Category: Events

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Carolann is out of the office, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People watch a shadow play performance at Changgyeonggung Palace in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday. Thomas Peter/Reuters

The Villarrica Volcano is seen Tuesday night in Pucon town, Chile. Cristobal Saavedra/Reuters

Market Closes for May 6^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17841.98	-86.22
		-0.48%
S&P 500	2080.15	-9.31   -0.45%
NASDAQ	4919.645	-19.683   -0.40%
TSX	15023.89	-150.05
		-0.99%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19531.63	+11.62
		+0.06%
HANG SENG	27640.91	-114.63
		-0.41%
SENSEX	26717.37	-722.77
		-2.63%
FTSE 100	6933.74	+6.16
		+0.09%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.821	1.735
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.404	2.322
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.2431	2.1799
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9929	2.9080

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.83051	0.82691
US $	1.20407	1.20933
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.36632	0.73189
US $	1.13475	0.88125

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1194.25	1197.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	60.93	60.40

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Jennifer Kaplan

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell to a one-month low as energy shares plunged after election results in Alberta raised concern over the possibility of higher corporate taxes in the province.

     The New Democratic Party, led by Rachel Notley, ended a 44- year Progressive Conservative dynasty by winning a majority of districts in elections Tuesday, according to Elections Alberta. The NDP promises to boost corporate taxes, review the government’s take of energy revenue, scale back advocacy for pipelines and phase out coal power more quickly.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 150.05 points, or 1 percent, to 15,023.89 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the lowest level since April 1. The loss trimmed the benchmark Canadian equity gauge’s advance in 2015 to 2.7 percent.

     Energy companies dropped 2.5 percent, the most of 10 groups in the S&P/TSX Composite Index and biggest loss for the industry since Feb. 4. RMP Energy Inc. sank 11 percent. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s biggest oil producer by market value, tumbled 3.4 percent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 2.9 percent.

     “It’s completely devastating” for energy companies and investors, Rafi Tahmazian, who helps manage C$1 billion ($831 million) in energy funds at Canoe Financial LP in Calgary, said on Tuesday. “The perception from the market based on their comments is they’re extremely dangerous.”

     Materials companies in the index slid 1.3 percent, as seven of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated.

     Barrick Gold Corp. slumped 3.8 percent and Iamgold Corp. fell 6.9 percent as the price of the metal for the first time this week. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said bond yields could see a sharp jump after the central bank raises interest rates, crimping demand for gold as an alternative investment.

     Enbridge Inc. lost 2.7 percent, the most in three months, after reporting results that missed analysts’ estimates. Canada’s largest pipeline company posted a first-quarter loss on adjustments to contracts meant to guard against swings in currencies, oil prices and interest rates.

     Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. rose 12 percent, to a Jan. 2 high. Alfa SAB, already the largest shareholder in Pacific Rubiales, joined Harbour Energy Ltd. in a takeover offer of about C$2.1 billion for the Colombian company to expand into the oil industry.

US

 By Jeremy Herron

     (Bloomberg) — The dollar sank and U.S. stocks fell to a one-month low after data on jobs and productivity added to concern economic growth is not robust enough to withstand higher interest rates. A rout in global bonds resumed, while oil advanced on supplies data.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.5 percent at 4 p.m. in New York. The guage earlier slid below its 100-day moving average before paring declines by half in the final hour of trading. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lost 0.7 percent. The yield on 10-year Treasuries continued to climb with European bond rates in a global bond rout that has erased more than $430 billion in value since the start of last week. Oil pared an earlier rally past $62 a barrel.

     Productivity in the U.S. fell in the first quarter, while a private payrolls report showed companies in April added the fewest number of workers in more than a year. Economic data have been missing estimates by the most in more than six years, stoking concerns growth is slowing as the Fed considers raising borrowing costs. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said equity- market valuations are “quite high,” while long-term interest rates are low and could jump when the central bank raises its benchmark.

 

     The data “has people nervous, and after yesterday’s selloff there are a lot of weak hands in the market,” Robert Pavlik, who helps oversee $9 billion as chief investment strategist at Boston Private Wealth, said by phone. “People are worried about what Friday’s report is going to bring. They’re not fully committed — they’re just trying to ride the wave, and that’s caused some selling pressure to develop.”

     Ten-year yields rose five basis points to 2.23 percent, the highest since March 6. The 10-year rate has gained 37 basis points since April 17. Thirty-year bond yields rose seven basis points to 2.98 percent, the highest level since December.

     “We saw this in the case of the taper tantrum in 2013, where there was a very sharp upward movement in rates,” Yellen said in Washington, in reference to the episode in the middle of that year, when then-Chairman Ben S. Bernanke suggested that the Fed could start tapering its bond purchases in the next few meetings.

     “To say that when the Fed starts to tighten you could see a sharp jump in long rates, that’s something we haven’t heard from Yellen before, so the market is a little surprised by that comment and it’s being reflected in prices and yields here, particularly at the long end of the market,” Donald Ellenberger, who oversees about $10 billion as head of multi- sector strategies at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh.

     The dollar dropped against most of its 16 major counterparts, extending losses that pushed the Bloomberg dollar gauge to its steepest slide since 2011 in April, as market tension rises before Friday’s government jobs report.

     While data showed the economy expanded at a 0.2 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, the Fed called the weakness “transitory,” opening the door for a possible rate increase this year.

     The S&P 500 trades at 17.6 times forecast earnings of its members, compared with an average multiple of 14.5 in the past five years. The index has fallen 1.8 percent from an April 24 record amid a retreat in risk appetite. Some of the year’s most popular market bets backfired last month, as the dollar and European bonds slid, while energy prices rebounded.

     The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 percent Tuesday, briefly erasing its gain for the year before paring declines in late trading. The gauge is 0.1 percent higher in 2015.

     Stocks have declined even as quarterly earnings come in better than expected. About 72 percent of the 408 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings this season have beaten analysts’ projections.

     “It just shows you’re on some sort of soft patch in the U.S. — it may be enough for the Fed to rethink the timing,” Charles St-Arnaud, senior economist at Nomura Holdings Inc., said by phone from London. “The consensus trades so far this year — which were being long bonds, long dollar — that seems to be gradually unwinding.” A long position is a bet an asset will increase in value.

     The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6 percent as investors assessed corporate results and watched for developments in Greek debt talks. Shares pared an advance after the U.S. data.

     Tumbling Greek shares led European stocks to their lowest level in two months on Tuesday on concern that bailout negotiations will fail to secure funding in time to prevent the nation defaulting.

     The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 0.9 percent. Russia’s ruble and the Malaysian ringgit strengthened as gains crude prices buoyed earnings prospects for the oil-exporting nations.

     The Shanghai Composite slid 1.6 percent to a two-week low and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong slipped 0.6 percent.

     The Bloomberg Commodity Index, a measure of 22 raw materials, slipped 0.2 percent after two days of gains.

     Raw-material prices have rebounded since reaching a 12-year low in March as crude rallied, the dollar fell and speculation increased that China may add to stimulus.

     The Bloomberg commodities gauge has still plunged more than 50 percent from its record in 2008, after a decade-long bull market encouraged farmers, miners and oil producers to ramp up supplies.

     Oil futures reached $62.58 a barrel, the highest since December, before paring advances. West Texas Intermediate climbed 0.9 percent to settle at $60.93 in New York.

     Crude supplies slipped 3.88 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. A gain was expected in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Refineries operated at the highest rate in four months as imports slipped to a one- year low.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!
 

                “Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” Gordon B. Hinckley

As ever,

 

Karen

 

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” Maya Angelou

  

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Carolann is out of the office, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Two women ride their horses over a meadow covered with dandelions near Burggaillenreuth, southern Germany, Tuesday. Nicolas 

Two Canada geese chicks play between daisies in a park in Duesseldorf, Germany, Tuesday. Maja Hitij/dpa/AP

Market Closes for May 5^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17928.20	-142.20
		-0.79%
S&P 500	2089.46	-25.03   -1.18%
NASDAQ	4939.328	-77.601   -1.55%
TSX	15173.94	-193.53
		-1.26%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19531.63	+11.62
		+0.06%
HANG SENG	27755.54	-368.28
		-1.31%
SENSEX	27440.14	-50.45
		-0.18%
FTSE 100	6927.58	-58.37
		-0.84%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.735	1.714
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.322	2.294
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1799	2.1440
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.9080	2.8765

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82862	0.82691
US $	1.20683	1.20933
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.34983	0.74083
US $	1.11849	0.89406

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1197.00	1175.95
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	60.40	58.93

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most since March amid data showing a record national trade deficit and a global selloff in equities as concern grew that Greece won’t resolve its debt crisis.

     Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s largest lenders, retreated at least 0.8 percent as financial stocks slumped. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the convenience store operator, lost 2.7 percent to pace a decline among consumer-staples retailers. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co., the nation’s largest rail operators, tumbled at least 1.5 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 193.53 points, or 1.3 percent, to 15,173.94 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest decline since March 10. Tuesday’s slide trimmed the benchmark Canadian equity gauge’s advanced in 2015 to 3.7 percent.

     The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.9 percent, as the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 slumped the most in almost six weeks and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped to an eight-week low.

     Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German Finance Minister, said Greece and its creditors may not be able to complete the work needed for an agreement on financial aid before about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of payments become due to the International Monetary Fund on May 12.

     Canada posted a record trade gap in March as the value of energy exports declined and imports of consumer goods increased. The C$3.02 billion deficit topped the C$2.87 billion record set in July 2012 and exceeded the highest forecast of C$1.33 billion in a Bloomberg economist survey.

     All 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated at least 0.5 percent, on trading volume 10 percent higher than the 30-day average today.

     Couche-Tard fell 2.7 percent and Loblaw Cos. lost 1.3 percent as consumer-staples companies declined 1.5 percent as a group. Industrial stocks tumbled 1.9 percent, led by the railroad operators.

     Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. jumped 18 percent in trading on alternative markets after the company received a takeover approach by Alfa SAB and Harbour Energy Ltd. that values it at about $6 billion including debt, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell the most in more than a month, joining a global decline in equities, as mixed data added to U.S. growth concerns and speculation rose that Greece won’t be able to resolve its debt crisis.

     Apple Inc. lost 2.3 percent, and semiconductors fell 2.2 percent to lead a selloff in technology companies. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index slid 2 percent as health-care shares dropped. Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. declined more than 3 percent as oil topped $60 a barrel for the first time this year.

     The S&P 500 Index slumped 1.2 percent to 2,089.46 at 4 p.m. in New York, below its average price during the past 50 days. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.6 percent, and the Russell 2000 Index lost 1.4 percent. About 7.2 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 10 percent above the three-month average.

     “There’s a sense of uneasiness permeating through the equity market due to first quarter results, mixed signals of economic health and high valuations,” said Terry Sandven, who helps oversee $126 billion as chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. “The U.S. economy is navigating through a soft patch and high valuations are elevating the risk of being wrong, so investor angst and concern remains high.”

     Concern has grown over whether Greece can meet its obligation to pay about $1.1 billion due to the International Monetary Fund by May 12. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell to its lowest level in two years.

     A report today showed the U.S. trade deficit widened in March to the highest level in more than six years, fueled by a record surge in imports as commercial activity resumed at West Coast ports following a resolution to labor disputes. The jump probably means the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter when the Commerce Department issues revisions later this month.

     A separate report showed service industries such as real- estate firms and restaurants unexpectedly grew at a faster pace in April as the biggest part of the U.S. economy picked up.

     Investors will look ahead to Friday’s payrolls numbers amid speculation over the timeline for an increase in U.S. interest rates. Concern that the Federal Reserve may soon raise borrowing costs even as economic growth sputters sent equities dropping from records last week, with losses concentrated in biotechnology and social-media shares.

     “This is a market that’s struggled to get out of the gate this year,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist and portfolio manager who helps oversee $170 billion at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Florham Park, New Jersey. “There’s a lot of choppiness — no clear direction. There’s a sense of uncertainty right now, and the market is eventually going to have to look for real growth in the economy, and that’s looking fairly weak.”

     Stocks rebounded for a second day on Monday, helped by a rally in banks, amid optimism over corporate earnings season. Of the 377 S&P 500 companies that have reported results through Monday, 73 percent topped analysts’ estimates for profits, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

     Apple slipped 2.3 percent, its fifth decline in six days, a period during which it’s fallen more than 5.1 percent.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index climbed 11 percent Tuesday to 14.31, its biggest jump in six weeks. The gauge, know as the VIX, added 3.3 percent last week. All of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups retreated, with eight falling more than 1 percent.

     Leading declines among tech, semiconductor companies dropped for a second day as Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp. lost at least 1.6 percent. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index retreated 2.2 percent, its biggest drop in six weeks.

     Gilead Sciences Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. paced the slide in health-care companies, losing more than 2.5 percent. Express Scripts Holding Co. slumped 3.2 percent, the most since December.

     Utilities in the S&P 500 tumbled 2.3 percent, their biggest decline in two months. Sempra Energy decreased 3.2 percent after reporting first-quarter sales that fell short of analyst estimates. Edison International and FirstEnergy Corp. fell more than 2.5 percent.

     Energy companies in the S&P 500 erased earlier gains, even as crude-oil prices climbed to near five-month highs. Advances of more than 3.1 percent in Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. and Transocean Ltd. were overshadowed by declines of at least 3.1 percent in Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Newfield Exploration Co. and EOG Resources Inc.

     A Bloomberg gauge of U.S. airlines tumbled 3.1 percent amid oil’s rally. American Airlines and United Continental Holdings Inc. sank more than 2.7 percent. The Dow Jones Transportation Average dropped 1.7 percent, the most in six weeks.

     International Paper Co. fell 5.2 percent to its lowest level in six months as rules proposed Tuesday by the IRS would not allow the company to separate its containerboard operations into a tax-advantaged vehicle.

     Salesforce.com Inc. added 1.6 percent, after jumping more than 6 percent as people with knowledge of the matter said Microsoft Corp. is evaluating a bid for the company. Microsoft lost 1.3 percent.

     Mallinckrodt Plc rallied 4.6 percent after quarterly results beat estimates and the drugmaker raised it full-year profit outlook.

     Netflix Inc. advanced 1.9 percent after Bank of America Corp. raised its rating on the company to buy from sell while more than doubling its price forecast.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!
 

                “It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” Charles Spurgeon

As ever,

 

Karen

 

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” William Arthur Ward

  

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Carolann is out of the office, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sparrows fly in and out of the muzzle of a former Soviet tank in Berlin Monday. The tank is part of a memorial for Red Army soldiers. Markus Schreiber/AP

Members of the media view selections for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala Benefit, ‘China: Through the Looking Glass,’ during a media preview in New York Monday. Stephanie Keith/Reuters

Market Closes for May 4^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18070.40	+46.34
		+0.26%
S&P 500	2114.49	+6.20   +0.29%
NASDAQ	5016.930	+11.539   +0.23%
TSX	15367.47	+27.70
		+0.18%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19531.63	+11.62
		+0.06%
HANG SENG	28123.82	-9.18
		-0.03%
SENSEX	27490.59	+479.28
		+1.77%
FTSE 100	6985.95	+25.32
		+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.714	1.662
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.294	2.240
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1440	2.1064
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8765	2.8200

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82691	0.82216
US $	1.20933	1.21631
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.34828	0.74169
US $	1.11490	0.89694

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1175.95	1175.95
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	58.93	59.15

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose a second day, extending the biggest increase in five weeks, as Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. surged to lead gains among consumer shares and the nation’s largest insurers advanced ahead of earnings.

     Couche-Tard climbed 4.6 percent to snap a three-day slide. Sun Life Financial Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp. added at least 1.3 percent. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. slipped 3.5 percent as copper fell after the largest weekly advance in 40 months.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 27.70 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,367.47 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has advanced 5 percent so far this year.

     Five of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX rose today on trading volume 18 percent lower than the 30-day average. Financial shares climbed 0.4 percent, while consumer staples stocks jumped 1.9 percent.

     Couche-Tard rallied 4.6 percent, the most since December. The Laval, Quebec-based operator of convenience stores and gas stations said in a release an April 24 bankruptcy filing before an Arizona court for The Circle K Corp. was not related to Couche-Tard’s Circle K subsidiary and has no link to the company.

     Sun Life Financial gained 1.6 percent, the biggest increase in seven weeks. The insurer will report first-quarter earnings May 5. Manulife, the nation’s largest insurer, is scheduled to report on May 7.

     Torex Gold Resources Inc. jumped 5.5 percent and Centerra Gold Inc. added 4.6 percent. Gold futures for June delivery climbed 1 percent to settle at $1,186.80 an ounce in New York, rebounding from a six-week low.

     Ensign Energy Services Inc. added 11 percent, the most since 2009, after reporting first-quarter profit ahead of analysts’ estimates.

US

By Stephen Kirkland and Jeremy Herron

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced toward all-time highs amid corporate results and data showing strength in the economy. Treasuries declined a second day as a rout in European bonds diminished the appeal of relatively higher American yields.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.4 percent at 4 p.m. in New York, within three points of its closing record. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rebounded from the biggest weekly slide this year as euro-area manufacturing increased more than estimated. The euro slipped versus all but one of its 16 major peers. The yield on 10-year German notes jumped, while similar- maturity Treasury notes climbed to a seven-week high. Brazil’s real slid 2 percent. Gold futures climbed 1 percent.

     U.S. factory orders rose 2.1 percent in March for the biggest gain since July, adding to evidence a winter slowdown may have been temporary. Earnings from Comcast Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. beat estimates. The S&P 500 rallied the most in more than a month Friday, while the dollar advanced to stanch slides that reversed some key trends in April Manufacturers in the euro area raised prices for the first time in eight months in April.

     “With nothing negative coming from overseas, you’re seeing a continuation of the positive price action from Friday afternoon,” Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc., said by phone. “We still have a pretty heavy slate of earnings this entire week, with a number of high-profile companies reporting, that’ll probably be the focus for the next several days.”

     U.S. equities slipped for the week, with the S&P 500 closing 0.4 percent below an all-time high, as the Federal Reserve left open the possibility of raising interest rates this year, with losses concentrated in biotechnology and social-media sectors that have among the highest valuations.

     Among stocks rising Monday, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. rallied as earnings exceeded forecasts. McDonald’s Corp. slipped as the fast-food giant unveiled its turnaround plan.

     Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. decreased after saying it expects a downturn in demand for offshore drilling to last at least through next year as customers cut spending amid the crude crash.

     Pioneer Natural Resources Co. slipped 1.8 percent after David Einhorn, who runs hedge fund Greenlight Capital, criticized the company for spending too much money without returns. Einhorn was among several money managers speaking at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York on Monday.

     Walt Disney Co. and Mylan NV also release earnings this week. Analysts have tempered their predictions for a corporate profit slump, now projecting a first-quarter drop of 0.4 percent, compared with April 17 calls for a 4.3 percent decline.

     Of the S&P 500 members that have already released results this season, 73 percent beat profit projections and 49 percent topped sales estimates.

     Bill Gross said the bull market “supercycle” for stocks and bonds is approaching its end, as the unconventional monetary policies that have kept it alive since the financial crisis are running out. Gross acknowledged that his calls for the end of the bond rally in both February and April of 2013 were too early.

     The euro slipped 0.5 percent to $1.1149, after surging 4.6 percent in April, its first monthly advance since the middle of last year.

     “Last week’s correction provided a good entry point for a lot of investors,” Alessandro Bee, a strategist at Bank J Safra Sarasin, said by phone from Zurich. “Liquidity is still being poured into markets and the European economy is accelerating. The next step is to understand whether U.S. growth is really slowing, or whether we’ll get a much-needed recovery in the second quarter.”

     The Stoxx 600 slid 3.4 percent, the most since December, in a holiday-shortened week for  most markets. Trading volumes in the Stoxx 600 were 34 percent below the 30-day average on Monday, with London trading closed.

     Gold futures recovered from a six-week low amid the China stimulus speculation. Futures for June delivery rose 1.3 percent to $1,189.40 an ounce in New York.

     Brazil’s real tumbled 2.3 percent to 3.08452 per U.S. dollar to lead global declines as the central bank eased support for the currency.

     Crude oil futures slipped below $59 a barrel in New York trading, as West Texas Intermediate for June delivery fell 0.3 percent to $58.95 a barrel. Prices touched $59.90 on May 1, the highest level since Dec. 11.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

Martin Luther King, Jr.

As ever,

 

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.”

Audrey Hepburn

 

Karen

  

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

May Day: May 1^st:  Polydore Virgil says that the Roman youths used to go into the fields and spend the Calends of May in dancing and singing in honor of Flora, a goddess of fruits and flowers.  The English celebrated May Day with games and sports, particularly archery and Morris Dances and the setting up of the Maypole.  In due time Robin Hood and Maid Marian came to preside as Lord and Lady of the May, and by the 16^thcentury May Day was Robin Hood’s day and Robin Hood plays became an integral part of the festivities.  May Day was also formerly the day of the London chimney-sweepers’ festival.

Maypole and May queen:  Dancing around the Maypole on May Day, “going–a-Maying”, electing a May queen and lighting bonfires were all ancient relics of nature worship.  In Cornhill, London, a great shaft or maypole was set up before the church of St. Andrew.  The annual dancing of people under the pole gave the church’s present name of St. Andrew Undershaft.  In the first May morning people went “a-maying” to fetch fresh flowers and branches of hawthorn (hence its name “may”) to d to decorate their houses, and the fairest maid of the locality was crowned “queen of the May.”

The Maypole in the Strand:  This once famous London landmark was erected proba

On this day in 1941, Citizen Kane debuts. The film, considered by many to be the greatest ever made, fails to recoup its costs at the box office.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A reveller walks through the streets in the early hours during traditional May Day celebrations in Oxford, Britain, Friday. Dylan Martinez/Reuters

A boy dances with Leicester Morrismen during May Day celebrations at Bradgate Park in Newtown Linford, Britain, Friday. The celebration is a traditional rite thought to be connected to changing seasons and fertility. Darren Staples/Reuters

Fans watch a race before the 141th running of the Kentucky Oaks horse race at Churchill Downs Friday in Louisville, Ky. Jeff Roberson/AP

Market Closes for May 1^st, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18024.06	+183.54
		+1.03%
S&P 500	2106.90	+21.39   +1.03%
NASDAQ	5005.391	+63.967   +1.29%
TSX	15356.45	+131.93
		+0.87%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19531.63	+11.62
		+0.06%
HANG SENG	28133.00	-267.34
		-0.94%
SENSEX	27011.31	-214.62
		-0.79%
FTSE 100	6985.95	+25.32
		+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.662	1.589
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.240	2.183
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.1064	2.0388
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.8200	2.7475

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82216	0.82916
US $	1.21631	1.20604
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.36358	0.73337
US $	1.12108	0.89200

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1175.95	1180.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	59.15	59.63

Have not great merchants, great manufacturers, great inventors done more for the world than preachers and philanthropists.  Can there be any doubt that cheapening the cost of necessities and conveniences of life is the most powerful agent of civilization and progress?

            -Charles Elliott Perkins (Railroad magnate, 1840-1907)

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose the most in five weeks as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rallied to a record and base metals producers advanced.

     Valeant climbed 3.7 percent for a fourth straight day of gains. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. jumped 5.5 percent as copper posted the biggest weekly advance in 40 months. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. added 2.7 percent to snap a four-day drop, pacing gains among industrial shares.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 115.25 points, or 0.8 percent, to 15,339.77 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, trimming its weekly loss to 0.4 percent. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge advanced 2.2 percent in April.

     Raw-materials stocks rallied 1.8 percent as nine of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX advanced. Trading volume was 13 percent lower than the 30-day average.

     First Quantum climbed 5.5 percent and Lundin Mining Corp. increased 5 percent. Copper has advanced 6.4 percent this week, the most since December 2011. China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index showed a reading of 50.1 in April, matching the gauge for March and above the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 50.0, the level that divides expansion and contraction.

     HudBay Minerals Inc. rose 4.9 percent and Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp. gained 1.5 percent.

     New Gold inc. dropped 1.2 percent and Semafo Inc. lost 2.2 percent. Gold futures for June delivery lost 0.7 percent in New York to fall to a six-week low amid speculation the Federal Reserve is moving closer to raising interest rates.

     Valeant increased 3.7 percent for a record close. The stock, the third-largest in the S&P/TSX by market capitalization, has jumped 11 percent in four days. The company on April 29 raised its forecast for the year after first-quarter profit topped estimates.

US

By Callie Bost

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index paring a weekly loss, as Gilead Sciences Inc. and Expedia Inc. rallied after Thursday’s selloff in biotechnology and small-cap shares.

     The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rebounded 2.9 percent from a 3.1 percent drop yesterday. Gilead added 4.5 percent as first- quarter profit exceeded projections. Expedia Inc. climbed 7.9 percent, amid quarterly revenue that exceeded estimates, and paced consumer shares as they erased their Thursday decline. LinkedIn Corp. tumbled 19 percent after trimming its annual sales forecast.

     The S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent to 2,108.29 at 4 p.m. in New York, after falling 1 percent Thursday. The index jumped above its average price for the past 50 days. The Russell 2000 rose 0.7 percent after tumbling 2.2 percent yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 183.54 points, or 1 percent, to 18,024.06 and nearly wiped out yesterday’s retreat.

     “This week felt like an unwinding of a lot of big trading positions that had been on for months and that had been extremely successful,” said David Heidel, a regional investment director for the private client reserve of U.S. Bank, which oversees about $128 billion of assets. “This is a rebound from the tough days we had earlier this week. People are taking a look at potential bargains.”

     The benchmark index dropped 0.4 percent this week as the Federal Reserve left open the possibility of raising rates in 2015 even after data showed the economy barely grew in the first quarter.                         

     Wednesday’s growth report was among a string of weak numbers stoking concern about the strength of the recovery, as the Fed looks set for its first rate increase since 2006.

     A report today showed manufacturing in April held at the weakest pace in almost two years, while a separate report said consumer confidence increased in April to the second-highest level in more than eight years as Americans grew more upbeat about their financial prospects.

     Analysts have tempered their predictions for a corporate earnings slump, now projecting a first-quarter drop of 0.4 percent, compared with April 17 calls for a 4.3 percent decline.

     The Russell 2000 Index lost 2.6 percent last month as biotech and social-media companies, viewed by some investors as being in bubble territory, led a late April retreat in equities.

     While the S&P 500 returned to an all-time high in April and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped to its first record since the dot-com bust, this week’s declines have pulled both indexes away from those levels. The S&P 500 is still one of the biggest laggards among developed-market indexes this year.

     “Markets are becoming increasingly tactical and taking profits,” said Michael Ingram, a market strategist at BGC Brokers LP in London. “The very basic issue is that markets want strong growth and zero rates forever. That’s simply not going to happen.”

     Amid the volatility, U.S. equities remain stuck within the tightest range of prices in almost a decade: roughly 125 points in the S&P 500. The peak-to-trough move of 6.3 percent is the smallest at this point of any year since 2006.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index dropped 13 percent to 12.70 after an 8.7 percent jump yesterday. For the gauge known as the VIX, it’s the biggest retreat since January. About 6.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges Friday, 3 percent below the three month average.                       

     Nine of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups rose Friday, with raw- material, technology and consumer discretionary companies rallying the most. Alcoa Inc. jumped 5.4 percent, its biggest gain since October, and Eastman Chemical Co. added 3.3 percent near a five-month high to lead materials. Alcoa was upgraded to buy from hold at Standpoint Research.

     Expedia led gains in consumer shares along with Yum! Brands Inc. and Leggett & Platt Inc. Yum surged 6.9 percent, the biggest gain in more than a year, after after Dan Loeb’s Third Point disclosed a “significant stake” in the restaurant operator, saying its business in China will recover from recent food-safety issues.

     Gilead, Biogen Inc. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. paced health-care’s advance, with each rising at least 3 percent. The Nasdaq Biotech index added 2.9 percent, snapping a five-day losing streak during which the gauge dropped 9 percent.

     A Bloomberg gauge of U.S. airlines climbed 3 percent. SkyWest Inc. soared 18 percent after better-than-estimated first-quarter results. JetBlue Airways Corp. and Southwest Airlines Co. rose more than 5 percent.

     Altera Corp. rallied 9.8 percent after Reuters reported that the company could face a hostile takeover bid by Intel Corp. Intel added 2.7 percent and Micron Technology Inc. advanced 3.1 percent. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index increased 2.8 percent, its best gain since March 27 when Intel’s initial interest in Altera was first reported.

     Apple Inc. rose 3 percent, ending a three-day losing stretch in which shares fell 5.7 percent.

     LinkedIn lost 19 percent, the sharpest drop since it went public almost four years ago. The professional-networking website delivered quarterly revenue that missed analysts’ estimates for the first time, shaking confidence in a historically stable business plan. The company also trimmed its annual revenue forecast.                      

     First Solar Inc., the biggest U.S. solar-panel maker, slipped 3.9 percent to its lowest level in two months. Quarterly revenue missed estimates, and the company reported its first loss in three years as it prepares to create a new company to operate some of its completed power plants.

     Pump and valve maker Flowserve Corp. dropped 3.2 percent, the most in three months, after first-quarter profit and revenue missed estimates. The company cited broad-based industrial spending declines, notably in oil and gas markets, and the impact of a strengthening dollar.

     Chevron Corp. fell 1.8 percent, the most among three Dow components that declined, after reporting better-than-estimated quarterly earnings. Profit from its refinery business doubled, while earnings from its oil-and gas-producing business posted the worst performance since the second quarter of 2009.
 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Live your own life.

That is to say, where you are, as you are, with what you are, and with who you are…

Accept the situation in which you find yourself and try, at the same time, to adapt to it.

You cannot escape from it.

Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

 

You can’t win the Kentucky Derby unless you’re on a thoroughbred.

                                                               -Joe Torre, 1940-

 

Carolann

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Tonight is known as Beltane , Wicca or Witch’s Night in Europe:  It began as an ancient Celtic (Scottish Gaelic bealtainn) festival whereupon fires were lit on hill tops, and cattle were driven between the flames.  A person born “between the Beltanes”, i.e., in the week beginning on May Day, is said to have power and influence over all living things.  At the height of spring Beltane begins, celebrating all that is powerful and sensual in nature.  Herbs make potent curs; hawthorn flowers are everywhere.  It is the midpoint between the  spring equinox and the summer solstice; lovers adorn each other with ribbons hanging from the Maypole.

We were there last night when the dark drew down:
We set the bonfires leaping.
Then we vanished in the heather
and we couldn’t be found until
the dawn came creeping.

 -Celtic rock group Annwn

Easter celebrations borrow from the pre-Christian, pagan Beltane festival.  The ancient Celts saw joy and life as one with suffering, death and rebirth.  So it is in  the Easter tradition that Mary, the mother, watches her son suffer and die.  Then he is sealed in a cave, for the way of resurrection lies in deepest earth.  Mary Magdalene is the first to find him risen, for Christ is also the lover, and only with the beloved can new life be sown.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Horses from a circus cavort on a meadow covered with dandelions in Aukrug, northern Germany, Thursday. Carsten Rehder/dpa/AP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel feeds a lemur during her visit to the bird park in Marlow, northeastern Germany, Thursday. Merkel is scheduled to open the enclosure for penguins in the bird park. Stefan Sauer/dpa/AP

Market Closes for April 30^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17840.78	-194.75
		-1.08%
S&P 500	2082.65	-24.20   -1.15%
NASDAQ	4941.426	-82.218   -1.64%
TSX	15241.79	-105.55
		-0.69%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19520.01	-538.94
		-2.69%
HANG SENG	28133.00	-267.34
		-0.94%
SENSEX	27011.31	-214.62
		-0.79%
FTSE 100	6960.63	+14.35
		+0.21%

Bonds

 

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.589	1.587
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.183	2.191
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0388	2.0458
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.7475	2.7587

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82916	0.83222
US $	1.20604	1.20161
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.35337	0.73889
US $	1.12216	0.89113

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1180.25	1209.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	59.63	58.58

In most admired companies key priorities are teamwork, customer focus, fair treatment of employees, initiative, and innovation.  In average companies the top priorities are minimizing risk, respecting the chain of command, supporting the boss, and making budget.  –Bruce Pfau, Fortune.

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most in more than a month, paring its April gain, as data showed the economy stalled in February and falling gold prices overshadowed a rally in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.

     Raw-materials companies lost 1.4 percent. Pretium Resources Inc. and Goldcorp Inc. slid more than 5.1 percent as gold prices tumbled. Valeant jumped 2.1 percent, extending a rally to 7 percent over three days.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 122.82 points, or 0.8 percent, to 15,224.52 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, ending the month with an advance of 2.2 percent. The benchmark Canadian gauge added 1.9 percent in the first quarter despite a decline of 2.2 percent in March.

     Canada’s gross domestic product was unchanged in February, compared with economists’ forecast for a contraction, as a plunge in oil rigging and drilling was offset by gains in consumer spending.

     Output remained at an annualized C$1.65 trillion ($1.37 trillion), Statistics Canada said Thursday in Ottawa, while the median forecast in a Bloomberg economist survey was for a 0.1 percent contraction.

     Pretium lost 5.1 percent as gold erased its gains for the year. Goldcorp lost 6.2 percent after reporting first-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ estimates.

     ARC Resources Ltd. declined 2.3 percent, pacing a fourth loss in five days for energy shares. The group gained 7 percent in April,its biggest advance since 2011, as oil rallied 25 percent.

     Nine of 10 industries in the benchmark gauge retreated today, led by consumer-staples companies. Volume was 24 percent above the 30-day average for this time of day.

     Maple Leaf Foods Inc. added 2.3 percent as the food manufacturer reported first-quarter revenue that topped estimates.

US

By Jennifer Kaplan and Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — A selloff in technology and small-cap shares sent the Russell 2000 Index toward its worst week since October and pared a monthly gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

     Apple Inc. lost 2.7 percent after reports it found a defect in its new watch. Yelp Inc. plunged 23 percent as its earnings and outlook disappointed investors, and Google Inc. fell 2.3 percent. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index dropped 3.1 percent. Energy companies pared their biggest monthly gain in more than a year. LinkedIn Corp. dropped 23 percent in late trading as its second-quarter forecast missed estimates.

     The S&P 500 declined 1 percent to 2,085.51 at 4 p.m. in New York, below the index’s average price for the past 50 days. The Russell 2000 Index slumped 2.2 percent, its biggest drop in more than a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 195.01 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,840.52, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.6 percent. About 8.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 28 percent above the three-month average.

     “The weakness is building on itself, and it’s being led by sectors like biotech, which are bleeding over into the broader market,” said Robert Pavlik, who helps oversee $9 billion as chief investment strategist at Boston Private Wealth. “There’s pressure on Apple. After the big run we’ve been having in the overall market, we’re getting a setback here. A pullback in a market seeing a lot of volatility is going to happen from time to time.”

     Data today showed that consumer spending in March posted the the biggest increase since November, while February’s gain was larger than previously estimated. Incomes were little changed reflecting a drop in dividend payments. A separate report showed applications for U.S. jobless benefits declined last week to the lowest level in 15 years.

     The S&P 500 has gained 0.9 percent in April after a 1.7 percent decline in March. The advance has been driven by a 6.6 percent rally among energy companies as oil prices had their best monthly increase since May 2009. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.8 percent this month, and briefly erased its dot-com- era decline after 15 years.

     Small-cap stocks, meanwhile, have underperformed with the Russell 2000 Index down 2.6 percent in April. The gauge has declined in four of the last five days, dropping 4 percent over the stretch. Energy companies are the only one of the Russell’s nine main groups with a monthly gain, up almost 12 percent. Consumer staples lagged the most, down 5.9 percent.

     Gradually, investors are unwinding bets on smaller companies that they had favored on grounds that their domestic focus would insulate them from the effects of a rallying dollar. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index saw its biggest monthly retreat since 2011.

     Of the S&P 500 members that have already released earnings results this season, 74 percent beat profit projections and 47 percent topped sales estimates.

     Analysts have tempered their predictions for an earnings slump, now projecting a first-quarter drop of 2.9 percent, compared with April 10 calls for a 5.6 percent decline.

     All of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups fell Thursday, led by technology and health-care companies. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index climbed 8.7 percent to 14.55. The gauge, known as the VIX, is on track for its biggest weekly gain since January.

     Apple slid 2.7 percent, down for a third consecutive day, after the company was said to have found a defect in a key component of its watch during production, forcing it to limit supply of the new device, the Wall Street Journal reported.

     LinkedIn plunged 23 percent at 4:55 p.m. After the market closed, the company forecast revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, citing the strong dollar and slower-than-expected growth.

     Salesforce.com Inc. lost 2.5 percent, following a nearly 12 percent jump on Wednesday to an all-time high after a report that the company is working with financial advisers to help field takeover offers. Autodesk Inc. declined 4.6 percent after an analyst downgrade.

     Yelp slumped 23 percent, its biggest drop since going public three years ago, after reporting first-quarter sales and profit that missed analysts’ estimates. Its second-quarter sales outlook was also below estimates.

     Health-care companies in the benchmark index retreated for the fourth time in five days. Varian Medical Systems Inc. and orthopedic device maker Zimmer Holdings Inc. lost at least 4.8 percent after lowering their profit outlooks.

     Biogen Inc. and Celgene Corp. slipped more than 2.6 percent as the Nasdaq Biotech index dropped 3.3 percent amid a five-day losing streak, its longest in more than two years. Biogen is also the worst-performing stock in April among the S&P 500’s health-care group, losing 11 percent.                     

     Harman International Industries Inc. fell 7 percent, its biggest slide in more than two years, after the maker of Harman Kardon and JBL audio equipment posted quarterly profit and sales that trailed analysts’ estimates and cut its full-year earnings forecast.

     Rockwell Automation Inc. advanced 5.6 percent, its biggest gain since 2012, after earnings were better than analysts’ predictions.

     Equinix Inc. rose 4.5 percent to a record after reporting earnings yesterday that beat analysts estimates. The information technology company also raised its 2015 revenue forecast.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

We are trying to understand violence as a fact, not as an idea,

as a fact which exists in the human being, and the human being is myself.

I must be in a state of mind that demands to see this thing right to the end

and at no point stops and says I will go no further.

Now it must be obvious to me that I am a violent human being…

 

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads

armed with nothing but their own vision.

                                          -Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, The Fountainhead, 1957.

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

April, from A Countrywoman’s Notes by Rosemary Verey:

A regular end-of-April expedition we look forward to going to going to see is the wild Pulsatilla vulgaris.  There they are in their hundreds on a steep west-facing limestone bank, their blue heads hanging down,  To get the best view of them you must walk across the hillside, always looking upward.  The stems are only an inch or two long, which helps, which helps to camouflage the flowers.  One year on our way home we suddenly saw a pair of hoopoes, presumably going to their summer breeding-ground.  Their very distinctive crests make them easily recognizable.  One quickly flew over the hedge into the adjoining field and the other kept immediately in front of our car for a matter of 100 yards or more as we drove slowly along;  it was an afternoon to remember.  The bank of pulsatillas is a site specially protected by the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation.  Obviously  the plants must not be dug up or picked and the owner of the farm has agreed to keep grazing animals off the site in early spring to allow enough time for the full development of the flowers and seed dispersal.  The Trust does valuable work, with 50 nature reserves and a network of protected sites.  It is also very active in the field of education, with projects for adults and to encourage schoolchildren to become interested in the world about them.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Bluebells bloom in the Hallerbos in Halle, Belgium, Wednesday. Bluebells grow in ancient woodlands where they may dominate the understorey to produce carpets of violet–blue flowers. Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

Farmworkers are busy in a colorful field of tulips near Schwaneberg, Germany, Wednesday. Jens Wolf/dpa/AP

Market Closes for April 29^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18035.53	-74.61
		-0.41%
S&P 500	2106.85	-7.91   -0.37%
NASDAQ	5023.645	-31.777   -0.63%
TSX	15347.34	+1.27
		+0.01%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20058.95	+75.63
		+0.38%
HANG SENG	28400.34	-42.41
		-0.15%
SENSEX	27225.93	-170.45
		-0.62%
FTSE 100	6946.28	-84.25
		-1.20%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.587	1.554
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.191	2.159
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0458	1.9955
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.7587	2.6937

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.83222	0.83122
US $	1.20161	1.20305
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.33621	0.74839
US $	1.11220	0.89912

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1209.00	1209.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	58.58	57.06

Of a stock’s move, 31% can be attributed to the general stock market, 12% to the industry influence, 37% to the influence of other groupings, and the remaining 20% is peculiar to the one stock.  –Benjamin F. King, Markets and Industry Factors in Stock Price Behavior, January 1966.

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little-changed for a second day as investors weighed earnings from Open Text Corp. to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and the possibility the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates.

     Open Text plunged 6.3 percent as third-quarter sales were hampered by currency effects. Valeant rallied 3.7 percent after the drugmaker increased its earnings estimates for the year. Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd. climbed 6 percent as oil jumped to a four-month high after U.S. stockpiles fell.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.27 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 15,347.34 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, erasing an earlier loss of as much as 0.7 percent. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge climbed 1.99 points Tuesday and is up 3 percent in April.

     Open Text sank 6.3 percent, as a sixth day of losses left it at an October low. Technology shares in the broader index slumped 2.2 percent as a group, as six of 10 industries retreated on trading volume 4 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Fed policy makers said they expect the U.S. economy to pick up after data earlier Wednesday showed growth ground to a virtual halt in the first quarter, suggesting the first rate increase since 2006 is still in play some time this year.

     U.S. stocks slipped 0.4 percent, while the dollar pared declines and Treasuries retreated.

     Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. jumped 7.4 percent and PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. rose 4.4 percent as energy stocks increased 0.2 percent. U.S. oil prices surged to a four- month high after stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma fell for the first time since November.

     Bombardier Inc. climbed 2.1 percent. Chinese locomotive makers CSR Corp. and China CNR Corp. are considering an acquisition of a controlling stake in Bombardier’s train business, said a person familiar with the matter.

US

By Jennifer Kaplan and Lu Wang

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined after the economy barely grew in the first quarter and investors weighed the timing for a possible interest-rate increase as the Federal Reserve said part of the weakness was transitory.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.4 percent to 2,106.85 at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 0.8 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 74.61 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,035.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 0.6 percent, and the Russell 2000 Index fell 1 percent. About 7.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 11 percent above the three-month average.

     “It confirms people’s view that the Fed won’t raise interest rates in June – that’s certainly driven home today by GDP growth,” said Kristina Hooper, a U.S. investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors in New York. The firm oversees $499 billion. “But there is still some question mark because the Fed is blaming part of downturn in the first quarter on transitory factors.”

     Fed officials have said they expect to raise rates this year for the first time since 2006 as the economy nears full employment, and that their decision will be guided by the latest data. They had said last month that they would be unlikely to raise rates at their April meeting.

     A run of disappointing economic data has cast doubt on how quickly the Fed can meet its goals for full employment and stable prices.

     “Economic growth slowed during the winter months, in part reflecting transitory factors,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement Wednesday. “The pace of job gains moderated,” it said, and “underutilization of labor resources was little changed.”

     An earlier report showed growth almost ground to a halt in the first quarter, held back by severe winter weather and slumping business spending and exports.

     Gross domestic product, the volume of all goods and services produced, rose at a 0.2 percent annualized rate after advancing 2.2 percent the prior quarter. The median forecast of 86 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 1 percent gain.

     “If they had taken out the word ’transitory,’ you probably would have had the equity market turn positive,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial Inc., in Newark, New Jersey. Prudential oversees more than $1 trillion in assets. “Just having that in there shows the Fed does believe it was, in fact, transitory i.e. we are going to be pushing into a rebound soon.”

     The S&P 500 has risen 1.9 percent this month, rebounding from a drop in March, after earnings from companies including Merck & Co. and Microsoft Corp. beat analysts’ estimates. About 74 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings this season have beaten analysts’ profit projections, while 48 percent topped sales estimates.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index climbed 7.9 percent, the most in two weeks, to 13.39. The gauge, known as the VIX, fell more than 11 percent last week.

     Seven of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 declined, with health-care and consumer staples shares dropping 0.8 percent.

     Humana Inc. slumped 7.2 percent, leading the losses among health-care stocks, after the company’s earnings trailed predictions. Cigna Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. each lost more than 3.3 percent. Cigarette makers Reynolds American Inc. and Altria Group Inc. fell at least 2.9 percent, their biggest slide in almost two months, to pace the drop in consumer shares.

     Airlines were among the worst performers in the session amid a jump in oil prices. A Bloomberg gauge of U.S. carriers fell 3.1 percent. Spirit Airlines Inc. retreated 9.3 percent, while American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. lost more than 2.5 percent.

     An S&P measure on homebuilders slid 1.3 percent, near a three-month low, even as a report on pending sales of previously owned homes showed a pickup in activity. Toll Brothers Inc. and DR Horton Inc. declined at least 1.7 percent.

     U.S. Steel Corp. sank 12 percent, its biggest drop since 2011, after reporting a surprise first-quarter loss and cutting its full-year earnings forecast after a flood of imports prompted the nation’s second-largest producer of the metal to idle capacity.

     Wynn Resorts Ltd. lost 17 percent to its lowest level in 29 months after quarterly profit missed projections amid a sharp drop in betting in Macau, and the casino company cut its dividend by two-thirds.

     Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. plunged 13 percent, the most in nine months and the biggest drag today on the Russell 2000, after higher chicken-wing costs squeezed profit in the first quarter.

     Twitter Inc. slid 8.9 percent, after tumbling 18 percent Tuesday on the early release of its results. It’s the worst two- day drop since the micro-blogging site went public in Nov. 2013.

First-quarter revenue fell short of estimates and Twitter cut its sales forecast as the company struggles to attract more users and advertisers.

     Energy companies rose 0.7 percent as oil gained after a government report showed crude inventories at the biggest U.S. oil hub fell for the first time in 21 weeks. Transocean Ltd. and Consol Energy Inc. paced the advance, rising at least 6.4 percent. Noble Corp and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. each climbed more than 2.7 percent.

     Genworth Financial Inc. jumped 12 percent, the most in more than three years, after the company’s chief executive said he’s willing to sell the entire insurer, though he’ll continue with a plan to seek buyers for individual units.

     Mondelez International Inc. increased 5.2 percent to a four-month high. The maker of Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers posted first-quarter profit and sales that exceeded analyst projections after cutting costs and raising product prices.

     GoPro Inc. rallied 13 percent as results topped forecasts, helped in part by overseas sales that rose to about half of the company’s revenue.

     Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. climbed 8.3 percent to an all-time high after saying it’s exploring steps to increase shareholder value and hired Lazard as an adviser.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Man has accepted conflict as an innate part of daily existence

because he has accepted competition, jealousy, greed, acquisitiveness and aggression

as a natural way of life.

Krishnamurti

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.

                  -Thomas Tusser, 1524-1580

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

1789- Mutiny on the Bounty.

1945-Mussolini executed.

Harry Eyes wrote his final Slow Lane column in the Financial Times last weekend.   This isit:

For me, over the 11 years I have been writing this column, the Slow Lane has always been a state of mind, not a physical carriageway.   I wanted to show that there are ways of finding time for the essential things in life which do not involve moving to a remote Aegean island or a crumbling farmhouse in whichever part of Italy is “the new Tuscany”.

  My ambition has been to set out a workable alternative to the romantic escapism of Yeats’s Lake Isle of Innisfree.  We can enrich our necessarily limited time by learning a short poem by heart, or even writing one; by returning to those viola or clarinet studies we gave up as teenagers, and finding that we can engage with the music in a deeper way and make it our own; by popping in to a museum or gallery to see not a vast, intimidating blockbuster exhibition but just one dearly loved painting; or by playing at whatever level and with whatever physical limitations, a sport you love rather than watching overpaid narcissists on TV (I make an exception, of course, for the  peerless Roger Federer, who still glides as gracefully over the court as when this column started).

  Many of these suggestions have involved a return to the active rather than the passive mode.  Doing, making, healing, cooking, caring, conversing face-to-face, writing proper letters, rambling in nature – all seem to me infinitely more satisfying than merely buying things, being passively “entertained”  by images on screens or engaging in various forms of digital non-communication.  In this sense the column has sometimes struck me as countercultural and I did occasionally wonder if I was fighting a losing battle.  But I like to think that there have been some victories along a respectably long road.  That the menace of mobile phone mania and its incursion into public space and the counterproductive overuse of email are now quite widely recognized, I count as a small victory for the slow approach to life.

  On a more positive note, the joys of buying and cooking good local produce have started a whole mini-movement.  All over the world the most thoughtful farmers are turning or returning to more gentle and less interventionist methods; some of the greatest wines are now organic or biodynamic.  Whether this can spark a recognition that our abused planet cannot be exploited ad infinitum is another matter.

  We need food for the soul, too.  Over the years readers will have grown familiar with my belief that music (with poetry) is the highest art form.   I believe we are now living through a golden age of classical musical performance, with instrumentalists, singers and ensembles fully the equal of any who have come before.

  But finally, it is you, readers, that I want o thank.  You – a wonderfully disparate bunch, a Bulgarian neuropsychologist, a German high school student, a retired Baptist minister, a Mumbai commuter, a Singaporean birdwatcher, just to pick a few – have sustained the column, led it in new directions, even turned it into something I never quite envisaged it becoming.  When I started writing this column, I had the notion of taking an idea for a walk, in  a way that Paul Klee took a line for a walk, with that essential element of spontaneity and freedom, of seeing where it would go; but I imagined the ramble would be essentially solitary.  I was also recalling another of my great inspirations, the essayist Michel de Montaigne, ruminating alone in the study in his tower, surrounded by his beloved classical authors.

  In fact, the promenade has turned out to be far more companionable than I ever expected.  Readers have helped me to understand what I was doing (never my strong point); one wrote  to say that the column was “like a conversation…in the way it can fly anywhere because you treat the issues not dogmatically but as gentle thought as they occur – seeking connections.”

  Connections, most gratifyingly, have been made and the conversation has broadened.  And for this I will always be grateful.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A worker spreads wheat crop for drying at a wholesale grain market in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. The rupee has appreciated by a quarter against Europe’s common currency over the past 12 months. The result has been India’s worst export performance since the global slump of 2009, an early setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign to launch an export-led boom as he approaches a year in power. Ajay Verma/Reuters

Film dog Jo Jo performs on a skateboard at a presentation for the dog and cat show in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday. The three-year-old Parson Jack Russel dog played in several TV shows and commercials. Martin Meissner/AP

Money is the opposite of the weather.  Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it. –Rebecca Johnson

Market Closes for April 28^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18110.14	+72.17
		+0.40%
S&P 500	2114.86	+5.94   +0.28%
NASDAQ	5055.422	-4.824   -0.10%
TSX	15338.62	-5.46
		-0.04%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20058.95	+75.63
		+0.38%
HANG SENG	28442.75	+9.16
		+0.03%
SENSEX	27396.38	+219.39
		+0.81%
FTSE 100	7030.53	-73.45
		-1.03%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.554	1.459
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.159	2.070
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9955	1.9261
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.6937	2.6136

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.83122	0.82720
US $	1.20305	1.20889
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32047	0.75730
US $	1.09760	0.91108

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1209.00	1200.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	57.06	56.99

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed as gains in raw-materials shares offset a drop among energy companies and railroads.

     Barrick Gold Corp. and Goldcorp Inc. added more than 2.5 percent amid a gain in the metal. Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. each decreased 0.8 percent. RMP Energy Inc. dropped 5 percent to pace declines among oil and gas stocks.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 1.99 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 15,346.07 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge added 0.3 percent last week.

     Five of the 10 main groups in the S&P/TSX advanced. Financial companies, which account for about one-third of the broader index by weighting, rose 0.2 percent. The S&P/TSX Gold Index surged 3.2 percent, bringing its two-day increase to 4.3 percent.

     Technology companies in the S&P/TSX slid for a third day as Sierra Wireless Inc. and Celestica Inc. lost more than 1 percent. BlackBerry Ltd. added 1.1 percent.

     Energy producers fell 0.9 percent. Pengrowth Energy Corp. lost 3.9 percent and Ensign Energy Services Inc. retreated 3.7 percent.

US

By Jennifer Kaplan

     (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose as Merck & Co. boosted its outlook and IBM Corp. increased its dividend before Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision. The Nasdaq 100 Index slid 0.2 percent as Apple Inc. slumped.

     Merck added 5 percent after lifting its annual earnings forecast. International Business Machines Corp. climbed 1.9 percent. Twitter Inc. plunged 18 percent after an unexpected early release of its results showed revenue fell short of estimates. Apple slipped 1.6 percent amid concerns that rapid iPhone growth may not continue. Whirlpool Corp. dropped 7.1 percent after cutting its annual forecast.

     The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,114.76 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 72.17 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,110.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.1 percent, while the Russell 2000 Index advanced 0.5 percent. About 6.7 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, about 1 percent above the three-month average.

     “Earnings is driving most everything that’s going on right now,” said Tom Wirth, senior investment officer for Chemung Canal Trust Co., which manages $1.9 billion in Elmira, New York. “When I look at the stocks that are doing well and those that aren’t doing so well, it’s mostly earnings driven here.”

     In the midst of the corporate earnings season, investors are also awaiting the outcome of the Fed’s meeting, which began today, for more clues on the timing of interest rate increases.

     The Fed won’t hike rates until its September meeting, according to 73 percent of 59 economists in a Bloomberg News survey, up from 37 percent in the March survey, when the majority said the first increase would likely come in June or July.

     Most Fed policy makers expect to raise the benchmark interest rate by the end of 2015. With economic data missing estimates this month by the most in more than six years, some officials have said they are wary of lifting rates too soon.

     The Fed last month dropped an assurance that it will be “patient” in raising rates. Instead, officials said they want to see further labor-market gains and be “reasonably confident” inflation will move back up toward their 2 percent goal before tightening policy.

     The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence unexpectedly decreased to 95.2 in April from 101.4 a month earlier, the New York-based private research group said Tuesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 77 economists called for the gauge to climb to 102.2 after a previously reported 101.3 a month earlier.

     Data Wednesday may show U.S. economic growth slowed to a 1 percent pace in the first quarter, from 2.2 percent in the previous three months.

     Selling in U.S. equities Tuesday briefly accelerated, sending the S&P 500 as much as 0.7 percent lower, after Al Arabiya reported that Iranian forces seized a U.S. cargo vessel. U.S. officials later said Iranian forces boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship, denying the seized vessel was American.

     Pfizer, Ford and Kraft Foods Group Inc. are among 40 S&P 500 companies that released results today. Of index members that have already reported this season, about three quarters beat profit projections and about half topped sales estimates.

     U.S. stocks retreated from records yesterday, with biotechnology companies leading losses. The Nasdaq Composite Index topped its dot-com-era high last week and the S&P 500 closed at a record as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. rallied after posting financial results. U.S. shares have still lagged most developed-market indexes this year.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 5.4 percent to 12.41, after rising almost 7 percent yesterday. The gauge, known as the VIX, fell nearly 12 percent last week to its lowest level in almost five months.

     Nine of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups rose, led by phone companies as AT&T Inc. rallied 2.3 percent to its highest level in more than two months. Health-care shares rebounded, after a 1.8 percent drop Monday, paced by Merck’s biggest gain since January and Aetna Inc.’s 3.2 percent climb to an all-time high.

     United Parcel Service Inc. gained 3.4 percent, its best rise in more than two years, after reporting profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates, buoyed by an increase in international deliveries and lower fuel costs.

     Iron Mountain Inc. climbed 2.9 percent, the most since December, after reaching an agreement to buy Australian-U.S. competitor Recall Holdings Ltd. for about $2 billion. The U.S. data-storage company raised its bid following a rejection of an offer last year.

     Technology shares rose as IBM and Microsoft Corp. added more than 1.8 percent. IBM reached a six-month high after raising its dividend by 18 percent. Microsoft hit a five-month high.

     JetBlue Airways Corp. advanced 6.7 percent to an 11-year high after reporting earnings that matched analysts’ estimates.

     Twitter plunged after revenue fell short of estimates in the first quarter, even after the company introduced new products and tweaked features to attract more people. The company was was slated to report results after the market close until Selerity Inc., a financial news service, disclosed Twitter’s profit and sales numbers.

     Twitter shares initially lost 5.8 percent on the Selerity report before trading was halted. The stock re-opened lower by 20 percent. The Nasdaq Internet Index lost 1.4 percent, while the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index fell 1.2 percent.

     Apple rose as much as 1.4 percent and lost as much as 2.3 percent before closing 1.6 percent lower amid concerns that the rapid iPhone growth can’t continue.

     Consumer discretionary companies lagged amid lackluster earnings reports and an unexpected decline in consumer confidence to a four-month low. Whirlpool and Coach Inc. led the retreat, each down more than 6 percent. Under Armour Inc. and Nike Inc. slid at least 1 percent.

     Coach fell 6.3 percent, the biggest drop since last June, after posting North American comparable sales that fell below analysts’ targets in the third quarter. Currency effects also took a toll last quarter, reducing the value of its overseas revenue.

     Container Store Group Inc. slumped 14 percent, the most since January, after fourth-quarter profit and sales trailed analysts’ estimates.

     Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. dropped 5.7 percent, its biggest slide in a year, and Parker-Hannifin Corp. declined 3.7 percent after the industrial companies cut their full-year profit views.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I am imperfect and want to be perfect – this alone is the starting point of my nonviolence.

The imperfect will turn perfect when it ceases to be and what is not comes into being.

Acharya Mahaprajna

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

If you don’t like something, change it.  If you can’t change it,

change your attitude.  Don’t complain.

                                  -Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

 

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Spent this past weekend in magical Tofino; and left wondering what took me so long to return.  It’s been many years since I last visited – when we sailed up the west coast of the island.  This time we drove up…it hasn’t really changed so much – it is so quintessentially west coast.  Seafood, actually all the food prepared in The Point restaurant at Wickininish Inn is first rate.  Loved speaking with the waiters, most of whom are young adults on their “scout around the world before settling down” travels.  Many from Europe.  Also tried the restaurant that is garnishing rave reviews – The Wolf in the Fog.  Certainly deserves all the hype it is creating – amazing food.  I’ll definitely be back before long.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Steam rises from a horse as it gets a bath after morning workouts at Churchill Downs Monday, in Louisville, Ky. Charlie Riedel/AP

A man poses for a photograph under artwork of a large hand on a wall in central London, Britain, Monday. Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Based on my own personal experience – both as an investor in recent years and an expert witness in years past – rarely do more than three or four variables really count.  Everything else is noise. –Martin J. Whitman, b. 1924-

Market Closes for April 27^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18037.97	-42.17
		-0.23%
S&P 500	2107.96	-9.73   -0.46%
NASDAQ	5060.246	-31.839   -0.63%
TSX	15330.99	-77.34
		-0.50%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19983.32	-36.72
		-0.18%
HANG SENG	28433.59	+372.61
		+1.33%
SENSEX	27176.99	-260.95
		-0.95%
FTSE 100	7103.98	+33.28
		+0.47%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.459	1.442
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.070	2.050
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9261	1.9086
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.6136	2.6098

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82720	0.82118
US $	1.20889	1.21776
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31641	0.75964
US $	1.08894	0.91833

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1200.00	1183.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	56.99	55.55

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, after posting a weekly advance, as drug companies and energy producers declined to offset a gain in gold.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Concordia Healthcare Corp. tumbled at least 4.4 percent to pace declines among health-care stocks. Suncor Energy Inc. fell 0.9 percent as oil reversed an earlier gain. Barrick Gold Corp. added 1.8 percent as the company prepares to release earnings results after the market close. BlackBerry Ltd. dropped 1.9 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 64.25 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,344.08 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge is up 4.9 percent for the year.

     Valeant dropped 4.5 percent, the biggest decrease since August, and Concordia Healthcare sank 5.2 percent, its worst one-day performance in 10 months.

     Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. will take its $40.1 billion takeover offer for Mylan NV to shareholders after the company rejected its advances, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

     Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. lost 7 percent and Torc Oil & Gas Ltd. retreated 4 percent as energy producers dropped 0.4 percent as a group. Eight of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX dropped on trading volume 4.3 percent higher than the 30-day average at this time of the day.

     BlackBerry dropped 1.9 percent, trimming its gain for the month to 9.7 percent.

     Alacer Gold Corp. gained 6 percent and Barrick Gold rose 1.8 percent. Gold futures for June delivery jumped 2.4 percent, the most since January. The S&P/TSX Materials index climbed 0.8 percent for the best performance among groups in the broader gauge.

     Silver Standard Resources Inc. jumped 4.9 percent as silver rallied 4.8 percent in New York. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. surged 6.6 percent.

     Resverlogix Corp. added 6.7 percent after agreeing to a licensing deal with a Chinese drugmaker.

US

By Jennifer Kaplan and Callie Bost

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, retreating from records, as declines in biotechnology companies overshadowed a rally in commodities stocks before Apple Inc.’s results.

     Mylan NV fell 5.7 percent after rejecting Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s $40 billion takeover offer. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index lost 4.1 percent. Applied Materials Inc. sank 8.4 percent after dropping its takeover bid for Tokyo Electron Ltd. Freeport McMoRan Inc. and DuPont Co. rose more than 4.6 percent. Apple added 1 percent in late trading after topping forecasts and boosting its capital-return program by $70 billion.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.4 percent to 2,108.92 at the close in New York, after earlier rising as much as 0.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42.17 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,037.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6 percent, snapping a five-day winning streak, while the Russell 2000 Index lost 1.3 percent.

     “You’ve got biotechnology down here now, leading everything lower,” said Michael Antonelli, an institutional equity sales trader and managing director at Robert W. Baird & Co. “The market obviously wants to go higher, but it’s struggling to make its way, to get that breakout and confirm it.”

     The Nasdaq Composite Index topped its dot-com-era high last week, extending a record on Friday, and the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. rallied after posting financial results. Unlike the dot-com era, the gains are built on earnings that have almost tripled in the past decade and a half, driven by demand for products such as Apple’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s web ads.                          

     Apple added 1 percent as of 4:48 p.m. in New York. Booming demand for the larger-screened iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is putting Apple on pace for its highest annual profit since 2012 — a record — and the company also forecast sales in the current period that will exceed analysts’ estimates.

     Pfizer Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are among companies reporting quarterly results this week. While analysts predict a profit slump through September, they have moderated how steep that will be. They now forecast first-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies will drop 2.9 percent, better than April 10 estimates for a 5.6 percent decline.

     Of the S&P 500 members that have already released results this season, 77 percent beat profit projections and 49 percent topped sales estimates.

     Investors are also awaiting the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, which begins tomorrow, for more hints on the timing of interest-rate increases. None of the 43 economists in a Bloomberg poll expects the U.S. central bank to lift borrowing costs this week.                         
     Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said this month the U.S. economy isn’t ready for a rate increase. Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues last month opened the door to an increase as soon as June, while also suggesting in forecasts that September may be more likely.

     Economic data have been mixed, with the March jobs report showing new hires fell below 200,000 for the first time in more than a year, and capital-goods orders showed a surprise drop last month. Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims are near the lowest levels in almost 15 years, and consumer confidence improved in April to the second-highest level in more than eight years.

     Gross domestic product is set to grow by 2.8 percent this year, the most since 2005, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index advanced 6.8 percent Monday to 13.12. The gauge, known as the VIX, fell almost 12 percent last week to its lowest level in almost five months. About 6.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, about 3 percent above the three-month average.

     Seven of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups fell, led by a 1.8 percent drop in health-care shares. Mylan lost 5.7 percent, the most since August 2011, after its board unanimously rejected a $40.1 billion takeover offer from Teva Pharmaceutical, saying it’s too low and doesn’t address the difficulties of combining companies with different cultures. Teva slipped 4.3 percent, the most since Oct. 2013.

     The Nasdaq Biotech index tumbled 4.1 percent, the most since March 25. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. lost 4 percent, and Biogen Inc. dropped 3.1 percent.                      

     Applied Materials slid 8.4 percent, the biggest drop in six years. The supplier of machines used to make computer chips scrapped its $9.39 billion takeover bid for rival Tokyo Electron Ltd. on opposition by the U.S. Department of Justice.

     A Bloomberg gauge of U.S. Airlines fell 1.7 percent.  Southwest Airlines Co. lost 2.8 percent, leading the decline.  Allegiant Travel Co. and United Continental Holdings Inc. dropped at least 2.3 percent after both companies’ ratings were cut by Sterne Agee CRT.

     Consumer companies also slid, with McDonald’s Corp. losing 2.3 percent, Starbucks Corp. down 1.9 percent and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. dropping for a fourth consecutive day, off 2.8 percent to a five-month low.

     Raw-material companies climbed 0.9 percent as futures on gold, copper and silver rallied. Freeport-McMoRan jumped to a three-month high, adding 4.8 percent to Friday’s 3.7 percent gain. Newmont Mining Corp. rose 2.4 percent to a nearly two- month high. Alcoa Inc. advanced 1.7 percent.

     DuPont added 4.6 percent, the most since September, after activist investor Trian Fund Management won the backing of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. for two board nominees in its proxy fight for seats on the chemical maker’s board.

     Technology shares were up 0.4 percent, after earlier rising 0.8 percent, as Apple gained before earnings. Qualcomm Inc., Texas Instruments and Oracle Corp. added at least 1.2 percent.

     Apple climbed 1.8 percent before the company will probably show that earnings jumped by more than 20 percent when it reports results for the second fiscal quarter, which ended in March. While Apple doesn’t break out shipments by country, the world’s biggest company may have sold 18 million to 20 million iPhones in greater China during the period.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The whole universe is bound by the law of causation,

There cannot be anything, any fact – either in the internal or in the external world –

that does not have a cause; and every cause must produce an effect.

 

Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Be as you wish to seem.

 -Socrates, 470 BCE-399 BCE

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

I met Valerie Harper and her husband Tony last Wednesday night at a small cocktail reception given in her honor.  I was invited by one of my clients who is a Vice President of the Canadian Cancer Society which was hosting the cocktail reception.   April is daffodil month for the CSS to raise awareness and raise funds for cancer research and which culminates for Vancouverites later this month with the daffodil ball.  Ms. Harper gave a talk later in the evening at the Orpheum Theatre about living with the reality of her cancer diagnosis, having survived lung cancer only to have a reappearance of an untreatable form of the disease in the lining of her brain.  She remains upbeat and committed to living with a positive attitude. She stresses the importance of focusing on living every day with optimism and resolve and most of all gratitude.  She spoke of the importance of letting go of grudges and letting go of the past, of forgiveness and forgetting.  Most importantly of seizing every day and doing, doing, doing.  Carpe Diem.  It is good to be reminded of these things that we already innately know.

On the float plane over, I pulled out a copy of this month’s B.C. Business magazine.  The April issue features B.C.’s latest “Top 30 under 30”.  The interviews with the recipients included queries about their sources of inspiration, mentors etc.  Truly inspiring to read about this cohort of entrepreneurs.  I was struck by a remark made by one of them, Alexander Chuang, who, when asked what the best advice he’s ever received is,  replied, “It’s from my dad, who explained to me the difference between zero and one.  One is your health and zero is everything else (family, career, lifestyle).”

And…

On this day in 1953, British leader Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Mr. Churchill guided Great Britain and the Allies through World War II then went on to serve as Leader of the Opposition Party after the war.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man takes pictures of the art installaion ‘Overcoming Boundaries’ by German conceptual artist Ottmar Hoerl in Berlin, Germany on Friday. The project, consisting of some 1000 sculptures of the Einheitsmaennchen (Unity Man) is to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the German reunification. Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) special envoy, actress Angelina Jolie, winks as she arrives to speak during a United Nations Security Council meeting regarding the refugee crisis in Syria at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Friday. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Market Closes for April 24^th, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18080.14	+21.45
		+0.12%
S&P 500	2117.69	+4.76   +0.23%
NASDAQ	5092.086	+36.022   +0.71%
TSX	15408.33	+15.98
		+0.10%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20020.04	-167.61
		-0.83%
HANG SENG	28060.98	+233.28
		+0.84%
SENSEX	27437.94	-297.08
		-1.07%
FTSE 100	7070.70	+17.03
		+0.24%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.442	1.481
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.050	2.078
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9086	1.9577
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.6098	2.6530

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82118	0.82297
US $	1.21776	1.21512
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.32376	0.75543
US $	1.08704	0.91993

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1183.00	1185.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	55.55	56.59

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, posting a weekly advance, as base metals mining companies increased with iron ore and health-care shares climbed.

     Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp. added 7.5 percent as iron ore entered a bull market after BHP Billiton Ltd. curbed expansion plans and supplies from higher-cost mines dropped. Concordia Healthcare Group gained 0.8 percent. Bankers Petroleum Ltd. slipped 3.8 percent as oil fell from a 2015 high in New York, paring the longest run of weekly gains in more than a year.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 15.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,408.33 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge is up 0.3 percent for the week.

     Manulife Financial Corp. added 0.9 percent, to a December high, as financial shares increased 0.3 percent. The group accounts for one-third of the index. Seven of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX advanced on trading volume 22 percent below the 30-day average.

     West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. climbed 6.7 percent after reporting first-quarter sales and earnings ahead of analysts’ estimates.

     Capstone Mining Corp. surged 9.1 percent and Labrador Iron Ore jumped 7.5 percent. Since bottoming out at $47.08 on April 2 after dropping for five straight quarters, iron ore prices have rallied 23 percent. A bull market is typically defined as a rise of at least 20 percent from a closing low.

US

By Stephen Kirkland and Jeremy Herron

     (Bloomberg) — The Nasdaq Composite Index extended gains after closing at a record as Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.rallied on results. Treasuries rose after capital goods orders unexpectedly fell, while oil retreated in New York.

     The Nasdaq jumped 0.7 percent at 4 p.m. in New York after topping its March 2000 record Thursday. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent, while Brazil’s Ibovespa extended gains from a January low to 21 percent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.3 percent and 10-year Treasury yields fell five basis points to 1.91 percent. The rate on 10-year Greek bonds rose 36 basis points to 12.66 percent as frustration mounted in talks over funding for the country. Iron ore entered a bull market.

     The Nasdaq Composite has almost quadrupled since global equity markets bottomed in March 2009. Microsoft Corp. surged Friday after results topped estimates, while Google’s revenue grew amid an increase in advertising. The unexpected drop in orders for business equipment added to evidence that growth in the first quarter slowed, bolstering the case against raising interest rates.

     “It’s very positive that this time you actually have good tech earnings to support the Nasdaq record,” said Manish Singh, who helps oversee $2 billion as head of investments at Crossbridge Capital in London. “The U.S. earnings season overall is turning out to not be so bad.”

     U.S. stocks capped a weekly increase, with the Nasdaq rising all five days to add 3.3 percent and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rising 1.8 percent to close at an all-time high.

     Of the companies in the index that have reported results this season, 76 percent beat profit projections and 51 percent exceeded sales estimates. Results from Apple Inc. and Pfizer Inc. are due next week.

     Amazon.com jumped 14 percent as its quarterly sales beat projections. Starbucks Corp. and Juniper Networks Inc. rallied more than 5 percent as they posted better-than-forecast quarterly revenue. Xerox Corp. lost 8.7 percent after cutting its full-year profit forecast.

     Treasuries rose after orders for business equipment unexpectedly fell in March for a seventh consecutive month. Federal Reserve officials have held their benchmark near zero since 2008 to support the economy. Policy makers meet next week in Washington.

     The euro strengthened 0.4 percent to $1.0868 as the dollar weakened versus all of its 16 major counterparts.

     Euro-area finance ministers met with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in Riga, Latvia. Varoufakis said the two sides have come “much closer together” and Greece is aiming for a deal as soon as possible.

     Europe’s Stoxx 600 capped a 1.2 percent weekly gain, and banks climbed the most among 19 industry groups on Friday. HSBC Holdings Plc rose 2.9 percent, the most in more than a year, after Europe’s largest bank started a review of where its headquarters should be. Renault SA jumped 3.7 percent after saying quarterly sales rose 14 percent.

     The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.8 percent, extending a fourth weekly advance to 1.8 percent in the longest run in more than three months.

     The Ibovespa rose 1.8 percent, extending the rally from a Jan. 30 bear-market low to 21 percent. Petroleo Brasileiro SA led gains in the span, jumping 68 percent after announcing a divestment plan and releasing delayed 2014 results.

     The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.5 percent, trimming its seventh week of gains to 2.8 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was little changed and is down 1 percent in the five-day period.

     China’s stocks fell on Friday after the securities regulator increased the pace of initial public offerings, spurring concern new equity sales will divert funds from existing shares.

     West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1 percent to settle at $57.15 a barrel in New York, trimming its sixth weekly gain, the longest winning streak since February 2014. Brent crude rose to $65.28, capping a 2.9 percent gain in the week.

     Iron ore gained as BHP Billiton Ltd. curbed expansion plans and supply from high-cost mines fell. Ore with 62 percent content at Qingdao advanced 5.5 percent to $57.81 a dry metric ton on Friday, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd.

     Gold futures tumbled the most in seven weeks, slipping 1.6 percent to settle at $1,175 an ounce as investors await next week’s Fed meeting amid signs of uneven growth in the U.S. Copper rose 1.4 percent and was down 0.6 percent on the week amid concern that a slowdown in China’s economy is lowering demand in the largest consumer of metals.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Knowledge relieves all suffering.  Knowledge liberates.

Which knowledge?  Chemistry?  Physics?  Astronomy?  Geology?

They help a little, but only a little.  The true knowledge is the knowledge of our own nature.

Know yourself.  You must know who you are, understand your inner nature.

You must become conscious of this infinite nature in yourself.  Then you will break free of your shackles.

 

Swami Vivekananda

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

After all, tomorrow is another day.

    -Margaret Mitchell, 1900-1949

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

According to tradition, on this day in 1564, English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare was born. While many of his 38 plays have been extensively performed and analyzed, little is known about the details of his life.

In his honor,

Sonnet CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.  Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever fixed mark
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worths’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
  If this be error and upon me proved,
  I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

                     -William Shakespeare

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A dove tries to sit on a monument wall in Echmiadzin, the religious center of the Armenian Church outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Thursday. The Armenian Apostolic Church, the country’s dominant religion, held services Thursday to canonize all victims. On Friday, April 24, Armenians will mark the centenary of what historians estimate to be the slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks, an event widely viewed by scholars as genocide. Sergei Grits/AP

The Calbuco volcano erupts near Puerto Varas, Chile, Thursday. The volcano erupted Wednesday for the first time in more than 42 years, billowing a huge ash cloud over a sparsely populated, mountainous area in southern Chile, and is considered one of the top three most potentially dangerous among Chile’s 90 active volcanoes. David Cortes Serey/AP

Market Closes for April 23^rd, 2015

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	18058.69	+20.42
		+0.11%
S&P 500	2112.93	+4.97   +0.24%
NASDAQ	5056.063	+20.892   +0.41%
TSX	15392.35	+87.58
		+0.57%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	20187.65	+53.75
		+0.27%
HANG SENG	27827.70	-106.15
		-0.38%
SENSEX	27735.02	-155.11
		-0.56%
FTSE 100	7053.67	+25.43
		+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.481	1.502
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.078	2.095
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9577	1.9832
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.6530	2.6686

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.82297	0.81656
US $	1.21512	1.22465
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.31447	0.76076
US $	1.08176	0.92442

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1185.75	1189.25
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	56.59	55.06

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced the most in two weeks, halting a two-day slide, as energy and raw-materials producers rallied  with commodities prices.

     Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. jumped 4.8 percent to lead oil and gas producers as crude rose to a four-month high in New York. Detour Gold Corp. and Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. increased more than 4.7 percent as precious metals advanced. Finning International Inc., which sells equipment from Caterpillar Inc., added 1.2 percent after the U.S. construction equipment maker forecast 2015 profit that topped analysts’ estimates.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 87.58 points, or 0.6 percent, to 15,392.35 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest increase since April 9. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has advanced 5.2 percent this year.

     All 10 main groups in the index rose, with materials producers climbing 2 percent to pace gains. Trading volume was 11 percent lower than the 30-day average today.

     Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. added 4.3 percent and Detour Gold jumped 6.7 percent. Gold futures recovered from the biggest drop in six weeks as signs of slowing growth spurred demand for haven assets.

     HudBay Minerals Inc. climbed 6.1 percent and Teck Resources Ltd. increased 4.3 percent. Copper rose 0.9 percent in New York.

     Cenovus Energy Inc. rallied 2.3 percent after the company said it has hired bankers to explore a sale or initial offering of some of its oil and natural gas lands in Western Canada.

     Trican Well Service Ltd. added 4.7 percent and Bankers Petroleum Ltd. rose 3.3 percent as West Texas Intermediate crude surged 2.8 percent after Saudi Arabia renewed its aerial assault on Shiite rebels in Yemen, bolstering concerns Middle Eastern oil shipments may be disrupted.

US

By Jeremy Herron

     (Bloomberg) — The Nasdaq Composite climbed to the highest level in 15 years, topping its dot-com-era high, as U.S. stocks shrugged off mixed earnings and disappointing manufacturing data from across the globe. Oil rose to a four-month high.

     The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4 percent at 4 p.m. in New York, to close at a record for the first time in 15 years. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent, briefly passing its March 2 closing high. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.4 percent. The euro rose on speculation that Greece and its creditors will reach a deal to receive aid payments. Oil jumped 2.8 percent to settle at $57.74 in New York.

     Gains Thursday in Microsoft Inc. and EBay Inc. pushed the Nasdaq past its record, while the S&P 500 climbed to an intraday high as earnings from large companies surpassed estimates even as the strong dollar weighed on overseas sales. Slower expansion in euro-area manufacturing and a decline in Chinese factory data signaled Asian stimulus measures and European Central Bank bond purchases have yet to take hold.

     “The Nasdaq is seeing strength because a lot of these technology companies are doing better,” Randy Warren, who manages more than $100 million at Exton, Pennsylvania-based Warren Financial Service & Associates Inc., said by phone. “Sentiment seems to be really positive. The market seems to be giving Fortune 500 companies a free pass, assuming that the first quarter was bad but we’re going to have an acceleration. If we get that, all is well and everyone is happy.”                         

     Almost two months after surpassing 5,000 on March 2 for the first time in 15 years, the gauge finally exceeded the 5,048.62, a level that was reached on March 10, 2000, and stood for a decade and a half as the dot-com era’s high-water mark. Even with today’s advance, the Nasdaq remains below its intraday high of 5,132.52 and the second-highest intraday level, 5,078.86, both reached in March 15 years ago.

     While the advance has brought the Nasdaq to new highs, valuations are only slightly elevated from the five-year average. The Nasdaq Composite trades at 30 times earnings, versus an average of 27.8 during the past five years. The gauge had a multiple of 190 in March 2000.

     Among the biggest companies tracked by the Nasdaq 100 Index, the top 10 best performers since 2013, including Netflix Inc. and Facebook Inc., are valued at an average 66 times profit. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.4 percent Thursday, yet remains almost 5 percent below its March 27, 2000 record.

     “It’s been 15 years, so it’s not your father’s Nasdaq anymore,” John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York, said by telephone. “It’s not nearly as expensive as it was back then.”                        

     The Composite’s record fell on a day that provided a mixed picture for investors looking to earnings for clues on the strength of corporate America. Of the S&P 500 members that have released results this earnings season, 76 percent beat profit projections, while just 50 percent topped sales estimates.

     Microsoft reported results that trumped estimates as cloud revenue soared, sending its shares higher by 3.2 percent in late trading. Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Starbucks Corp. rose at least 3.4 percent as of 4:55 p.m. in New York after disclosing financial results.

     Facebook Inc. slid 2.6 percent in the regular session after missing revenue estimates for the first time since 2012. Caterpillar Inc. gained 0.1 percent as its 2015 forecast topped analysts’ estimates. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. slid 2.4 percent after reporting its first loss since the global financial crisis. 3M Co., the maker of Post-it notes and Scotch tape, fell 3 percent after earnings trailed projections. EBay jumped 3.8 percent after saying profit growth was recovering amid cost cuts.

     “Underlying revenues remain disappointing as they’re not helped by the ever stronger U.S. dollar,” said Lex Van Dam, a fund manager at Hampstead Capital LLP in London. “The rest of the world is doing its best to provide liquidity but consumer demand remains disappointing. The stock market is reflecting a lack of investment alternatives as opposed to a booming economy.”

     Data showed purchases of new U.S. homes slumped more than forecast in March from a seven-year high, a sign progress in the industry will be halting.  Applications for unemployment benefits held below 300,000 for the seventh straight week, pointing to a rebound in payrolls after hiring eased last month.

     PulteGroup Inc. sank 7.9 percent to lead an S&P index of homebuilders lower by 4.3 percent, the most since January. The third-largest U.S. homebuilder slid the most in almost two years after reporting profit that missed analyst estimates.

     Treasuries halted a three-day decline as signs economic growth is slowing in China and Europe boosted demand for the safest assets. The benchmark U.S. 10-year yield fell two basis points to 1.95 percent.                       

     A Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing and services in the euro area fell to 53.5 from 54 in March, London-based Markit Economics said Thursday. While the reading remains well above the 50-point mark that divides expansion from contraction, it is below the 54.4 forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey.

     “This serves as a gentle reminder that although Draghi is pumping money into the economy, it will take a bit of time to feed through,” said Ben Kumar, who helps oversee about $12 billion at Seven Investment Management in London. “Earnings expectations had gone a bit far — consumers have not had enough time to feel the recovery and drive corporate profits.”

     Germany’s DAX Index and France’s CAC 40 Index slid more than 0.6 percent as similar data from those countries also disappointed. They were some of the biggest decliners among western-European markets on Thursday.

     A gauge of technology stocks fell the most among 19 industry groups, with Ericsson sliding 10 percent after reporting worse-than-forecast profitability. The index had closed at its highest level since 2002 on Wednesday.                          

     Developing-market stocks rose for a third day as Taiwan’s shares surged the most since 2013 amid speculation officials will broaden access to China’s capital markets. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index advanced 0.8 percent, as the Taiex Index rallied 1.9 percent.

     The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, a gauge of mainland shares listed in Hong Kong, fell 1.3 percent while the Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.4 percent higher.

     China’s so-called flash purchasing managers index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to 49.2 for April, the lowest since April last year, underscoring a slowdown that prompted China’s central bank to cut banks’ reserve requirements by the most since 2008.

     Economists had predicted the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index would come in at 49.6 for April, matching March’s reading. Levels below 50 signal contraction.

     “The fundamental economy is not improving” in China, said Helen Lau, a metals and mining analyst at Argonaut Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. “It is a little worrying. We’re close to the bottom. Before that happens, the government should continue with stimulus until there is a rebound.”

     Brazil’s real ended a two-day gain after the country’s state-run oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA said a corruption scandal cost $2.1 billion.

     Aluminum fell as much as 1.7 percent, the most in two months, on concern more exports from China of products made from the metal will exacerbate a global glut.

     Crude climbed to a four-month high in New York after Saudi Arabia renewed its aerial assault on Shiite rebels in Yemen, bolstering concerns that Middle Eastern oil shipments may be disrupted.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality, or whatever you like to call it,

can never be answered by books, by priests, philosophers or saviors.

Nobody and nothing can answer the question

but you yourself and that is why you must know yourself.

Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.

 

Krishnamurti

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

There is no substitute for hard work.

          -Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7