and gas producer with operations on five continents, climbed 3.3 percent to C$22.92. Oilfield-services provider Trican Well Service Ltd. rose 4 percent to C$22.93. 

RIM dropped 1.9 percent to C$51 after Apple said it sold 18.7 million iPhones last quarter, surpassing the 16.3 million average of 13 analyst forecasts. RIM shares have plunged 31 percent since Feb. 19. 

Celestica Inc., which makes electronics for companies including Research In Motion Ltd., rallied 4.7 percent to C$10.52 after reporting first-quarter earnings that topped the average of 13 analyst estimates.

 US

By Stephen Kirkland and Rita Nazareth

April 21 (Bloomberg) — Stocks rose, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing to an almost three-year high, as better-than-estimated earnings boosted confidence in the global economy. Commodities rallied for a third day and the euro strengthened to a 16-month high against the dollar.

The Dow added 26 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,479.54 at :21 p.m. in New York, paring gains after a gauge of Philadelphia manufacturing trailed estimates. The MSCI World Index climbed 0.7 percent. Gold rose to a record for a fifth day as silver reached a 31-year high. The Dollar Index tumbled 0.4 percent to the lowest level since August 2008, while the euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.4550 and the Swiss franc climbed to the strongest in at least 40 years versus the U.S. currency.

Equities added to yesterday’s 2 percent advance in the MSCI World, this year’s biggest global rally, as earnings at companies from Apple Inc. to Morgan Stanley topped analysts’ projections. Of the 115 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index that posted results since April 11, 81 percent beat per- share profit estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 “The run rates on both revenue and profits are really coming in strong, so it’s not just cost-cutting,” said James Swanson, chief investment strategist at Boston-based MFS Investment Management, which oversees about $230 billion. “This is finally the evidence the market needs to see that this isn’t a fluke. This is a self-sustaining recovery.”

 Earnings Season

 Earnings-per-share have grown 19 percent for the S&P 500 companies that released quarterly results since April 11, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Sales have risen 5 percent for the group and exceeded estimates at 72 percent of the companies.

The S&P 500 Index rose 0.5 percent today to 1,336.59, less than 0.5 percent below its high for the year set on Feb. 18. The gauge is up 1.3 percent over the past four sessions, poised to snap a two-week losing streak.

Apple gained 2.7 percent and Morgan Stanley advanced 1.5 percent. Qualcomm Inc. rallied 3 percent as the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates.

U.S. equities pared gains after the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index dropped to 18.5, the lowest level since November and trailing economists’ estimates, from 43.4 the prior month which was the highest level since 1984.  

Treasuries rose, capping a second weekly gain, as the report triggered speculation the economic recovery is faltering. The 10-year yield lost one basis point to 3.40 percent.

Economic Data

 Jobless claims decreased by 13,000 to 403,000 in the week ended April 16, Labor Department figures showed. Economists projected a decline to 390,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those receiving extended payments declined.

The index of U.S. leading indicators increased for a ninth month in March, signaling higher fuel costs will fail to derail the expansion. The Conference Board’s gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months rose 0.4 percent after a revised 1 percent gain in February that was larger than previously estimated.

 The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5 percent as two shares rose for every one that fell. Akzo Nobel NV, the world’s largest paintmaker, climbed 4 percent on better-than-estimated earnings.

William Hill Plc surged 7.5 percent as the bookmaker reported increased sales and operating profit. Royal KPN NV slid 8.3 percent as the biggest Dutch phone company cut its 2011 forecast.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 0.9 percent to 1,206.05, the highest level since June 2008, as benchmark stock indexes in Taiwan and South Korea jumped more than 1.3 percent.

The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities advanced 0.5 percent.

Silver rose as much as 2.5 percent to $46.3775 an ounce, the highest price since January 1980, and gold futures jumped to an all-time high of $1,509.60 an ounce.

Dollar Weakens

 The dollar weakened against all but three of its 16 most- traded counterparts. It depreciated 0.7 percent against the pound and slid as much as 1.1 percent versus the Swiss franc, to the weakest level since at least 1971. Sweden’s krona climbed as much as 0.9 percent against the dollar, reaching its strongest level in more than 2 1/2 years.

Greek, Portugal and Irish bond yields surged to records amid speculation divisions are deepening within Europe over how to resolve the sovereign-debt crisis. The yield on the two-year Greek note climbed as much as 131 basis points to 23.33 percent, the highest since before the euro was introduced in 1999.

Credit-default swaps protecting Greek sovereign debt jumped 40 basis points to 1,340 basis points, according to CMA, signaling a 68 percent chance of default within five years. The extra yield investors demand to hold Portuguese 10-year bonds instead of benchmark German bunds jumped 27 basis points to 624 basis points, the most since at least 1997.

 Have a wonderful Eco friendly Easter Holidays everyone.

 Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless.  Charles M. Crowe

Be magnificent!

 As ever,

 Nishma for Carolann

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends,

 To all the hockey fans out there~ One big cheer for Game 5 tonight “Vancouver Canucks” Vs “Chicago BlackHawks”. Goooooooo Canucks!

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Matt Walcoff

 April 20 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second day as companies including Intel Corp. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. topped analysts’ earnings forecasts and oil and metals gained on a weaker U.S. dollar.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, advanced 2.8 percent after the U.S. government reported a decline in crude inventories. Toronto-Dominion Bank increased 1.4 percent after at least 20 S&P 500 companies reported profit that surpassed their average analyst estimate. Barrick Gold Corp., the largest producer of the metal, climbed 1.3 percent as the U.S. dollar retreated against 15 of 16 other major currencies.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 164.89 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,901.72 at 1:46 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest gain in four weeks. “It’s an earnings- and growth-driven rally today,” said Blair Falconer, who manages C$800 million ($839 million) at HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. in Toronto. “The scare stories about growth, whether it’s the issues with European debt or the issues with inflation, all those risk factors really seem to have abated in the last couple of days.”

 The S&P/TSX had fallen 2.7 percent this month before the market opened, more than every other developed-market benchmark gauge except Greece’s. Banks and energy companies dropped after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook on U.S. sovereign credit ratings.

 Topping Estimates

Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, forecast second- quarter sales that may top analysts’ estimates. Oil and metals rallied as the U.S. dollar declined to a 16-month low against a basket of world currencies.

 Crude increased as much as 3.3 percent in New York. U.S. supplies fell by 0.6 percent last week. Eleven of 13 analysts in a Bloomberg survey had forecast an increase. Suncor climbed 2.8 percent to C$42.52. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, rose 2.2 percent to C$44.16.

Petrominerales Ltd., which produces oil and gas in Colombia, rallied 5.9 percent to C$36 after Natalia Agudelo, an analyst at Celfin Capital, began coverage of the company with a “buy” rating. In a note to clients, Agudelo cited the company’s “aggressive exploration program” and “proven and experienced” management.

The S&P/TSX Financials Index gained the most in three weeks. TD advanced 1.4 percent to C$82.72. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, increased 1.4 percent to C$57.31. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth- biggest insurer, climbed 1.6 percent to C$16.78.

Record Gold

Precious-metals producers advanced as gold touched a record $1,506.50 an ounce in New York.

Barrick gained 1.3 percent to C$52.47. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-biggest gold producer, increased 1.2 percent to C$14.70. Semafo Inc., which produces gold in Africa, rallied 4.7 percent to C$8.26.

 Sulliden Gold Corp. jumped 10 percent to C$2.13, extending a 9.7 percent gain from yesterday, when it released drilling results. All 16 S&P/TSX base-metals and coal producers gained after Freeport, the largest publicly traded copper producer, raised its 2011 sales forecast. Copper advanced the most in four weeks.

 “Miners in Canada are starting to forecast much-stronger revenue and earnings growth for the rest of 2011,” Falconer said.

 Teck, First Quantum

 Teck Resources Ltd., the country’s largest base-metals and coal producer, increased 1.9 percent to C$52.59. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, climbed 5.4 percent to C$126.95. Copper Fox Metals Inc., which owns a base- and precious-metals project in British Columbia, surged 12 percent to C$2.58.

Quadra FNX Mining Ltd., which mines copper in the U.S., Canada and Chile, soared 12 percent, the most since May, to  C$15.46 after analysts at Royal Bank and TD raised their ratings on the shares to “outperform” and “buy,” respectively.In a note to clients, Greg Barnes, an analyst at TD, cited a higher net asset value estimate for Quadra FNX’s Victoria project in Ontario. Magna International Inc., Canada’s largest auto-parts maker, rose 5.8 percent to C$46.54. Herbert Demel, an executive vice president, told a Shanghai auto forum that the company forecasts emerging markets will account for 15 percent of sales by 2013, up from 10 percent now.

MagIndustries Corp., which is developing a potash mine in the Republic of Congo, surged 50 percent to 22.5 Canadian cents after agreeing to be bought by Shanghai-based Evergreen Industries Group for 25 Canadian cents a share in cash.The shares soared as much as 57 percent, the most intraday since October 2008.

US

By Stephen Kirkland and Rita Nazareth

April 20 (Bloomberg) — Global stocks staged the biggest rally of 2011 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached an almost three-year high amid better-than-estimated results at companies from Intel Corp. to United Technologies Corp. and L’Oreal SA. Gold jumped to a record as the dollar slid.

The MSCI World Index jumped 2 percent at 4 p.m. in New York, the biggest increase since Nov. 4, and emerging-market shares rallied the most in 10 months. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.4 percent. The U.S. currency weakened versus all 16 major peers, dragging the Dollar Index to the lowest level since November 2009. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields rose four basis points to 3.41 percent. Sugar and nickel led commodities higher and gold traded above $1,500 an ounce for a second day.

 Technology shares led gains after Intel said late yesterday revenue may top analysts’ estimates in the second quarter.

L’Oreal SA, the world’s largest cosmetics maker, reported sales climbed 9.3 percent and South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. posted a 27 percent jump in profit. Earnings-per-share exceeded predictions for 76 percent of the 59 companies in the S&P 500 that reported results since April 11, helping revive investor confidence after S&P cut its rating outlook for U.S. debt on April 18.

 “The risk-on trade is in full-blown mode,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages $53 billion. “The surprise factor was sort of being lost in the market. The good corporate earnings across the board reinforce the idea that the global recovery is in place. As a consequence, equities and commodities are feeling the benefits of that.”

 April 18 Plunge Erased

 The S&P 500 climbed for the fifth time in six days and erased its 1.1 plunge on April 18. Intel surged 7.8 percent, the most in two years. Yahoo! Inc. climbed 4.7 percent as the most- visited U.S. Web portal had first-quarter sales that topped estimates. Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone that is scheduled to report results after markets close today, climbed 1.4 percent. United Technologies, maker of Carrier air conditioners and Pratt & Whitney engine parts, surged 4.3 percent to $85.90, its highest close since at least 1980.

 Intel and United Technologies led the Dow up 186.79 points, or 1.5 percent, to 12,453.54, its highest closing level since June 2008.

 Stocks extended gains after sales of previously owned U.S. homes increased 3.7 percent to a 5.1 million annual rate in March, exceeding the 5 million median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed. The median price declined from a year earlier, and 40 percent of the sales were distressed properties.

 European Stocks

 The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1.7 percent, the most in a month. STMicroelectronics NV, Europe’s biggest chipmaker, climbed 5 percent and ASML Holding NV, the largest semiconductor-equipment maker, jumped 5.3 percent. L’Oreal SA rose 3.2 percent. PSA Peugeot Citroen gained 4.7 percent as Europe’s second-biggest automaker posted a 10 percent increase in first-quarter revenue.

 The MSCI Emerging Markets Index jumped 2.5 percent, the steepest gain since June. A measure of technology stocks in the gauge rallied 3.7 percent for the biggest gain since May 2009.

South Korea’s Kospi Index jumped 2.2 percent to a record, while Taiwan’s Taiex Index increased 2 percent. Russia’s benchmark stock index rose 1.6 percent on higher oil, while benchmarks in Poland, Hungary and South Africa rallied at least 1.3 percent.

 Commodities Rally

 The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities climbed 1.8 percent.Raw sugar rose 4 percent, nickel climbed 4.3 percent and crude oil jumped 2.9 percent to $111.45 a barrel in New York.

 Gold for June delivery rallied as much as 0.8 percent to a record $1,506.50 an ounce.

 The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, tumbled 0.9 percent to 74.351, the lowest since November 2009.

The euro strengthened 1.2 percent to $1.4511, its highest level since January 2010. The pound weakened 0.7 percent versus the euro after minutes from the Bank of England showed policy makers voted 6-3 to keep interest rates on hold this month as the majority said that data on the economy over the previous month had “probably been to the downside.”

Canada’s dollar touched the highest level against its U.S. counterpart since November 2007 as gains in stocks and commodities boosted demand for currencies most-linked to economic growth. The loonie, as the currency is nicknamed, pared gains before a report tomorrow forecast to show the nation’s retail sales rose in February.

The Swedish krona advanced 0.3 percent against the euro after the central bank raised its benchmark repo rate for the sixth time since July, and kept a forecast for coming increases unchanged. Thailand’s baht strengthened 0.4 percent versus the dollar after the Bank of Thailand increased the one-day bond repurchase rate for a third time this year.

 U.S., Europe Bonds

 Treasuries fell, snapping a three-day gain, with the five- year note yield advancing five basis points to 2.11 percent. Thirty-year U.S. bond yields increased three basis points to 4.46 percent. Today’s rally in stocks came even amid linger concern about Europe’s government-debt crisis.The yield on Irish 10-year debt jumped 26 basis points to 10.07 percent, increasing for the sixth day, the longest run of gains since Feb. 15. The Portuguese 10-year yield advanced 19 basis points, climbing for the seventh day, with the Greek yield up 27 basis points.

 The cost of insuring debt sold by Greece and Portugal rose to records, according to traders of credit-default swaps.Contracts on Greece jumped 62 basis points to 1,303 basis points according to closing prices in London, signaling a 67 percent chance of default within five years. Portugal climbed 24 basis points to 636.

 Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.  –Nelson Mandela

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Nishma for Carolann

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends,

A group of women take photos of flowers at King Abdullah Park during the Rabih Festival in Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Stephen Kleege

 April 19 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the first time in four days as mining shares advanced after Teck Resources Ltd. reported profit that beat estimates and copper rebounded from a six day decline.

 Teck, Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, rallied 5.8 percent after higher coal and copper prices boosted first- quarter results. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. rose 3.4 percent as wheat rallied. Research In Motion Ltd. fell 2.2 percent after Business Insider reported AT&T Inc. is blocking RIM’s new tablet from tethering with its BlackBerry smartphones.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 30.23 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,732.56 at 2:06 p.m. in Toronto.“You can get some pretty good reaction to earnings,” said David Cockfield, who helps oversee about C$300 million at MacNicol & Associates Asset Management in Toronto, referring to Teck. Earlier this month “we broke through 14,000 in the TSX without any difficulty at all. I still think it’s a resistance level, until we get some reasonably dramatic news that things are improving, particularly in the U.S.”

 The Canadian equity benchmark had fallen 1 percent over the past three days as banks and commodity producers declined on concern economic growth will slow after U.S. jobless claims topped forecasts and Standard & Poor’s lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to negative.

 Teck Rises

 Copper halted its longest slump since June after Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it suspended operations at a mine in Indonesia, fanning supply concerns.

 Teck, the world’s second-largest exporter of metallurgical coal, said profit excluding some items was 76 cents a share as coal sales topped its forecast. Earnings beat the 75 cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The shares rose 5.8 percent to C$51.75, the first gain in 10 days.

 Quadra FNX Mining Ltd., which explores for copper and other metals in the United States, Canada, and northern Chile, advanced 3.5 percent to C$14.03. Quadra estimated its Victoria project contains 3.4 billion pounds of contained copper equivalent and projected it will start production in 2017.

 Black Diamond Group Ltd., a provider of modular structures for temporary work space and energy services, fell 2.7 percent to C$26.25 after saying it plans to offer 1.8 million shares at C$26.10 each as part of a capital expansion to meet demand from oil-sands developers.

 Potash Corp. rose for the first time in four days, gaining  3.4 percent to C$55.06, as wheat rose on supply concerns after dry weather in the past week hurt crops in the U.S. Agrium, Canada’s No. 2 fertilizer producer, rose 2.3 percent to C$86.92.

 Tethering Issue

 RIM retreated 2.2 percent to C$51.70 after Business Insider said on its website that AT&T’s policy makes the new PlayBook tablet “pretty much useless.”

AT&T said it “only just” received a test version of software that enables e-mail on the Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry PlayBook that was released today.

 The issue may be resolved soon and the decline may represent a “short-term buying opportunity.” said Greg Taylor, who helps oversee about C$5 billion ($5.06 billion) as a money manager at Aurion Capital Management in Toronto.

 US

 By Stephen Kirkland and Rita Nazareth

 April 19 (Bloomberg) — Stocks rebounded from the biggest drop in a month after companies from Johnson & Johnson to Burberry Group Plc. reported results that beat analyst estimates. Gold futures touched $1,500 an ounce for the first time as the dollar weakened. Treasuries rose.

 The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.6 percent to 1,312.62 at 4 p.m. in New York as higher-than-forecast housing starts also drove gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased0.5 percent as Burberry rallied 6 percent. The euro climbed 0.7 percent to $1.4332. Canada’s dollar strengthened versus 14 of 16 major peers as accelerating inflation triggered bets the central bank will boost interest rates.

Johnson & Johnson, the world’s second-biggest seller of health-care products, led gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after increasing its full-year forecast. Burberry, Britain’s biggest luxury retailer, said quarterly sales jumped 32 percent and SKF AB, the world’s largest maker of ball bearings, posted record profit. Stocks slid yesterday as S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit outlook to negative.

 “This market has been very resilient,” said Burt White, who helps oversee $284 billion as chief investment officer at LPL Financial Corp. in Boston. “Things are better than people think as far as the economy goes. Today’s housing numbers were pretty good. You’ve got a bellwether such as Johnson & Johnson coming out with good news. The market is excited to see that.”

 Earnings Season

 The S&P 500 rebounded after yesterday dropping 1.1 percent, the most since March 16. J&J climbed 3.7 percent after new drugs and a weaker dollar boosted results. Steel Dynamics Inc. added 5.7 percent as its profit also beat projections. Newmont Mining Corp. helped pace gains in raw-material producers, rising 1.3 percent as gold and copper prices increased.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rallied as much as 1.5 percent after earnings topped estimates, before erasing gains and retreating 1.3 percent after Rochdale Securities LLC reduced its rating to “neutral” from “buy.”

About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges,15 percent less than the three-month average as trading slowed on the Passover holiday.

 A gauge of homebuilders in S&P indexes gained 2.2 percent as all 12 of its stocks advanced. A report today showed building permits, a proxy for future construction, rose 11 percent to a 594,000 pace. They were projected to rise 1.1 percent to a 540,000 annual pace. Housing starts increased 7.2 percent to 549,000, exceeding the 520,000 median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

About three shares gained for each that fell in the Stoxx 600. SKF rallied 6.4 percent. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest luxury-goods maker, advanced 4.7 percent as sales beat analysts’ estimates. Novartis AG, the third- biggest stock in the index, gained 3.5 percent after the drugmaker’s sales and profit surpassed projections.

 AAA Rating

 The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped two basis points to 3.36 percent and the 30-year yield lost three basis points to 4.43 percent.

 President Barack Obama began a tour promoting his proposal to cut long-term budget deficits with a new urgency after S&P said yesterday that the nation’s AAA credit rating is in peril.

The divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress over combating the nation’s debt was spotlighted by S&P’s lowering of the long-term U.S. credit outlook to “negative,” with each side saying the alert bolsters their competing arguments.

 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he’s confident U.S. political leaders will bridge their differences and move toward a long-term plan to narrow record budget deficits and reduce the debt.

 ‘Strong Targets’

 “We have an opportunity now over the next two months to make some real progress,” Geithner said in an interview on Bloomberg Television today. “What we agree on is putting in place strong targets for savings, deficit reduction over a specific time frame with enforceable limits,” he said. Gold for June delivery settled up 0.1 percent at $1.495.10 after earlier reaching $1,500.50.

The dollar weakened against 12 of 16 major peers, losing at least 1 percent versus Norway’s krone and Sweden’s krona. The euro appreciated against 11 of its 16 major counterparts amid speculation the European Central Bank will raise interest rates further.

The loonie, as the Canadian currency is nicknamed, strengthened 0.8 percent to $1.0455 after the consumer price index advanced 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier, compared with a 2.2 percent pace of increase in the previous month, Statistics Canada reported. The median forecast of 25 economists was for a 2.8 percent annual rate.

 Commodities Gain

 Crude oil for May delivery increased for the fourth time in five days, rallying 1 percent to $108.15 a barrel as the weaker dollar lifted commodities. Oil traders have turned $80 crude into the second-biggest bet in the options market as a surge in futures to the highest level since 2008 spurred concern that demand may tumble.

Open interest, the number of contracts held by traders, has more than doubled since January for $80 put options for December 2011 and 2012 as New York futures last week touched a 30-month high of $113.46 a barrel. The two puts, bets that prices will fall, account for 21 percent of the open interest among the top 10 contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

 Commodities, Emerging Markets

 The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities gained 0.3 percent, recouping some of yesterday’s 1.2 percent slide. Cotton retreated 3.9 percent. Wheat futures rose 1.3 percent, a third straight gain, as weather conditions in the U.S. worsened and Germany’s crop estimate was lowered amid a dry spell.

 The MSCI Emerging Markets Index increased 0.6 percent as benchmark gauges in Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Egypt and Hungary rallied more than 1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index led declines in Asia, sliding 1.9 percent, on concern the U.S. debt outlook may deteriorate further and speculation that China will further tighten monetary policy.

 The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1 percent to the lowest level this month as S&P’s downgrade of the U.S. credit outlook fueled concern that a recovery in the global economy may slow.

 Greece’s two-year yields jumped as much as 39 basis points to a record 20.73 percent as the government sold 1.625 billion euros ($2.33 billion) of bills.

 Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken, winged bird that cannot fly.

-Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) 

 Be magnificent!

 As ever,

Nishma for Carolann

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends, 

Today is the 100^th Anniversary of The Fairmont Hotel in San Fransisco.

1907 view of the Fairmont Hotel in San Fransisco

2011 view of Fairmont hotel in San Fransisco

Wikie, a killer whale, swims with her calf in Marineland aquatic park in Antibes, southeastern France. Wikie, who was artificially inseminated at the aquatic park by a killer whale donor from San Diego, gave birth last month to a female calf after an 18-month period of gestation

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Matt Walcoff

 April 18 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for a third day as Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on the United States’ credit ratings to “negative” and oil and metals producers dropped on falling commodity prices.

 Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 2.2 percent after Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said the “market is oversupplied.” Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s second-biggest lender by assets, declined 1 percent after S&P reduced its outlook on the U.S. from “stable,” citing the country’s budget deficit. BlackBerry Research In Motion Ltd.gained 3.3 percent after Barron’s said the shares may double.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 96.79 points, or 0.7 percent, to 13,702.33, the lowest close since March 16.

 “It brings into focus there’s some hard choices to be made, and nobody knows if the U.S. is being run by adults or petulant children,” said David Baskin, president of Baskin Financial Services Inc. in Toronto, which manages C$400 million ($414 million). “The U.S. is the biggest economy in the world, and 75 percent of our exports go there.”

The S&P/TSX fell for the first time in five weeks last week as the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and investors speculated China would tighten credit to fight inflation. The People’s Bank of China increased banks’ reserve requirements for the fourth time this year yesterday.

 ‘Material Risk’

 In a public statement, S&P said “there is a material risk that U.S. policymakers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013.”

 The U.S. projects its deficit will total 10.9 percent of gross domestic product this year. President Barack Obama has set a target of reducing the deficit to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2015.

 The S&P/TSX Energy Index dropped to the lowest since Jan.28 as crude declined for the first time in four days.

 Suncor lost 2.2 percent to C$41.14. Talisman Energy Inc., an oil and gas producer with operations in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, slumped 1.5 percent to C$22.04. Cenovus Energy Inc., Canada’s fifth-biggest energy company, decreased 2.1 percent to C$35.18.

 An index of S&P/TSX financial companies retreated to the lowest level in a month. TD fell 1 percent to C$81.28. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, slipped 0.5 percent to C$59.73. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-biggest insurer, dropped 1.6 percent to C$16.18.

 Metal, Coal Producers

 S&P/TSX base-metals and coal producers fell for a sixth day, the longest streak of declines since May, after China raised banks’ reserve requirement to a record 20.5 percent from 20 percent. Copper also slipped for a sixth day.

 Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, retreated for a ninth day, the longest streak of losses since 2006, falling 2.1 percent to C$48.77. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., the country’s second-biggest publicly traded copper producer, decreased 1.9 percent to C$116.80. Grande Cache Coal Corp., which mines in Alberta, sank 7.5 percent to C$8.31.

 Capstone Mining Corp., which produces copper in Mexico, slumped 4.3 percent to C$4.03 after agreeing to buy Far West Mining Ltd. for C$725 million in cash and stock. Far West, which is developing a mine in Chile, surged 7.3 percent to a record C$8.24.

 Gold, U.S. Dollar

 Precious-metals producers retreated as the U.S. dollar rose as much as 1.9 percent, the most since November, against the euro. Greek and Portuguese bond yields extended records on concern about the possibility of sovereign-debt defaults.

 Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest gold producer, fell 2.5 percent to C$14.67. Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. dropped 2 percent to C$40.10. First Majestic Silver Corp., which mines in Mexico, declined 3.5 percent to C$21.91. Eastern Platinum Ltd., which mines in South Africa, tumbled 15 percent, the most since November 2008, to C$1.10 after saying first-quarter production fell 17 percent from last year.

 Lumber producers Canfor Corp. and West Fraser Timber Co. dropped after Paul C. Quinn, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, cut his ratings on the shares to “underperform” from “sector perform.” In a note to clients, Quinn cited the decline in lumber prices and rise of the Canadian dollar.

West Fraser, Canada’s largest lumber producer, declined 6.8, the most since August 2009, to C$54.64. Canfor plunged 9.8 percent, also the most in 20 months, to C$12.56.

RIM rose 3.3 percent from a five-month low to C$52.84 after Barron’s said the shares may gain as the company releases new products. Canada’s biggest technology company has fallen eight- straight weeks, the most since 2006, as it forecast profit below analysts’ estimates and its PlayBook tablet generated negative reviews from some media.

 US

 By Rita Nazareth, Cordell Eddings and Inyoung Hwang

 April 18 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks sank the most in a month, oil slid and gold rose to a record after Standard & Poor’s cut the American credit outlook to negative and concern about Europe’s debt crisis grew. Greek two-year bond yields surged to 20 percent for the first time since at least 1998.

 The S&P 500 tumbled 1.1 percent to 1,305.14 at 4 p.m. in New York, its worst drop since March 16, and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 1.7 percent. Ten-year Treasury notes gained, sending yields down four basis points to 3.37 percent, amid speculation S&P’s move will motivate lawmakers to pass a budget that requires less borrowing. The euro lost 1.4 percent to $1.4234 and Portuguese debt-insurance costs reached a record.

The S&P GSCI index of commodities slid 1.2 percent as oil sank.

 S&P assigned a one-in-three chance it will lower the U.S. rating in the next two years, saying the credit crisis and recession that began in 2008 worsened a deterioration in public finances. Budget differences among Democrats and Republicans remain wide and it may take until after the 2012 elections to get a proposal that addresses the concern, S&P said.

 The fact that the Dow and S&P and Nasdaq fell so sharply after they came out and said that sends a warning to politicians that there are going to be dire consequences if they don’t get their act together,” said Barton Biggs, who runs New York-based hedge fund Traxis Partners LP, in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” “I think they will get their act together. We have a system of government that is painful, but in the long run does the right things.”

 Broad Decline

 Gauges of energy and financial companies had the biggest declines among the 10 main groups in the S&P 500, all of which dropped. Caterpillar Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Alcoa Inc. lost at least 2.3 percent to lead declines in 29 of 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which slid 140.24 points, or 1.1 percent, to 12,201.59. Gap Inc. slumped 3 percent after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the shares to “sell” from “neutral” and said it sees long-term declines in comparable- store sales. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.1 percent.

 The S&P 500 has surged 93 percent from its bear-market low in March 2009 amid higher-than-estimated earnings and government stimulus measures. The Federal Reserve and U.S. agencies have lent, spent or guaranteed about $8.2 trillion to lift the economy from the worst slump since the Great Depression, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 Global Retreat

 The MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 countries tumbled 1.5 percent. Global stocks also slid after China increased banks’ reserve requirements to lock up cash and cool inflation, and central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said monetary tightening will continue for “some time.”

 Thirty-year Treasury yields lost two basis points to 4.45 percent. Two-year yields slipped three basis points to 0.67 percent. The dollar slid 0.6 percent to 82.66 yen, the lowest level of the month, while still strengthening against 14 of 16 major peers.

 The cost to protect U.S. corporate bonds from default rose to the highest level this month. The Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index, which investors use to hedge against losses on corporate debt or to speculate on creditworthiness, added 1.6 basis points to a mid-price of 95.62 basis points, according to index administrator Markit Group Ltd.

 S&P cut its long-term U.S. outlook from stable, while affirming its ‘AAA’ long-term and ‘A-1+’ short-term ratings.

 ‘Fiscal Destiny’

 “This is another indication of the need for the U.S. to better control its fiscal destiny, both for its sake and that of the global economy,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest manager of bond funds.

 “Absent credible medium-term fiscal reform, every segment of U.S. society would be faced with higher borrowing costs, a weaker dollar and a less bright outlook for employment, investment and growth.”

 S&P said in its statement that there is a “material risk” U.S. officials may not reach an agreement on how to address budgetary challenges by 2013.

 Under President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget, released in February, the total debt subject to the ceiling would be $20.8 trillion in 2016. The plan House Republicans approved April 15, written by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, would need a debt ceiling of at least $19.5 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Government.

 `Shot Across the Bow’

 “It’s truly a shot across the bow and a message to Washington, which has been clowning around on this and playing politics when they should toss ideology aside and focus on achievement,” said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at Stamford, Connecticut-based CRT Capital Group LLC. “It’s a big deal. They’ve put us on notice.”

 Treasury Assistant Secretary Mary Miller said today that S&P’s outlook on the U.S. credit rating “underestimates” the nation’s leadership.

 “We believe S&P’s negative outlook underestimates the ability of America’s leaders to come together to address the difficult fiscal challenges facing the nation,” Miller said in a statement.

 About 18 stocks declined for every one that gained in the Stoxx Europe 600. Commerzbank AG, Spain’s biggest lender, and France’s Societe Generale SA fell more than 3.8 percent. Smith & Nephew Plc, which had been identified as a bid target for Johnson & Johnson by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Morgan Stanley and Investec Securities, declined 3 percent after Synthes Inc. said it’s in talks about a possible takeover by J&J.

Euro, Greek Bonds

The euro depreciated against 13 of its 16 major counterparts, losing 1.9 percent versus the yen. Portugal’s 10- year yield climbed to a record 584 basis points above benchmark German bunds while the Greek spread reached 1,132 basis points, the most since Bloomberg began collecting the data in 1998.    

Credit-default swaps insuring Greek bonds jumped 66 basis points to 1,221, signaling a 64.5 percent chance of a default within five years, while those for Portugal climbed 18.5 basis points to 616.5, according to CMA.

Restructuring of Greece’s debt is inevitable and only a question of time, Die Welt cited a Greek government minister as saying, without naming the minister. Greece isn’t discussing restructuring its debt, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said April 16 in Washington. European Central Bank Governing Council members signaled over the weekend they will keep tightening monetary policy this year to curb inflation.

 ‘A Lot of Risks’

“The European story has a lot of risks to it as Germany is very strong but peripheral Europe is clearly quite weak, so the last thing they need is higher interest rates,” Adrian Mowat, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Hong Kong-based chief Asia and emerging- markets strategist, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

 The yield on Germany’s 10-year bund declined 13 basis points to 3.25 percent. The 10-year gilt yield slipped four basis points to 3.56 percent. The pound fell 0.4 percent versus the dollar after Ernst & Young LLP’s Item Club cut its economic outlook for the U.K.

 Oil fell for the first time in four days in New York after Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, said the global market has enough supplies to meet demand. Crude for May delivery slumped 2.3 percent to $107.12 a barrel.

 Cocoa for July delivery declined 3.2 percent to $3,057 a metric ton on ICE Futures U.S. in New York amid concern demand for commodities  may slow as China fights inflation. Sugar and coffee also fell, while wheat, silver and corn gains. Gold for June delivery climbed 0.5 percent to $1,492.90.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.
                                                       – Mohandas Gandhi

Be magnificent!

 As ever,

 Nishma for Carolann

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends, 

 Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)

• He had a keen eye and quick mind that led him to make important scientific discoveries, yet he never published his ideas.
• He was a gentle vegetarian who loved animals and despised war, yet he worked as a military engineer to invent advanced and deadly weapons.
• He was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, yet he left only a handful of completed paintings.

 Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci 

April 15, 2011

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

 April 15 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks headed toward their first weekly decline in five weeks as banks fell after Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland’s credit rating by two levels and Bank of American Corp. missed analysts’ profit forecasts.

 Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, dropped 0.8 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-biggest energy company by market value, climbed 1.9 percent as crude oil rallied. Iamgold Corp., which produces gold in Africa and South America, lost 6.2 percent after agreeing to sell its stake in two Ghanaian mines.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.65 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,823.45 at 3:25 p.m. in Toronto. The equity benchmark has declined 2.7 percent this week.

The S&P/TSX retreated this week after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and concern mounted that China will further tighten credit to restrain inflation. The index has been outgained by the S&P 500 this year, 4.9 percent to 2.8 percent, after outperforming its U.S. counterpart for seven straight years.

 US

 By Michael P. Regan and Rita Nazareth

 April 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, trimming a second straight weekly drop for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and oil rallied after data on consumer confidence and manufacturing topped economist estimates. Treasuries gained and the dollar advanced versus the euro amid concern over Europe’s debt crisis.

 The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent to 1,319.68 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring its weekly loss to 0.6 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields slid nine basis points to 3.41 percent and the euro slumped 0.4 percent to $1.4426, while gold rose to a record and silver touched a 31-year high. Ireland’s 10-year yield added 37 basis points to 9.71 percent after the nation’s credit rating was downgraded. Oil jumped to almost $110 a barrel in New York.

 Optimism about the health of the economy grew after a gauge of consumer sentiment rebounded from a 16-month low, U.S. industrial production rose more than forecast and the Federal Reserve’s measure of New York-area manufacturing reached the highest level in a year. The data helped the market reverse an early drop spurred by lower-than-estimated profit at Google Inc., which slid 8.3 percent for its worst drop since 2008.

 “The economy continues to expand and the recovery is sustaining,” said Russ Koesterich, the San Francisco-based head of investment strategy for scientific active equities at BlackRock Inc., which oversees $3.56 trillion as the world’s largest asset manager. “It’s not going to be a bad earnings season. It’s just that a lot of the good news is already baked in. It’s going to be a choppy market with an upward bias.”

 S&P 500 Gains

 Utilities and health-care stocks led gains in nine of 10 industries in the S&P 500. Only technology companies retreated as Google dragged the group lower even as 54 of 75 companies in the S&P 500 Information Technology Index gained. Merck & Co. and DuPont Co. climbed at least 1.4 percent to lead the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s advance.

 Stocks turned higher after the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 69.6, above forecasts. The gauge was projected to climb to 68.8, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Fed Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to 21.7, topping estimates.

 Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes capped their first weekly gain in a month after President Barack Obama pledged this week to cut the deficit by $4 trillion within 12 years. Two-year Treasury note yields slipped eight basis points to 0.69 percent today.

 Dollar, Euro

 While climbing against the euro, the dollar fell versus 10 of 16 major peers. The currency slipped more than 0.4 percent against the New Zealand dollar and Japanese yen.

 The euro weakened versus all 16 major peers and Greece’s 10-year yield climbed to a record high of 13.84 percent, with costs to protect the nation’s debt also reaching an all-time high. A Greek debt restructuring “would not be a disaster” and Germany would back a voluntary effort to ease the struggling euro member’s payment terms, German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer said.

 Moody’s Investors Service signaled it may reduce Ireland to junk after cutting the rating two levels to the lowest investment grade.

 European stocks climbed, boosted by results at companies from Nestle SA to Syngenta AG and the U.S. consumer confidence report. Nestle rallied 2.4 percent after the world’s largest food company reported first-quarter organic sales growth that topped analyst estimates.

 Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 Be magnificent!

 It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
                           –Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)

                      

As ever,

 Nishma for Carolann

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

Dear Friends,

 

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

 –Buddha

  

 

 

 

 

 

A daisy floats in a rain barrel on April 14 in Kaufbeuren, southern Germany. (Karl Josef  Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images) 

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Matt Walcoff

Most Canadian stocks fell as U.S. initial jobless claims topped forecasts and concern over European debt intensified.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) declined 2 percent, leading energy shares lower. Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) retreated 3.3 percent after reviewers from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Wired criticized its PlayBook tablet computer.

 Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the world’s largest gold producer, rose 2.5 percent as precious metals gained.

 The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index climbed 0.27 point points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,833.91 at 3:13 p.m. in Toronto. Among S&P/TSX stocks, 111 advanced, 131 declined and six were unchanged.

 “Over in Europe, we’ve seen spreads widen on the bonds, and people are wondering if there will be restructuring of debt,” said Jeffrey Bradacs, a Toronto-based senior investment analyst for a team at Manulife Asset Management that oversees C$1.7 billion ($1.8 billion). “Some people seeing the risk of that are pulling back” from equities and commodities.

 The index lost 2.6 percent this week through yesterday after four straight weekly gains. Oil and copper stocks have declined after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and investors speculated China may raise further tighten credit.

Die Welt today quoted German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying Greece may need to renegotiate its debt burden if an audit in June raises doubt on its ability to pay creditors. Greek bond yields climbed to the highest since 1998 and the cost to insure against defaults on Greek government debt increased to a record.

 In the U.S., 412,000 people filed first-time jobless claims last week, the Labor Department said in Washington. The figure exceeded all 49 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

 Canadian factory sales retreated 1.5 percent in February, Statistics Canada said. Economists had forecast a decrease of 0.5 percent, according to the median of 21 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

 Canadian Natural dropped 2 percent to C$42.67 for a fourth- straight loss. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (PRE), which produces oil in Colombia, declined 1.8 percent to C$27.94. Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM), an oil and gas producer with operations in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, decreased 0.8 percent to C$22.19.

 Precious Metals

Gold and silver advanced as the U.S. dollar retreated to a 16-month low against a basket of world currencies.

 “People, when they look around the globe, with the concern in Europe and concern with the U.S. dollar and its deficit, are attracted to gold,” Bradacs said.

Barrick increased 2.5 percent to C$51.38. Goldcorp Inc. (G), the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, climbed 2.2 percent to C$51.81.

 Nautilus Minerals Inc. (NUS), which explores for gold and copper on the ocean floor, surged 14 percent to C$3.34 after jumping 18 percent yesterday. Nautilus said it has formed a joint venture with Bremen, Germany-based shipping company Harren & Partner to operate a vessel that will serve as Nautilus’s operational base.

 Pan American Silver Corp. (PAA), which produces silver and base metals in Latin America, sank 9.8 percent to C$35.70 after Nicolas Fernandez, a spokesman for Bolivia’s state mining company, said the country will expropriate mines privatized by previous governments. The shares’ tumble was the biggest in a day since August 2009.

Base Metals

 Teck Resources Inc., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, fell 1 percent to C$50.39 as copper dropped after the China Securities Journal said the country is likely to raise reserve requirements for banks in the “near future.” Teck shares have declined seven straight days, the longest streak since January 2009.

 First Quantum Minerals Ltd., the country’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, lost 1.8 percent to C$119.16, extending its weekly drop to 13 percent.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, decreased 1 percent to C$53.95. Wheat futures retreated for a fourth day as meteorologists forecast rain for drought-stricken Kansas.

 RIM, Canada’s largest technology company, retreated 3.3 percent to a five-month low of C$51.07. David Pogue of the New York Times called the first version of the PlayBook “half- baked,” while Mike Isaac of Wired said it has “serious gaps in key areas like app selection and Flash stability.”

 Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR/B), the country’s biggest cable and satellite television provider by subscribers, dropped 2.5 C$19.30 after slumping 3.7 percent yesterday. The company reported second-quarter sales yesterday that trailed analyst estimates. At least five analysts reduced their share-price estimates on Shaw today.

 US

By Rita Nazareth

 U.S. stocks rose, erasing an early slump, as the House approved a spending bill that will avert a government shutdown and Supervalu Inc. (SVU) led a rally in consumer- staples shares after earnings topped analysts’ estimates.

 Supervalu surged 17 percent for the top gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after the owner of Save-A-Lot and Albertsons grocery stores also projected full-year profit that beat projections. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. climbed at least 0.3 percent as oil rose for a second day on reports that Saudi Arabia reduced output this month. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) slid 2.7 percent after Senator Carl Levin requested a federal probe of the bank’s dealings in mortgage securities.

 The S&P 500 increased less than 0.1 percent to 1,314.52 at 4 p.m. in New York, erasing an earlier 0.9 percent decline. The benchmark gauge yesterday halted a four-day slump, its longest since November, as a Federal Reserve report fueled optimism about the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 14.16 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,285.15 today.

 “The government is still running,” said Richard Sichel, who oversees $1.6 billion as chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co. “That’s a sigh of relief. Investors are focusing on the good economic fundamentals and solid corporate earnings. Yes, we do have global issues, European debt concern, higher commodities prices. Still, the stock market is very resilient.”2011 Performance

 The S&P 500 has risen 4.5 percent in 2011, extending last year’s 13 percent gain, amid government stimulus measures and higher-than-estimated corporate profits. The index, which has gained as much as 99 percent since March 2009, last week rose to near the highest closing level for the rally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P 500 advanced to 1,335.54 on April 6, or 7.47 points below the high on Feb. 18. Since then, it has fallen 2.1 percent through yesterday.

 Earlier declines came after more Americans unexpectedly filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, reflecting greater-than-normal volatility at the end of the quarter. Applications for jobless benefits rose 27,000 in the week ended April 9 to 412,000, the most in two months, Labor Department figures showed. Economists projected claims would be little changed at 380,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

 As ever,

Nishma for Carolann

 The wisest people follow their own direction

 –Euripides (480 BC – 406 BC)

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

Senior Vice-President & Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends, 

 Gary and I are going away for  the next week or so, leaving tonight for London….I wish you and yours a very Happy Easter or Passover – whatever you are celebrating this time of year, may it be with family and friends and may you find peace and joy.  My team is here to help you and will be in contact with me throughout. 

 photos of the day

April 13, 2011

Cyclists ride during the first stage of the Tour of Castilla and Leon cycling race over 108 miles between Medina de Rioseco and Palencia, Spain.I. Lopez/AP

The sun rises over the Ob River in the early morning, near the city of Novosibirsk, about 1,750 miles east of Moscow.

Ilnar Salakhiev/AP

Opera singer Alla Vasilevitsky performs on the Bridge of Strings at the entrance to Jerusalem. Four Israeli female opera singers, including Vasilevitsky, braved unfamiliar territory by standing at the prominent outdoor Jerusalem landmark to sing classical arias in the midday traffic to promote an upcoming opera festival.

Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

April 13 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for the first time in three days, led by banks, as the U.S. reported a ninth- straight monthly increase in retail sales.

Royal Bank of Canada, Canada’s largest lender by assets, advanced 1 percent after U.S. retail sales excluding automobiles and service stations rose more than most economists had forecast. Teck Resources Ltd. fell 1.9 percent as copper dropped the most since March 9. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. climbed 2.3 percent after DigiTimes said the company “has placed large-volume orders” for its PlayBook tablet computer from manufacturers.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 32.24 points, or 0.2 percent, from a three-week low to 13,833.64.

The retail sales report “shows there is some form of recovery down south of us,” Arthur Salzer, who helps oversee C$300 million ($312 million) as a money manager at MacNicol & Associates Asset Management Inc. in Toronto.

The stock benchmark tumbled 2.9 percent April 11 and yesterday for the biggest two-day drop since June. Oil declined 5.8 percent and copper lost 2.6 percent as the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and Japan raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to the highest level.

“With the oil price coming down a little bit, people are being more optimistic it’s not going to have a negative impact on the economy,” said Jennifer Radman, who helps oversee C$1 billion as a money manager at Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. in Toronto. “When we get oil prices above a certain level, in the $110 mark, you really start to see an economic drag.”                        

The S&P/TSX Financials Index rose the most in two weeks after the U.S. Commerce Department released the retail-sales data.

Royal Bank gained 1 percent to C$60.42. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada’s fifth-largest lender by assets, advanced 0.7 percent to C$83.87, ending a six-day streak of losses. Mutual-fund company IGM Financial Inc. increased 1.7 percent to C$48.50.

RIM climbed 2.3 percent from a five-month low to C$52.79 after DigiTimes said Quanta Computer Inc. may ship more than 1 million PlayBook tablets a month in the third quarter. The Taipei-based business-news website cited unnamed sources from component makers.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, rose for the first time in seven days, climbing 0.9 percent to C$54.47. Wheat rebounded from yesterday’s 4.9 percent plunge on speculation dry weather will reduce yields in the U.S.

All major base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange retreated on concern China, the world’s biggest user of the raw materials, will take more steps to tighten credit and fight inflation.

Teck fell for a sixth day, losing 1.9 percent to C$50.90.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, decreased 2.9 percent to C$121.30 to extend its weekly drop to 11 percent. European Goldfields Ltd., which mines zinc, lead and silver, sank 6.7 percent to C$10.55, the lowest price since September.

Most S&P/TSX energy companies gained as natural gas advanced 1.1 percent and crude oil 0.8 percent.

Enbridge Inc., Canada’s largest pipeline company, increased 1 percent to C$60.05. Cenovus Energy Inc., Canada’s fifth- biggest energy company, climbed 0.6 percent to C$36.34. Oil- sands developer BlackPearl Resources Inc. surged 6.1 percent to C$7.81.

First Majestic Silver Corp., which mines in Mexico, soared 12 percent to C$22.14 as the metal rebounded from a 1.3 percent decline yesterday. Shares of the Vancouver-based company had plunged 16 percent in the previous two days.

 US

By Rita Nazareth

April 13 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, halting the longest Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slump since November, as a Federal Reserve report fueled optimism the economy can weather President Barack Obama’s plan to cut spending and raise taxes.

Caterpillar Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. led gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the Fed said most of its districts reported improvements in the economy were widespread across sectors. Riverbed Technology Inc. soared 12 percent as the computer networking company’s profit beat analyst estimates.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. dropped at least 2.5 percent as Obama proposed cutting $400 billion from the Pentagon’s budget through 2023.

The S&P 500 snapped a four-day slump, rising less than 0.1 percent to 1,314.41 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow average increased 7.41 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,270.99 today.

Benchmark indexes fell earlier as details of Obama’s plan emerged, then turned higher after the Fed’s Beige Book said the economy and labor markets improved.

“The economy is in good shape,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, New Jersey, at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which had about $110 billion in client assets.

“The evidence of the last few years has been that whenever the government leads in spending money, the private sector follows.”                    

 The S&P 500 has risen 4.5 percent in 2011, extending last year’s 13 percent gain, amid government stimulus measures and higher-than-estimated corporate profits. The index has surged 26 percent since Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s suggested on Aug. 27 that he would pursue a second round of asset purchases to stimulate the economy, a tactic known as quantitative easing.

Obama, presenting his second plan in as many months to reduce the nation’s long-term debt today, vowed to cut $4 trillion in cumulative deficits within 12 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

Equities began reversing losses after the Fed said the economy expanded at a “moderate” pace across much of the U.S. in February and March, led by manufacturing, with labor markets showing improvements in most regions.

“While many districts described the improvements as only moderate, most districts stated that gains were widespread across sectors,” the Fed said today in its Beige Book report.

While higher commodity costs compelled sellers to try to raise prices, pressures to increase wages were “weak or subdued.”

 Earlier gains in stocks today came as sales at U.S. retailers in March indicated the improving job market is helping Americans cope with higher costs for fuel and food. Purchases increased 0.4 percent following a 1.1 percent February gain that was larger than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed. The median forecast of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was a 0.5 percent rise. Sales excluding automobiles and gasoline advanced more than projected.

“The tide is still a tide towards normalcy as far as the economy goes,” said David Kelly, who helps oversee $405 billion as chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds in New York.

“Consumers have a lot more energy than people thought. We’re going to see more positive than negative surprises. Same goes for a steady improvement in corporate profits.” A gauge of consumer and apparel companies in the S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent, the biggest gain within 24 industries.

 Coach Inc., the largest U.S. maker of luxury leather handbags, added 3.6 percent to $53.97. Nike Inc., the world’s largest sporting goods company, rose 1.6 percent to $79.41.

Riverbed Technology soared 12 percent to $34.74. The computer networking technology company said that, excluding some items, it earned at least 19 cents a share in the first quarter.

That topped the average analyst estimate of 18 cents in a Bloomberg survey.

GameStop Corp. rose 6.6 percent to $25.36, the biggest advance in the S&P 500. The world’s largest video-game retailer is facing a digital transition similar to one undertaken by Netflix Inc., according to Tony Wible, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. Wible cited 10 reasons to buy the company, including increased number of users, digital investments and new game systems.

MGM Resorts International rallied 8.6 percent to $13.70, the most in the Russell 1000 Index. The casino company founded by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian will gain control over its Macau joint venture through steps including an initial public offering of some shares held by partner Pansy Ho.                    

 Military contractors declined as President Obama proposed to cut $400 billion from current and future defense spending.

Lockheed Martin dropped 2.6 percent to $78.31. Raytheon slipped 2.9 percent to $48.68. General Dynamics Corp. fell 1.5 percent to $71.81.

For-profit education stocks dropped as Democrats in Congress agreed to cut Pell grants for students in summer school. “Although the maximum Pell Grant amount is unchanged at $5,550, Congress is about to end year-round Pell Grants,” wrote Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., in an e- mail. Strayer Education Inc. slumped 7.1 percent to $124.38, the biggest decline in the Russell 1000 Index. Apollo Group Inc. retreated 3 percent to $39.88.

Banks had the biggest decline in the S&P 500 within 24 industries, slumping 1.7 percent as a group, as regulators said the 14 largest U.S. mortgage servicers must pay back homeowners of botched foreclosures.

The 14 largest U.S. mortgage servicers must pay back homeowners for losses from foreclosures or loans that were mishandled in the wake of the housing collapse, according to a consent decree released today. The agreement between the servicers and U.S. regulators imposes more substantial penalties than early reports of the deal indicated. It could also help the U.S. Justice Department determine the size and scope of any future fines for the flawed practices, regulators said.

The banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., agreed in the settlement to conduct a review of all loans that went into foreclosure in 2009 and 2010. They also agreed to improve their foreclosure, loan modification and refinancing procedures.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 0.8 percent to $46.25, reversing an earlier rally triggered by higher-than-forecast earnings, as Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon signaled the lender will not boost dividends in the next couple of quarters.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 Be magnificent!

 We gain our freedom when we realize our most true nature.

The man who is an artist gains his artistic freedom when he discovers the true ideal of art.

 

  -Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1901

As ever,

 Carolann

 Always bear in mind that your own

resolution to succeed is more important

than any other one thing.

 -Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends, 

 I was discussing books with one of my clients today  – a conversation that began because she was reading a novel when I arrived to meet her in the waiting room and  I asked her about it….Anyway I was telling her about a book I just finished reading on the weekend entitled The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and how much I loved it.  So, my friends, I’m telling you about it too with the hope that you will read it and enjoy it as much as I did.  It is the story of a little girl left with a little white suitcase on a wharf in Australia after sailing from Britain just before the First World War.  She was told by the “authoress” to wait for her, that she would take care of her, but the authoress never did re-board the ship in London before it set sail.   When she is a young woman about to be married, the little girl learns that she is not who she thought she was.  Many years later, a descendant is left an unusual inheritance – a cottage high on a Cornish cliff top.  It is part of a vast estate, and within the cottage walls is a garden, forgotten for over a hundred years, that holds many secrets of the authoress, who was a writer of dark Victorian fairy tales…

BOOK:  Like paper, originally made of papyrus, a book originally described the thing from which it was made, namely the beech tree (in Old English, bok), whose bark provided writing material to arly scribes in northern Europe.

photos of the day

April 12, 2011

Spectators watch fireworks organized to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight, in Moscow’s Victory Park.

Nikolay Korchekov/Reuters

Two girls pose on a chair during the International Furniture Fair in Milan.Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

Market Commentary:

 Canada

By Matt Walcoff

April 12 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, completing the biggest two-day plunge since June, as commodity producers dropped after two more earthquakes hit Japan and the Asian country raised the severity rating of its nuclear disaster.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s biggest oil and gas producer, lost 3.4 percent as crude futures slipped. Teck Resources Ltd., the country’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, declined 3.6 percent as copper retreated the most in a month. Toronto- Dominion Bank, Canada’s second-largest lender by assets, decreased 2 percent as an index of S&P/TSX financial companies slipped to a three-week low.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index dropped 195.46 points, or 1.4 percent, to 13,801.40.

“The aftershocks that Japan is getting and the fact they’re now saying this is a Chernobyl-like situation is being badly received by the markets,” said Doug Davis, vice chairman of Toronto money manager Davis-Rea Ltd., which manages about C$425 million ($441 million). “People are selling indexes, and that affects all the stocks.”

The S&P/TSX fell 1.5 percent yesterday after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth estimate for the U.S.

The index has trailed the S&P 500 this year, gaining 2.7 percent to the U.S. stock benchmark’s 4.5 percent, after outperforming the S&P 500 for seven straight years.                        

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raised the severity rating of the country’s nuclear crisis to 7 today, the same as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, from 5. The change came as two earthquakes stronger than magnitude 6 hit the country and Kaoru Yosano, the economic and fiscal policy minister, said the March 11 quake might hurt Japan’s economy more than forecast.

Oil declined 3.3 percent after losing 2.5 percent yesterday. The two-day slide was the biggest since May. Fifty- eight of 61 companies in the S&P/TSX Energy Index dropped as the index slid the most in a day since August.

Suncor decreased 3.4 percent to C$42.05. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-biggest energy company by market value, retreated 2.7 percent to C$44.34. Talisman Energy Inc., which produces oil and gas in North America, the North Sea and Indonesia, fell 3.1 percent to C$22.33.

All major base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange dropped.                    

Teck declined for a fifth day, losing 3.6 percent to C$51.87. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Canada’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, decreased 4.7 percent to C$124.90. Mercator Minerals Ltd., which produces copper and molybdenum in Arizona, slumped 8.9 percent to C$3.36 after agreeing to buy Creston Moly Corp. for about C$195 million.

Precious-metals producers fell as gold futures dropped for a second day after climbing to a record.

Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest producer of the metal, declined 1.8 percent to C$15.09. Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. lost 3.2 percent to C$40.84 as that metal retreated for the first time in seven days. First Majestic Silver Corp., which mines in Mexico, tumbled 8.6 percent to C$19.77 after sliding 8.1 percent yesterday.

Uranium-mining companies slipped after Japan boosted the severity rating of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant accident.

Uranium One Inc., a mining company controlled by Moscow- based ARMZ Uranium Holding, sank 5.1 percent to C$3.75. Denison Mines Corp. plunged 6.9 percent to a five-month low of C$2.16.

Canada’s seven largest banks all fell. TD declined 2 percent, the most this year, to C$82.67. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest bank, slipped for a sixth day, losing 0.9 percent to C$57.50. Manulife Financial Corp., North America’s fourth-biggest insurer, dropped 1.4 percent to C$16.46.

Gildan Activewear Inc., Canada’s largest clothing maker, surged 7 percent, the most in 16 months, to C$32.80 after agreeing to buy Newton, North Carolina-based sock supplier Gold Toe Moretz Holdings Corp. for about $350 million.

Claude Proulx, an analyst at Bank of Montreal, raised his 12-month share-price estimate on Gildan’s U.S. shares to $40 from $36. The purchase will “allow the company to expand into retail channels it is not currently serving,” he wrote in a note to clients.

 US

By Rita Nazareth and Jeff Kearns

April 12 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a fourth day, as Japan raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to the highest level, oil plunged and Alcoa Inc.’s sales missed estimates.

Chevron Corp. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.declined at least 3.1 percent as commodity prices slumped on speculation investors may avoid riskier assets after Japan’s radiation alert matched the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, tumbled 6 percent after saying first-quarter earnings were curbed by a weaker U.S. dollar and higher energy and raw-material costs.

The S&P 500 declined 0.8 percent to 1,314.16 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark index had the longest losing stretch since November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 117.53 points, or 1 percent, to 12,263.58 today. Crude oil slumped 3.3 percent to $106.25 a barrel. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, climbed 3 percent to 17.09.

“We’ve gone from a period of knocking the cover off the ball to just treading water,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Harris Private Bank, which oversees $60 billion. “We’ve been approaching the earnings season with trepidation because high energy and commodity prices are going to crimp profit margins. Not only will higher costs crimp profits but it will also prompt consumers to cut back on discretionary spending.”

The S&P 500 has risen 4.5 percent in 2011 amid government stimulus measures and higher-than-estimated corporate profits.

In the first three months of last year, 78 percent of S&P 500 companies topped the average projection, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The figure was the second-highest ever, trailing only the 80 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2009. Since then, the percentage approached the historical average of 60 percent. The fourth-quarter figure, 68 percent, was the lowest for the current bull market.

The MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 countries fell 1.2 percent, the biggest decline in about a month. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency today raised the rating for its nuclear crisis to 7. The accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station was previously rated 5 on the global scale, the same as the 1979 partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

The stricken nuclear plant, located about 220 kilometers(135 miles) north of Tokyo, is leaking radiation in Japan’s worst civilian nuclear disaster after a magnitude-9 quake and tsunami on March 11. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said its plant, which has withstood hundreds of aftershocks, may spew more radiation than Chernobyl before the crisis is contained.

“Investors are taking some risk off the table,” said Madelynn Matlock, who helps oversee $14.4 billion at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati. “Every time you mention the word radiation, you end up scaring people. I don’t think there were any illusions that Japan was not one of the most serious nuclear accidents we’ve seen.”

Japan’s Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano said the March 11 earthquake may result in a larger hit to the economy than previously seen, indicating a greater appetite for stimulus one month after the disaster.

Prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose in March at the fastest pace since June 2009, led by a gain in crude oil and the biggest jump in food costs since 1994. The 2.7 percent increase in the import-price index exceeded a 2.1 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Prices excluding fuel rose 0.6 percent.

Directors at Federal Reserve regional banks saw the economy improving even as energy prices rose and governments at all levels cut spending, according to minutes of Board of Governors’ meetings in February and March.

“Federal Reserve Bank directors generally viewed recent information as showing the economic recovery was progressing,” the minutes said, adding that directors saw “downside risks posed by rising energy and commodity prices and by increased fiscal stringency.”

Energy and raw-material producers had the two biggest declines in the S&P 500 within 10 industries today, falling at least 1.3 percent. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. energy company, dropped 3.3 percent to $104.18. Freeport, the largest publicly traded copper producer, lost 3.1 percent to $53.70.                        

 Alcoa slumped 6 percent, the most in the Dow average, to $16.70. The company’s sales increased 22 percent from a year earlier to $5.96 billion, Alcoa said yesterday in a statement. That trailed the $6.06 billion average estimate of eight analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

U.S. banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. may report weak revenue for the first quarter after lending by the industry dropped in almost every category. Bank loans and leases fell $87.4 billion to $6.97 trillion from the end of 2010 through March 30, or 1.3 percent, according to Federal Reserve data. Deposits at U.S. banks rose the same percentage to $7.97 trillion, showing households and businesses are still hoarding cash instead of borrowing, analysts said.

“While loan growth tends to be seasonally weak in the first quarter, this quarter is tracking worse than seasonality would suggest,” Barclays Capital Inc. analysts led by Jason Goldberg wrote in an April 8 report. “We fear companies have been disappointed.”

Investors will get their first look at the quarter’s results tomorrow when New York-based JPMorgan, ranked second by assets in the U.S., is scheduled to report. The biggest lender, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, will report April 15, followed next week by New York-based Citigroup Inc. and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., ranked third and fourth by assets.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 Be magnificent!

 Do not believe a thing simply because it has been said.

Do not put your faith in traditions only because they have been honored by many generations.

Do not believe a thing because the general opinion believes it to be true or because it has been said repeatedly.

Do not believe a thing because of the single witness of one of the sages of antiquity.

Do not believe a thing because the probabilities are in its favor,

or because you are in the habit of believing it to be true.

Do not believe in that which comes to your imagination,

thinking that it must be the revelation of a superior Being.

Believe nothing  that binds you to the sole authority of your masters or priests.

That which you have tried yourself, which you have experienced, which you have recognized as true,

and which will be beneficial to you and to others;

believe that, and shape your conduct to it.

 -Buddha

As always,

 Carolann

 I think that somehow, we learn who we really are

and then live with that decision.

 -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962

 

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends,

 A poem I came across today:

 WHY THE WINDOW WASHER READS POETRY

(for Michael, who carried poems in his work shirt pocket)

 He lowers himself on a seat they call a cradle, rocking in harnesses strung long-armed from the roof.

Swiping windows clean he spends his day outside looking in.

Mirrors refract light into his eyes telescopes point down photographs face away, layers of dust unifying everything.

Tethered and counterbalanced these sky janitors hang, names stitched on blue shirts for birds to read.

Squeegees in hand they arc lightly back and forth across the building’s eyes descend a floor, dance again.

While the crew catches up he pauses, takes a slim volume from his pocketand balancing there, 36 stories above the street, reads a poem or two in which the reader is invariably placed inside looking out.

 -Laura Grace Weldon

photos of the day

April 11, 2011

Luna Lutz visits a tree with 9,800 Easter eggs in the garden of pensioner couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Germany. The Kraft family have decorated their tree for Easter for more than 40 years.

Jens Meyer/AP

The Boeoegg, a snowman made of wadding and filled with firecrackers, explodes atop a bonfire in Sechselaeuten Square in Zurich,Switzerland. As the bells of St. Peter’s church chime six o’clock, the bonfire below the ‘Boeoegg’ is set alight and mounted guildsmen gallop around the pyre to the tune of the Sechselaeuten March. The faster the head of the ‘Boeoegg’ – the symbol of winter – catches fire and explodes, the warmer and more beautiful the summer will be.

Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

April 11 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in a month, led by energy producers, after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the U.S. and oil and metals prices dropped.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second- largest energy company by market value, lost 3.6 percent as crude retreated from a 30-month high. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-biggest gold producer, decreased 3.3 percent as the metal dropped for the first time in six days. First Quantum Minerals Ltd., the country’s second-largest publicly traded copper producer, slumped 3.7 percent as that metal fell.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index lost 211.57 points, or 1.5 percent, the most since March 10, to 13,996.86.

“Oil is at a pretty high price given the global growth outlook,” said Murray Leith, who helps manage about C$6.5 billion ($6.8 billion) as a money manager at Odlum Brown Ltd. in Vancouver. “You’ve got to expect pullback. There’s fiscal drag now around the world as new stimulus just fades away.”

Coming into this week, the S&P/TSX had gained four straight weeks, the longest streak since October. Over that time, oil surged 12 percent while gold stocks rallied 7.4 percent as the conflict in Libya intensified and the U.S. dollar dropped to a 16-month low against a basket of world currencies.

Higher oil prices will limit U.S. economic growth to 2.8 percent this year, the IMF said in a report today. The organization had earlier forecast 3 percent growth.

Crude declined 2.5 percent in New York, the most since March 15. The S&P/TSX Energy Index tumbled 2.3 percent, the most in eight months.

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, lost 2.6 percent to C$43.51. Canadian Natural decreased 3.6 percent to C$45.56. Encana Corp., the country’s biggest natural gas producer, slumped 3.3 percent to C$31.85.                         

 Gold fell from a record after the African Union said Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi agreed to a cease-fire. All 33 gold companies in the S&P/TSX declined.

 Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer of the metal, dropped 2.7 percent to C$50.66. Kinross slipped 3.3 percent to C$15.37. Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-biggest gold-mining company by market value, lost 2.1 percent to C$51.06.

Silver reseller Silver Wheaton Corp. decreased 6.1 percent to C$42.18 as that metal retreated in electronic trading after the close of floor trading in New York. First Majestic Silver Corp., which mines in Mexico, sank 8.1 percent to C$21.64.

Copper dropped for the first time in a week on concern China might raise interest rates. The country, the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals, reported faster growth in exports and imports than most economists had forecast.

First Quantum declined 3.7 percent to C$131.67. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals and coal producer, lost 2 percent to C$53.83. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., which is developing a copper and gold mine in Mongolia with Rio Tinto Group, decreased 2.2 percent to C$26.38.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, retreated 1.6 percent to C$54.72 after the Fertiliser Association of India said that country does not need to import potash for the monsoon season. The shares have fallen for five-straight days.

Lumber producer TimberWest Forest Corp. soared a record 19 percent to C$6.46 after agreeing to be bought by British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the federal Public Sector Pension Investment Board. The funds will pay C$6.48 in cash for each so-called stapled unit.

Westport Innovations Inc., which makes natural-gas engines, plunged 13 percent to C$22.45 after Ann Duignan, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., began coverage of the company with a “neutral” rating. The shares had jumped 21 percent this month through April 8 on speculation the U.S. government will provide incentives for vehicles fueled by natural gas.

 US

By Rita Nazareth

April 11 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down for a third day, after oil dropped from a 30-month high as the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the world’s largest economy.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. slumped at least 3.1 percent as crude oil fell 2.5 percent.

General Motors Co. retreated 2.4 percent after China said 2011 car sales may trail forecasts. Tyco International Ltd. rise 3.3 percent as three people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News that Schneider Electric SA is weighing a takeover offer for the maker of security systems.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 1,324.46 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge had the longest losing streak in almost a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.06 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,381.11.

“There’s clearly a defensive tone,” said Bruce McCain, who oversees $22 billion as chief investment strategist at the private-banking unit of KeyCorp in Cleveland. “The IMF report got people concerned,” he said. “The stock market is stuck, trying to break the previous high. There’s hope that the first- quarter earnings season will be good and that we’ll see more takeovers. That would be good for stocks.”

The S&P 500 has risen 5.3 percent in 2011 amid government stimulus measures and as corporate profits beat analysts’ estimates for an eighth straight quarter. Earnings for S&P 500 companies rose 12 percent in the first quarter and will increase 17 percent this year, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Oil fell from a 30-month high after the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for U.S. growth this year, predicting higher oil prices and the pace of job gains will restrain the recovery.

The world’s largest economy will expand 2.8 percent this year, down from the 3 percent projected in January, the IMF said today. Global gross domestic product will grow 4.4 percent in 2011, matching the previous estimate, according to the Washington-based lender’s World Economic Outlook report.

Consumer spending, the biggest part of the U.S. economy, faces headwinds from the rising cost of food and gasoline. Federal Reserve officials last month said the expansion is on “firmer footing,” lessening the need to extend a bond purchase program beyond June.

“Recovery in the labor market remains lackluster,” the IMF said in the report. “The drag on 2011 growth from oil price increases largely offsets the boost from the Federal Reserve’s unconventional policies and from stronger net exports.”

Energy shares in the S&P 500 dropped 1.9 percent, the biggest decline among 10 industries. Occidental Petroleum fell 3.2 percent to $100.42. Anadarko Petroleum slumped 4.3 percent to $81.11.

Automakers had the biggest drop in the S&P 500 within 24 industries, falling 2.2 percent. GM, which sold 28 percent of its cars last year in China, slumped 2.4 percent to $30.77.

China’s passenger-car sales may grow at a slower pace this year than was earlier estimated by a group of the nation’s automakers after the government ended incentives for purchases and raised fuel prices.

Sales growth in China this year may fail to reach a previous estimate by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers for a 10 percent to 15 percent increase, said Dong Yang, vice chairman of the association.                           

“I am concerned about whether our growth rate is too low,” Dong said at a briefing in Beijing yesterday. “Some automakers’ profitability may be undermined this year and some may even face difficulties in their operations.”

Tyco International climbed 3.3 percent to $48.72. Schneider Electric is weighing a takeover offer for Tyco that would make the French company the world’s biggest maker of security systems, said three people with knowledge of the matter.

Schneider is working with bankers to help it assess a potential acquisition of Tyco, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

Schneider’s efforts are at an early stage and no deal is imminent, the people said. Tyco, based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, had a market value of $22.3 billion as of April 8.

Alcoa Inc. slumped 0.8 percent to $17.77. After the close of U.S. exchanges, the largest U.S. aluminum producer reported first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates after prices rose for the lightweight metal. The shares lost 2.9 percent to $17.25 at 4:54 p.m. in New York.                          

Investors should buy May S&P 500 puts or put spreads to protect from U.S. stock declines or use straddles or strangles to bet volatility will increase as earnings season begins, UBS AG said. Fewer companies are likely to beat analysts’ estimates for the past quarter while more may cut forecasts, equity derivatives strategist Mitchell Revsine wrote in a report.

Higher commodity prices may cause companies to miss estimates and reduce forecasts, and Japan’s tsunami will cause some to reduce earnings guidance, Revsine wrote.

“Market volatility may increase during earnings season,” the New York-based strategist said. “We recommend investors buy May Index options for exposure to potential increased market volatility through earnings and/or as a portfolio hedge.”

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

To expect something is to look for something pleasant.

Searching for the pleasurable is a form of denial.

You cannot expect anything, because the expectation is within you,

and what you are waiting for is dependent on external forces.

 

-Swami Prajnanpad, 1891-1974

 

As ever,

 Carolann

 He is indebted to his memory for his jests

and to his imagination for his facts.

   -Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751-1816

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

Senior Vice-President & Senior Investment Advisor

Dear Friends,

 All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

 -Buddha

Today, April 8^th,  is Buddha’s birthday, Siddhartha, “the enlightened one.”

Cherry trees bloom during the National Cherry Blossom Festival along the Tidal Basin in Washington.  (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)      

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Matt Walcoff

April 8 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, completing a fourth-straight weekly gain, as metals and oil advanced.

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s second-largest gold producer by market value, climbed 2.4 percent as the metal rose for a fifth day on a falling U.S. dollar. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s biggest oil and gas producer, gained 3.2 percent as fires burned in Libya’s Sarir oil field. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, dropped 1.7 percent after the U.S. forecast larger corn stockpiles than most analysts had estimated.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index advanced 100.66 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,208.43. The index climbed 0.6 percent this week. Crude climbed 2.3 percent to $112.79 a barrel in New York today.

“Oil back above $110 a barrel is obviously going to juice the Canadian market,” said Andrew Pyle, who helps manage C$200 million ($209 million) as an associate portfolio manager for Bank of Nova Scotia in Peterborough, Ontario. “It’s absolutely an energy and materials day.”

The S&P/TSX’s streak of weekly increases is the longest since October. It has risen 3.9 percent during the period, led by metals producers, as the U.S. dollar has dropped to a 16- month low against a basket of world currencies.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Price Index gained for a seventh day today to a 30-month high. The U.S. dollar declined against all 16 other major currencies as the euro advanced after German exports increased more than economists forecast and the British pound climbed as U.K. producer prices for March surpassed their estimates.                          

Gold futures increased 1 percent to settle at $1,474.10 an ounce in New York. Goldcorp rose 2.4 percent to a record C$52.15. Eldorado Gold Corp., which mines in China and Turkey, gained 4.9 percent to C$17.29.

Pan American Silver Corp. had the biggest gain in the S&P/TSX, surging 8.4 percent to C$40.85 as the metal touched the highest price since 1980 and the company held an analyst day in Toronto.

Oil and gas producers advanced as crude futures rallied to a 30-month high on the conflict in Libya.

Suncor increased 3.2 percent to C$44.67. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, climbed 1.9 percent to C$47.28. Cenovus Energy Inc., the country’s fifth-biggest energy company, rose 2.5 percent to C$38.46.                      

Open Range Energy Corp., which produces natural gas in Alberta, soared 24 percent to a 31-month high of C$4.42 after increasing its forecast for cash flow from operations.

Contract driller Stoneham Drilling Trust jumped 33 percent to a four-year high of C$22.69 after agreeing to be bought by Western Energy Services Corp. for cash and shares. The companies valued the deal at C$24 a unit.

Potash Corp. lost 1.7 percent to C$55.60 after the U.S.

Agriculture Department estimated corn stockpiles will total 675 million bushels on Sept. 1. Analysts had forecast supplies of 589 million bushels, according to the average forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

Transportation stocks retreated as fuel prices climbed.

Canadian National Railway Co., the country’s largest railroad, slipped 1.2 percent to C$70.70. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. decreased 1.8 percent to a seven-month low of C$60.30. Air Canada, the country’s biggest airline, fell for a sixth day, dropping 3.5 percent to a seven-month low of C$2.20.

 US

By Rita Nazareth

April 8 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, preventing the third straight weekly gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as oil’s rally to a 30-month high drove down transportation shares and investors speculated the federal government may shut for the first time since 1996.

FedEx Corp., which runs the world’s biggest cargo airline, slumped 2.9 percent. United Continental Holdings Inc. tumbled 5.8 percent as the NYSE Arca Airlines Index slid to the lowest level since September. Expedia Inc. surged 13 percent after the world’s biggest online travel agency said it will split in two.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent to 1,328.17 at 4 p.m. in New York, after gaining as much as 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 29.44 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,380.05. The U.S. dollar fell 1.2 percent to $1.4472 per euro, helping drive up prices of commodities traded in dollars.

“As oil rises, the synchronized trade is to de-risk,”said Chad Morganlander, a Florham Park, New Jersey-based money manager at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., which oversees $110 billion in client assets. “Higher commodities prices raise concern about future inflation and consumption. One should keep a careful eye on companies’ forecasts and on input costs in particular.”

The S&P 500 has risen 5.6 percent in 2011 as government stimulus measures and higher-than-estimated profits boosted investors’ optimism. U.S. stocks fell yesterday, dragging the Dow average down from an almost three-year high, as another earthquake shook Japan and a dispute over the federal budget threatened to shut down the American government.

Equities also fell as Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress remained divided over a federal budget, hours away from the first U.S. government shutdown in more than 15 years.

Democratic leaders say Republicans are refusing to accept federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Republicans say the dividing issue is the amount of spending cuts.

Commodities rose for a seventh day. Gold and tin climbed to records. The S&P GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials reached the highest level since August 2008.

Oil rose above $112 a barrel in New York for the first time since September 2008 and surpassed $126 a barrel in London as a fire burned at Libya’s Sarir field, bolstering concern that unrest in the region will further reduce supply.

“We’re not in a bubble,” said Philip Orlando, the New York-based chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors Inc., which manages $358.2 billion. “You’ve got multiple drivers that are resulting in this commodities rally. There’s a weaker dollar versus the euro in response to European monetary policy. There’s also inflation concern. The third and most important one is the improvement of global economic growth, which is resulting in more demand. That’s positive for stocks.”

The dollar dropped against most of its major counterparts on speculation the Federal Reserve will trail other central banks in raising interest rates and as signs of global growth damped demand for haven assets.

Fed Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the central bank faces a “significant” risk of providing record stimulus for too long and should weigh curtailing its $600 billion bond-purchase plan.

“We at the Fed are near a tipping point,” the 62-year-old regional bank chief said in the text of a speech today in Dallas. “Just as we pressed on in doing our duty through extraordinary, exigent measures, we must now discipline ourselves to just as persistently normalize our operations in a timely way.”                   

Billionaire investor George Soros said the European Central Bank’s decision to raise its benchmark lending rate was “quite inappropriate” because several euro member countries are suffering from too much debt.

“It is not appropriate in current circumstances when you have a number of countries that are suffering from too much debt and high interest rates,” Soros said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Michael McKee and Sara Eisen at the Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet raised the benchmark interest rate to 1.25 percent yesterday from a record low of 1 percent, where it had been since May 2009.

Policy makers will bring the rate to 1.5 percent in July and 1.75 percent in October, according to the median of 20 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average slumped 1.7 percent as 19 of 20 stocks retreated. The NYSE Arca Airline Index of 15 stocks slumped 2.7 percent.                         

FedEx lost 2.9 percent to $91.16. United Continental tumbled 5.8 percent to $19.79, dropping for a seventh straight day in the longest losing streak since June.

Expedia surged 13 percent to $25.30. The company will split into two businesses, letting investors own shares of TripAdvisor, which includes 19 travel and advertising businesses. The move will let the shareholders benefit from TripAdvisor’s growth while Expedia pumps money into marketing and hiring to fend off competition from Priceline.com Inc. that has curbed earnings, said Fred Moran, a Benchmark Co. analyst.

Seagate Technologies Plc advanced 7.8 percent to $15.84.

The world’s largest maker of computer disk drives said it will pay its first dividend since 2009.

CVS Caremark Corp. added 2.1 percent to $36.23. The largest U.S. provider of prescription drugs could be worth $25 billion more if the company split itself up, using its rivals’ valuations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

To know our soul apart from our ego is the first step toward accomplishing the supreme deliverance.

It is necessary that we know with absolute certainty that in essence we are spirit.

And we can only arrive at this knowledge if we render ourselves masters of our ego, if we rise above all pride, all appetite, all fear, by knowing that material losses and the death of the body can never take away the truth and the greatness of our soul.

-Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1901

As ever,

 Carolann

Depend not on fortune, but on conduct.

-Pubililius Syrus, 1rst Century BC

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

Senior Vice-President & Senior Investment Advisor