Category: Events

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

We checked out the new incarnation of Chambar in Vancouver on Saturday night and highly recommend it.  So for all of you who live in Vancouver or travel there frequently as I do, it’s very good – nice décor as well.  Still on Beatty Street, just a few door away from the old local.  And what’s more, it’s walking distance to Rogers’ theatre if you are going to a show or the stadium for a game.  Food and service are excellent.  Russell Peters still very funny!

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A calm and tranquil North Sea laps against the art installation, ‘The Couple’ by artist Sean Henery just off the coast at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, in north east England, as the warmer than usual temperatures continue across the United Kingdom. Owen Humphreys/AP

 

Surfer Dog Tillman rides a wave at the Surf City surf dog contest in Huntington Beach, California. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Market Closes for September 29^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17071.22	-41.93
		-0.25%
S&P 500	1977.80	-5.05   -0.25%
NASDAQ	4505.852	-6.342   -0.14%
TSX	14976.92	-49.85
		-0.33%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16310.64	+80.78
		+0.50%
HANG SENG	23229.21	-449.20
		-1.90%
SENSEX	26597.11	-29.21
		-0.11%
FTSE 100	6646.60	-2.79
		-0.04%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.124	2.163
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.647	2.684
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.4771	2.5258
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.1647	3.2140

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.89582	0.89637
US $	1.11630	1.11561
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41649	0.70597
US $	1.26891	0.78808

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1215.98	1217.93
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	94.57	93.54

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, after rallying the most in five weeks, as markets around the world slumped after pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong added to geopolitical concerns.

     Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s largest lender, tumbled 0.9 percent to pace declines among financial stocks. Pembina Pipeline Corp. and Talisman Energy Inc. retreated more than 1.8 percent. Encana Corp. rose 2 percent after agreeing to buy Athlon Energy Inc. for $5.93 billion to gain a foothold in Texas.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 49.85 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,976.92 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark equity gauge rose 0.9 percent on Sept. 26, paring a weekly loss to 1.6 percent. The index has plunged 4.2 percent so far in September, poised for its worst month in more than two years.

     The MSCI All-World Index, which tracks both developed and emerging markets, slumped 0.5 percent today to a seven-week low.

     Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters poured back into the streets of Hong Kong after a weekend of demonstrations, demanding free and open elections and the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying. The benchmark Hang Seng stock index plunged 1.9 percent.

     Toronto-Dominion sank 0.9 percent to C$54.91 as financial stocks fell 0.7 percent as a group. Six of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated on trading volume 4.7 percent lower than the 30-day average today.

     Pembina Pipeline dropped 2 percent to C$46.64 for a seventh day of losses, the worst streak since 2012, and Talisman Energy lost 1.8 percent to C$9.75.

     Encana gained 2 percent to C$24.06 after making its largest purchase since the Calgary-based company was formed in 2002. Encana, which split its oil production into a separate company in 2009, is returning to crude amid a supply glut that’s lowered natural gas prices 2.3 percent this year.

US

By Callie Bost and Oliver Renick

     Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, after the worst week in almost two months for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as Hong Kong protests added to geopolitical concern and a rebound in consumer spending fueled speculation the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.

     Ford Motor Co. slid 7.5 percent after saying pretax profit this year will miss its goal amid weaker results in South America and Europe. An S&P index of homebuilders retreated 1 percent as U.S. contracts to buy existing houses fell in August. Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. dropped more than 2.9 percent as casino companies slid. Semiconductor stocks in the S&P 500 climbed as Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp. gained at least 1.8 percent.

     The S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,977.80 at 4 p.m. in New York, trading near its 50-day moving average after paring an earlier drop of 1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 41.93 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,071.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 0.1 percent. About 5.9 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 4.2 percent above the three-month average.

     “There’s this sense of foreboding in the stock markets that we’re almost deserving of at least a correction,” Drew Wilson, an investment analyst with Fenimore Asset Management in Cobleskill, New York, said in a phone interview. “Nobody wants to be in the way of that. We’ve had one tiger awaken in Russia and now we have a tiger awakening in China and that’s a little too much risk and uncertainty for U.S. stock market investors to have on their plates.”

     The S&P 500 is down 1.3 percent for the month, paring a gain for the quarter to 0.9 percent. It has not had a four-day losing streak this year and has not fallen more than 10 percent in three years.                          

     Swings in equities have widened at the end of the quarter, with the Dow alternating between gains and losses of more than 100 points the previous four days.

     The Chicago Board Options Volatility Index, a gauge of investor trepidation derived from options, averaged 14.5 last week, 12 percent above its mean level during the third quarter. The VIX added 7.6 percent to 15.98 today.

     The S&P 500 slid 1.4 percent last week, the biggest decline in almost two months, amid an escalation in the Middle East conflict and a selloff in small-capitalized stocks and technology shares. It jumped 0.9 percent on Sept. 26 after a report showed the U.S. economy expanded in the second quarter at the fastest rate since 2011.

     “We’re in a giant yo-yo the past six sessions but central banks are still accommodative, U.S. growth is decent, the grind higher is still intact,” Michael Block, chief equity strategist at New York-based Rhino Trading Partners LLC, said in a phone interview. “We’re just hitting some bumps with macro issues.”

     Data today showed consumer spending in the U.S. rebounded in August as further job gains encouraged households to loosen their purse strings. Purchases increased 0.5 percent last month after little change in July. Incomes increased 0.3 percent.

     A report from the National Association of Realtors showed contracts to purchase previously owned homes declined in August as tighter credit and limited wage growth weigh on potential buyers. The pending home sales index dropped 1 percent after a 3.2 percent increase in July.

     KB Home dropped 2.4 percent to $15.19, while PulteGroup Inc. slid 0.8 percent to $17.74.

     Investors are analyzing reports to assess whether economic growth is strong enough to withstand higher interest rates. The S&P 500 reached a record on Sept. 18 as the Fed maintained a commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a considerable time after completing asset purchases. The central bank also said that the timing could move forward if data continue to exceed expectations.

     The Fed mustn’t “fall behind the curve” as it weighs when to start raising interest rates, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said in a Fox News interview, citing strengthening U.S. growth and building wage-price pressures.

     U.S. data on employment and output from the manufacturing and services industries are due this week, and companies next month will begin to report earnings for the third quarter. Alcoa Inc. unofficially kicks off the earnings season when it reports quarterly results on Oct. 8.

     Stock markets overseas slumped today as tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters poured back into the streets of Hong Kong to press demands for free and open elections. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong pledged to continue demonstrations unless the city’s top official steps down.

     The turmoil added to the crises around the globe that have weighed on equities. Ukraine’s army endured its deadliest day since signing a cease-fire with pro-Russian militants 3 1/2 weeks ago, straining efforts to find a lasting settlement to the six-month conflict in the nation’s east. Investors are also watching the situation in Syria, where the U.S. and its allies are carrying out strikes against Islamic State positions.

     Brazilian shares retreated 4.5 percent after a poll showed increased support for President Dilma Rousseff’s re-election bid. Traders are paring bets on the chances a new government will be elected next month and jump-start economic growth after the country fell into a recession in the first half of the year.

     “Although we saw strong GDP numbers for the second quarter last week, there’s still a suspicion that unrest outside of our borders will impact economic growth here,” Jim Dunigan, chief investment officer at PNC Bank NA, which oversees $130 billion, said by phone from Philadelphia.

     Nine of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 slumped today. Consumer-discretionary shares had the biggest loss among the group, sliding 0.6 percent.

     Ford Motor tumbled 7.5 percent, the most since 2011, to $15.11. The second-largest U.S. automaker said it will earn a pretax profit of $6 billion this year, missing its goal of $7 billion to $8 billion. Ford told investors it will lose $1 billion in South America as inflation and other currency problems hurt operations there. Ford also forecast a loss of $1.2 billion in Europe this year and a loss of $250 million there in 2015.

     Casino companies with operations in Macau slid amid the protests in Hong Kong. Las Vegas Sands Corp. tumbled 2.9 percent to $60.15, while Wynn Resorts Ltd. dropped 3 percent to $178.99. Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. fell 2.9 percent to $25.73 and MGM Resorts International slipped 1.9 percent to $22.16.                        

      Civeo Corp. sank 50 percent to $12.84 after saying it won’t convert to a real estate investment trust and will re-domicile to Canada. The provider of workforce accommodation said it expects 2015 revenues and margins to be “materially lower” than in 2014.

     Semiconductor stocks climbed 0.8 percent for the best performance among 24 S&P 500 groups. Micron jumped 2 percent to $34.50, while Intel rose 1.9 percent to $34.90.

     DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. surged 26 percent to $28.18 as people familiar with the matter said SoftBank Corp. is in talks to buy the company. An acquisition hasn’t been formally discussed by senior executives at SoftBank, and the chances of reaching a final agreement are low, said another person familiar with matters at Tokyo-based SoftBank.

     Computer Sciences Corp. jumped 5.3 percent to $59.62. The technology consultant for governments and companies has contacted private-equity firms including Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC to gauge their interest in a leveraged buyout, people with knowledge of the matter said.

     Athlon Energy Inc. jumped 25 percent to $58.32 after Encana Corp. agreed to buy it for $5.93 billion in cash, gaining a foothold in the most-prolific U.S. oil producing region.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Between me and the smallest animal,

the difference is only in manifestation,

but as a principal he is the same as I am,

he is my brother, he has the same soul as I have.

 

Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

                                  -Salvador Dali, 1904-1989

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Poet T.S. Eliot  was born on this day in 1888.

We shall not cease from our exploration and at the end of all our exploring, we shall arrive where  we started and know the place for the first time. –T.S. Eliot.

Going to see comedian Russell Peter’s show in Vancouver tomorrow night, his “Almost Famous World Tour” – should be a lot of laughs – still the best medicine!

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Chris Vierra, renowned pumpkin carver from Villafane Studios, creates a lifelike Tyrannosaurus Rex sculpture using pumpkins and squash at Field Station: Dinosaurs, a 20-acre outdoor Jurassic learning expedition and family tourist attraction in Secaucus, N.J. Charles Sykes/Invision for Field Station: Dinosaurs/AP

The pack rides during the Men Under 23 road race over 113 miles of the Road Cycling World Championships in Ponferrada, northwestern Spain. Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP

Market Closes for September 26^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17113.15	+167.35
		+0.99%
S&P 500	1982.85	+16.86   +0.86%
NASDAQ	4512.195	+45.448   +1.02%
TSX	15026.77	+133.20
		+0.89%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16229.86	-144.28
		-0.88%
HANG SENG	23678.41	-89.72
		-0.38%
SENSEX	26626.32	+157.96
		+0.60%
FTSE 100	6649.39	+9.68
		+0.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.163	2.145
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.684	2.679
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5258	2.5004
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2140	3.2107

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.89637	0.89998
US $	1.11561	1.11114
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41496	0.70673
US $	1.26832	0.78844

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1217.93	1221.46
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	93.54	94.33

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced the most in five weeks, rebounding from a three-month low, as Bombardier Inc. and BlackBerry Ltd. rallied while crude producers climbed on speculation U.S. economic growth will increase demand.

     Bombardier jumped the most since April after signing a firm purchase agreement with Macquarie AirFinance to sell at least 40 C-Series aircraft. BlackBerry Ltd. added 5.2 percent after reporting a narrower loss than analysts’ projected and selling out its new Passport smartphone. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s largest lender, gained 1 percent as banks snapped a five-day loss. Torex Gold Resources Inc. and B2Gold Corp. retreated more than 1.9 percent to pace declines among raw- materials stocks.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 133.20 points, or 0.9 percent to 15,026.77 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the most since Aug. 19. The benchmark equity gauge lost 1.6 percent in the past five days, its fourth straight weekly decline, the longest losing streak this year.

     BlackPearl Resources Inc. jumped 4.7 percent to C$2.23 and RMP Energy Inc. climbed 3.4 percent C$6.96 as energy stocks rallied 1.3 percent as a group. Crude in New York surged 1.1 percent, capping the biggest weekly gain in a month.

     The U.S. economy grew a revised 4.6 percent in the second quarter, up from a previous estimate of 4.2 percent. Busier assembly lines at the nation’s factories and job growth that’s kept Americans spending indicate companies are a bit more upbeat about the prospects for demand.

     Torex Gold declined 1.9 percent to C$1.52 and B2Gold lost 3.8 percent to C$2.27 as the S&P/TSX Materials Index fell 0.1 percent.

     BlackBerry rose 5.2 percent to C$11.44, snapping a three- day loss. The smartphone maker has sold 200,000 of its new square-screen Passport phone in its debut this week and reported a net loss of 2 cents a share, ahead of the 16-cent deficit forecast by analysts.

US

By Callie Bost

     Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rebounded from the worst day since July, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumping the most in five weeks, as corporate results topped estimates and data showed the fastest economic growth since 2011.

     Nike Inc. jumped 12 percent after reporting first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Micron Technology Inc. added 6.8 percent after a surge in quarterly sales beat projections. Yahoo! Inc. jumped after Starboard Value LP said it wants the Web portal to explore a combination with AOL Inc. Janus Capital Group Inc. rallied 43 percent after hiring Bill Gross, co-founder and co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co.

     The S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent to 1,982.85 at 4 p.m. in New York. The equity benchmark slumped the most since July yesterday and lost 1.4 percent in the past five days, its worst week in eight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165.88 points, or 1 percent, to 17,113.15, its best rally since Aug. 18. The Dow dropped 1 percent this week. About 5.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 12 percent below the three-month average.

     “With some decent economic news in GDP, we’re now just seeing an oversold bounce as people get in line for the end of the quarter,” Ryan Detrick, a Cincinnati-based market strategist at the investment research firm, said in a phone interview. “We kept that beach ball down for a while and now it’s popping back up.”                        

     Equities extended gains in afternoon trading as the S&P 500 moved above its average price for the past 50 days. The gauge dropped below the level yesterday for the first time since August. The index has advanced 7.3 percent this year, extending a bull market that has nearly tripled its level since 2009, amid continued Federal Reserve stimulus even as the economic recovery shows signs of strengthening.

     The S&P 500 had fallen 2.3 percent since reaching a record on Sept. 18. Apple Inc., the largest company in the gauge, led a 1.6 percent selloff yesterday and dragged the Nasdaq 100 Index to its worst performance since April.

     The Nasdaq 100 rebounded 1.2 percent today while the Russell 2000 Index added 0.8 percent after a 1.6 percent selloff yesterday. Apple advanced 2.8 percent.

     “I do think it’s still a buy the dips market,” James Liu, global market strategist at JP Morgan Funds in New York, said by phone. The firm oversees about $400 billion in the U.S. “There’s always short-term news that can derail the market. But in the end, the underlying strength of the U.S. market still comes back so you’ve had upward momentum despite the dips.”

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge known as the VIX, retreated 5.1 percent to 14.85 today. The index rallied 18 percent yesterday, the most since July, and added 23 percent this week.

     Data today showed gross domestic product grew at a revised 4.6 percent annualized rate, up from a previous estimate of 4.2 percent, as companies stepped up investment and households boosted spending. A separate report indicated consumer confidence climbed in September to a 14-month high as Americans’ outlooks for the economy improved.

     The Fed last week maintained a commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a considerable time after completing asset purchases. The Fed also said that the timing could move forward if data continues to exceed expectations. Investors are analyzing reports to assess whether growth is strong enough to withstand higher interest rates.

     Economic reports on employment and output from the manufacturing and services industries are due next week.

     “Clearly the economy has seen varying degrees of improvement, but the level of improvement is not at where it warrants higher interest rates,” Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said by phone. “At present, it’s too early to put the bear suit on. It’s a ’buy on the dips’ equity and we may grind higher until earnings.”

     All of the 10 main S&P 500 groups advanced today. Producers of consumer-discretionary products added 1.1 percent, while energy shares surged 1.3 percent.

     Nike Inc. rallied 12 percent to a record $89.50. The world’s largest sporting-goods maker, posted first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament boosted sales.

     Technology shares jumped 1.2 percent, as Micron and Yahoo surged. The group had its worst day since April yesterday.

     Yahoo added 4.4 percent to $40.66. Starboard, which acquired a stake in the company, said Yahoo should review a tie- up with AOL to “unlock value.” AOL shares gained 3.7 percent to $44.55.

     Micron Technology added 6.8 percent to $33.84. The largest U.S. maker of computer-memory chips said fourth-quarter sales rose 49 percent, exceeding analysts’ estimates, as corporate demand for personal computers boosted prices.

     Janus Capital surged 43 percent to $15.89, the highest since 2008. Gross is leaving Pimco amid record redemptions at his main mutual fund, the $222 billion Pimco Total Return fund. Allianz SE, the German insurer that owns Pimco, declined 6.2 percent in Frankfurt, the most since 2011.

     “It’s a coup for Janus and it shows you with the stock price today how much investors weigh having Gross at Pimco,” said Kevin Headland, director of the portfolio advisory group at Manulife Asset Management in Toronto. The firm manages $281 billion. “The name of the person is the biggest name we have out there in North American money management, he’s all over the news and the news is quite shocking, so it drives people to take the money out and see where the chips lie.”                          

     Pimco’s Global StocksPLUS & Income Fund slipped 5.7 percent, while the firm’s High Income Fund decreased 6.1 percent, after earlier falling the most in almost two years.

     Closed-end funds bore the brunt of the selling because they aren’t subject to the intraday redemption and creation processes that cause exchange-traded funds to hew to the market prices of their underlying assets. For instance, as of yesterday, the Global StockPlus & Income fund traded at a 78 percent premium to its net asset value, while the High Income Fund cost 46 percent more than the value of its bonds.

     “A lot of people bought into Pimco because of Bill Gross who was the face of the organization and so they’re shooting first and asking questions later,” Bill Mann, chief investment officer of Alexandria, Virginia-based Motley Fool Asset Management LLC, said by phone.
 

Have  a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!
 

Bees suck nectar from many different flowers, and then make honey.

One drop of honey cannot claim to come from one flower, and another drop of honey from another flower,

the honey is a single consistent whole.

In the same way, all beings are one even though they are not aware of this.

The tiger and the lion, the wolf and the boar, the worm and the moth, the gnat and the mosquito,

all come from the soul, and are part of the soul.

 

Chandogya Upanishad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

                                   -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

When I arrived home last night, the new CD that I had ordered a couple of days on Amazon was waiting.   I immediately opened it, flipped it into the CD player and we sat down to listen and were mesmerized by it.  Highly recommended – I am referring to Barbra Streisand’s latest, entitled Partners.  She sings duets with vocalists ranging from her son, Jason Gould to Elvis Presley.  Some of the highlights are a duet with Billy Joel where they perform A New York State of Mind, one with Lionel Ritchie  – an amazing rendition of The Way We Were, also ones with Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Josh Groban and BabyFace, to name a few.  It debuted at the top spot on this week’s Billboard 200 album chart and it is easy to understand why.  We love it!

The writer William Faulkner was born on this day in 1897.

The past is not dead.  In fact, it’s not even past. –William Faulkner.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Saint Peter’s square is silhouetted during a sunset in Rome. Tony Gentile/Reuters

A field of pumpkins are seen next to palm trees along the coastline in Encinitas, California. Mike Blake/Reuters

Market Closes for September 25^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	16945.80	-264.26
		-1.54%
S&P 500	1965.99	-32.31   -1.62%
NASDAQ	4466.746	-88.475   -1.94%
TSX	14893.57	-226.97
		-1.50%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16374.14	+206.69
		+1.28%
HANG SENG	23768.13	-153.48
		-0.64%
SENSEX	26468.36	-276.33
		-1.03%
FTSE 100	6639.71	-66.56
		-0.99%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.145	2.202
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.679	2.737
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5004	2.5637
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2107	3.2765

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.89998	0.90421
US $	1.11114	1.10594
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41665	0.70589
US $	1.27495	0.78434

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1221.46	1216.96
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	94.33	94.00

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell a fifth day, the longest streak in more than a year, as banks slumped and raw-materials producers retreated with metals prices.

     National Bank of Canada lost 1.7 percent to pace declines among financial stocks. Raging River Exploration Inc. and Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. slumped more than 4 percent as energy producers extended a five-month low. OceanaGold Corp. dropped 3.8 percent as gold fell to an eight-month low.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 1 percent to 14,966.18 at 10:27 a.m. in Toronto, the lowest level since June. The benchmark equity gauge has lost 3.2 percent during its five- day slide, the longest since June 2013.

     Nine of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX dropped today on trading volume 28 percent above the 30-day average.

     Advantage Oil & Gas sank 4.1 percent to C$5.59 and Raging River lost 4.7 percent to C$9.19 as the S&P/TSX Energy Index slumped 1.6 percent for a fifth day of declines, headed for the lowest close since April 7.

     OceanaGold tumbled 3.8 percent to C$2.29 as raw-materials stocks plunged 0.8 percent as a group.

     Gold for December delivery fell as the dollar climbed to a four-year high against 10 major currencies.

     Teck Resources Ltd. slumped 2.6 percent to C$21.42 and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 1.3 percent to C$21.86 as copper and aluminum paced declines among industrial metals.

     BlackBerry Ltd. retreated 2.8 percent to C$11.28. The company yesterday unveiled its Passport smartphone with a unique square screen, aimed at professionals.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. jumped 2.8 percent to C$141.17, the highest since June. The drugmaker has rallied 11 percent in the past two days after announcing its third-quarter earnings results were expected to beat consensus forecasts for revenue.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Oliver Renick

     Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks sank, with the Nasdaq 100 plunging the most since April, as Apple Inc. sank on complaints related to its new smartphone and amid signs of worsening conflict in Russia and the Middle East.

     Apple plunged 3.8 percent to lead the selloff in technology shares. Biogen Idec Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. lost at least 3.3 percent as investors sold some of the bull market’s biggest winners. Allegheny Technologies Inc. sank 4.8 percent as industrial metals slid. The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks sank 1.6 percent to close at a four-month low.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell the most since July, sliding 1.6 percent to 1,965.99 at 4 p.m. in New York. All but 14 of the index’s components retreated, the broadest slump since Feb. 3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 264.26 points, or 1.5 percent, to 16,945.80. The Nasdaq 100 dropped 2.1 percent. About 6.4 billion changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 13 percent above the three-month average.

     “We could have a pull back of 5 percent anytime if you have a confluence of factors that impact investor psychology or geopolitical factors that seem to get out of control,” Marshall Front, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Front Barnett Associates LLC, said by phone. “Stocks are no longer undervalued. There are rumors the Russian parliament authorized confiscation of foreign investments, Apple is weighing on the tech sector, and the durable goods top line number was very weak.”

     Equities opened lower as data on equipment orders and jobless claims bolstered speculation the economy is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to raise rates sooner than estimated. Stocks extended losses on a report that Russian lawmakers drafted legislation that would allow the government to seize foreign assets. U.S. and Arab airstrikes targeted oil refineries in the east of Syria.

     Today’s decline in the S&P 500 sent the benchmark gauge below its average price for the past 50 days for the first time since August. The index is down 1.9 percent in September, headed for its worst month since January.

     Investors sold some of the market’s best performers, with the companies with the 10 biggest losses in the Nasdaq 100 Index having risen an average of 64 percent last year. An index compiled by Wells Fargo of companies with the biggest hedge fund ownership declined 1.7 percent.

     The small-cap Russell 2000 has plunged 8.1 percent from a high on July 3, while the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index has lost 5.1 percent since Sept. 8.

     U.S. data today showed applications for unemployment benefits increased less than forecast last week, while orders for business equipment climbed more than forecast in August. Demand for all durable goods slumped a record 18.2 percent.

     The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 percent yesterday, its biggest gain since Aug. 18, to rebound from a 1.4 percent slide over three days after closing Sept. 18 at an all-time high.

     The gauge has not had a four consecutive declines this year as it continues a bull market that nearly tripled its level since March 2009. It is down 2.2 percent this week.

     “There’s a broad-based fear that things could turn negative — the market has been short-term skittish,” Tom Sudyka, president of Lawson Kroeker Investment Management in Omaha, Nebraska, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees about $500 million. “Every time we get near or at a record, there’s always a pause to see if it’s a reasonable valuation.”

     The S&P 500 trades at 17.8 times the reported earnings of its companies, near the highest level since 2010. The Nasdaq 100 has a price-earnings ratio of 23.6. It topped 24 this month for the first time since 2010.                      

      The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge known as the VIX, increased 18 percent to 15.64 today, the most since July. The index slid 11 percent yesterday after surging 24 percent over the prior three days.

     Eight of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated at least 1 percent today, with technology shares sinking 2.3 percent to pace losses. Materials producers plunged 1.5 percent. No stock in the benchmark gauge climbed more than 0.7 percent.

     Apple’s 3.8 percent slide was the biggest since Sept. 3 and left the shares at a six-week low. The company pulled a new mobile-software update after the program caused some people to lose cellular service yesterday. Scores of consumers also criticized the new 6 Plus iPhone and how it can bend. Apple said the bending is “extremely rare.”

     Biogen Idec dropped 3.7 percent and Illumina Inc. slid 2.8 percent to pace declines in the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100. The two had rallied at least 90 percent in 2013.

     Allegheny Technologies sank 4.8 percent for the biggest drop in the equities benchmark. The metals miner led losses among material producers as commodities declined after the dollar touched a four-year high.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

Autumn

 

The autumn comes, a maiden fair

In slenderness and grace,

With nodding rice-stems in her hair

And lilies in her face.

In flowers of grasses she is clad;

And as she  moves along, birds greet her with their cooing glad

Like bracelets’ tinkling song.

 

Kalidasa

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The surest test of discipline is its absence.

                    -Clara Barton, 1821-1912

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah, begins at sundown this evening.  Rabbi Harry Brechner of Victoria’s Congregation Emanu-El wrote a cogent piece in today’s local paper.  Some thoughts merit reflection:  “When the Jewish new Year begins at sundown tonight, it’s the culmination of a month when we ask ourselves questions that everyone – Jews and non-Jews – should ask in their quest to become better people.

‘Where am I in terms of my relationships?’  ‘Where  am I  in my self-growth?’  ‘What do I hope to achieve next year and in my life?’  ‘What’s the most meaningful thing in my life?’

….In Genesis, it teaches that we as humans are created in God’s image….At the same time, our actual selves that walk around on our planet are capable of feeling envy, lying, hurting ourselves and others.  Our actual selves are what we see in truth in the mirror, with all of our scars, our warts, our bad habit.  The path from our actual selves to our potential selves is our authentic self.  The authentic self is our person on the pathway of teshuvah/repentance…. When we cause pain or hurt, we need to do our utmost to repair that which we have damaged and to seek forgiveness through contrition.  We also need to promise the person we have wronged that we have changed and will not repeat those same behaviours.

  Underlying the concept of forgiving the other is a sense that when I hurt someone, I also hurt God and in turn, hurt myself.  If we see others as God’s children, the parallel is simple:  As a human parent, we know that when our children are hurt and in pain, we as parents feel pain as well…”

On this day in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field. The franchise moved to Los Angeles the following season.

Also on this day in 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald was born.

At 18 our convictions are hills from which we look.  At 45 they are caves in which we hide. –F. Scott Fitzgerald.

And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

                                                                                 -from The Great Gatsby

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Artist Nathan Sawaya poses for photographs with his Sculpture ‘Yellow’ at the Old Truman Brewery, East London. His exhibition which uses LEGO bricks as his medium will run from September 26 until January 4, 2015. Paul Hackett/Reuters

A devotee lights candles at a Chinese shrine during the annual vegetarian festival in Bangkok. The festival celebrates the local Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Market Closes for September 24^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17210.06	+154.19
		+0.90%
S&P 500	1998.30	+15.53   +0.78%
NASDAQ	4555.23	+46.535   +1.03%
TSX	15120.54	-5.13
		-0.03%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16167.45	-38.45
		-0.24%
HANG SENG	23921.61	+84.54
		+0.35%
SENSEX	26744.69	-31.00
		-0.12%
FTSE 100	6706.27	+30.19
		+0.45%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.202	2.172
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.737	2.718
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5637	2.5256
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2765	3.2430

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.90421	0.90271
US $	1.10594	1.10777
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41340	0.70751
US $	1.27802	0.78246

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1216.96	1224.05
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	94.00	92.56

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little-changed at a six-week low, paring an earlier loss as financial shares retreated while Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rallied the most in five months.

     Talisman Energy Inc. and TransGlobe Energy Corp. lost at least 2.1 percent as energy stocks slumped to a five-month low. Bank of Nova Scotia sank 1.1 percent to pace losses among lenders. Valeant jumped 7 percent after the company said it expects to report third-quarter results that top estimates.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 15,120.54 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the lowest since Aug. 7, recovering from an earlier loss of as much as 0.8 percent. The index touched a record Sept. 3.

     Five of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX dropped today on trading volume 35 percent above the 30-day average.

     Talisman Energy fell 2.9 percent to C$9.97 and TransGlobe Energy lost 2.1 percent to C$6.52. The S&P/TSX Energy Index has fallen for four days, to the lowest since April.

     Financial stocks, which account for about one-third of the weighting in the S&P/TSX, slid 0.5 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia lost 1.1 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank slipped 0.8 percent.

     Valeant jumped 7 percent to C$137.29, the biggest gain since April. The drugmaker reports third-quarter earnings Oct. 20.

     Sherritt International Corp. jumped 9.7 percent to C$3.62, the biggest rally since December. Base metal prices rallied in London as copper futures rose from a 14-week low.

     BlackBerry Ltd. lost 0.8 percent to C$11.61, erasing an earlier gain. Chief Executive Officer John Chen unveiled a square-screened smartphone at an event in Toronto. The Passport is BlackBerry’s first major new device introduced globally since Chen was named CEO in November.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Cordell Eddings

     Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rebounded as new-home sales surged and health-care shares erased yesterday’s losses.  European equities rose on central bank stimulus bets, while Treasuries fell and the dollar strengthened.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.8 percent at 4 p.m. in New York, halting a three-day drop. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.7 percent. Both gauges closed yesterday at the lowest levels of the month. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose 4 basis points to 2.57 percent after a notes sale drew lower- than-average demand. The euro fell below $1.28 for the first time in 14 months. Oil jumped 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed to the highest since March 2013.

     New-home sales in the U.S. surged in August to the highest level in more than six years, a sign that the housing recovery is making progress. German business confidence fell more than forecast in September, after the European Central Bank said earlier this week it’ll be more active in its efforts to bolster the economy. Pfizer Inc. paced a rally in health-care stocks amid signs that efforts to curtail tax-friendly overseas deals might fall short.

     “We had three down days in a row, but the size of the home sales increase was a surprise,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview. “Improved confidence and stocks being cheaper than they were a few days ago prompted some buying. Stock performance this year has been good because dips haven’t lasted very long.”

     The S&P 500 dropped 1.4 percent during a three-day losing streak after closing Sept. 18 at a record. The gauge has not fallen four straight days since December.                       

     The benchmark index rallied last week as the Fed reaffirmed that its benchmark interest rate will stay low for a “considerable time” after the central bank ends a bond- purchase program intended to spur growth.

     Data today showed sales of new U.S. houses jumped 18 percent to a 504,000 annualized pace, the most since May 2008. The median forecast of 74 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for the pace to accelerate to 430,000. The one-month increase was the biggest since January 1992.

     Treasuries fell for the first time in five days as the U.S. received the lowest demand at a five-year auction this year, with investors speculating the Fed is moving closer to raising interest rates. The $35 billion sale’s bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with the amount of securities offered, was 2.56, versus an average of 2.75 for the past 10 sales.                       

     The benchmark 10-year yield rose four basis points to 2.57 percent after dropping nine basis points the previous four days, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. Treasuries are headed for the steepest monthly loss this year after Fed officials raised their median forecast for borrowing costs earlier this month.

     “The weak auction is reflecting a market that realizes that we are at a crossroads — the Fed seems on course to raise rates,” said Carl Lantz, head of interest-rate strategy in New York at Credit Suisse Group AG, which as a primary dealer is obligated to bid at U.S. auctions. “The market is finally starting to trade with that in mind, and it’s clear that time isn’t on your side anymore.”

     Volatility across stocks, bonds and currencies worldwide is close to record or multi-year lows, even after Fed Chair Janet Yellen cautioned last week that the central bank could pull forward the timing of a rate increase if U.S. economic performance continues to exceed expectations.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge known as the VIX, decreased 11 percent to 13.27 today for the largest decline since Aug. 4. The index had surged 24 percent over the prior three days.                       

     Small-cap and Internet stocks have led recent declines in U.S. equities. Drugmakers with pending cross-border mergers tumbled yesterday after the U.S. disclosed plans to limit tax- driven deals.

     Health-care stocks had the biggest gains among 10 groups in the S&P 500 today, jumping 1.7 percent, amid signs that cross- border deals may continue despite the government’s efforts to curtail inversions. Pfizer climbed 0.9 percent after people with knowledge of the matter said the company has approached Actavis Plc about a deal that could allow it to move its address overseas and reduce taxes.

     Among other movers, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. rallied 7.4 percent after posting quarterly profit and sales that topped analysts’ estimates. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. jumped 2 percent after reaching a deal with prepaid-card firm Green Dot Corp. to offer checking accounts to the retailer’s customers. Citizens Financial Group Inc. gained 7.4 percent in its trading debut after raising $3 billion in an initial public offering.

     The Stoxx 600 rose after sliding 1.4 percent yesterday, the most since July 8. The volume of shares changing hands was 15 percent above the 30-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     The Ifo institute’s business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, dropped to 104.7 from 106.3 in August. Economists predicted a decline to 105.8, according to the median of 36 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The index is now at its lowest since April 2013.

     Since June, ECB President Mario Draghi has cut interest rates to record lows, offered cheap long-term cash to banks, and pledged to buy asset-backed securities and covered bonds in a bid to revive the euro-area economy. He has said policy makers will go further if needed, leaving open the option of quantitative easing, or large-scale buying of sovereign debt.                     

      “At least for the ECB, today’s Ifo index is good news,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING-DiBa in Frankfurt. “It should hush German protests against the latest asset- purchasing program and even against future possible quantitative easing.”

     The euro dropped 0.5 percent to $1.2780 on bets the ECB will add further monetary stimulus. The shared currency declined against most of its 31 major counterparts after Draghi said the exchange rate is in line with the divergence of monetary policy in Europe from other countries.

     The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent, strengthening for a fourth day and extending a four-year high.  The U.S. currency climbed 0.2 percent to 109.05 yen.

     Gold futures fell 0.2 percent to $1,219.50 as the dollar rallied, damping demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment.

     Oil jumped 1.4 percent after the Energy Information Administration said inventories dropped to an eight-month low. U.S. crude supplies decreased 4.27 million barrels last week as imports declined, according to the Energy Department’s statistical arm. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase.

     The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.4 percent, after three days of declines. The gauge closed at its lowest level since Aug. 12 yesterday. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2 percent, after four straight sessions of losses. The gauge is down 4.7 percent for September. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index was little changed after closing at its lowest level since June 5.

     Russia’s Micex added 0.9 percent and the ruble strengthened 1.2 percent against the dollar as the government held its first local debt auction in 10 weeks.

     NATO said Russia has embarked on a “significant” withdrawal of forces from Ukraine, adding to signs that a truce is taking hold between the Kiev government and separatist groups.

     Markets in the Middle East mostly declined. Dubai’s DFM General Index and Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock gauge dropped1.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

     The bombing of Islamic State militants in Syria is being carried out by the broadest Arab-U.S. military coalition since the 1991 Gulf War. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar all joined the first wave of U.S.-led airstrikes against the group yesterday.

     The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.5 percent as a jump in new trading accounts lifted brokerages. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong rallied 1.4 percent, rebounding from a two-month low.

     Cotton fell 2 percent and touched 61.02 cents a pound, the lowest price since 2009. China, the biggest buyer of the fiber, will restrict imports next year to encourage use of domestic cotton, the government said on Sept. 22.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I make no distinction between one religion and another.

People may worship me in any form they wish.

The form of worship does not matter to me;

my only concern is the quality of love which is expressed in worship.

I accept every kind of worship, because I am supreme.

The Bhagavad Gita

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.

                          -Fulton J. Sheen, 1895-1979

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this date in 1846, it is believed that German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune.

Neptune is the Roman god of the sea corresponding to the Geek Poseidon, hence, allusively, the sea itself.  Neptune is represented as an elderly mand of stately mien, bearded, carrying a trident and sometimes astride a dolphin or horse.

Today Bruce Springsteen turns 65 years old.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fifty-year-old ginsengs are on sale at a market in Baishan, Jilin province, China. Each is worth approximately 150,000 yuan ($24,430), according to the seller. Reuters

A zookeeper holds an owl while attending a funeral service for zoo animals at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. The zoo holds an annual service in remembrance of zoo animals that have passed away over the last year. Toru Hanai/Reuters

Market Closes for September 23^rd, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17055.87	-116.81
		-0.68%
S&P 500	1982.77	-11.52   -0.58%
NASDAQ	4508.688	-19.001   -0.42%
TSX	15125.67	-3.33
		-0.02%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16205.90	-115.27
		-0.71%
HANG SENG	23837.07	-118.42
		-0.49%
SENSEX	26775.69	-431.05
		-1.58%
FTSE 100	6676.08	-97.55
		-1.44%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.172	2.228
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.718	2.755
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5256	2.5636
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2430	3.2891

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.90271	0.90566
US $	1.10777	1.10416
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42320	0.70264
US $	1.28474	0.77837

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1224.05	1214.89
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	92.56	91.52

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed at a six-week low after an advance in metal producers offset data showing retail sales unexpectedly fell for the first time in seven months.

     OceanaGold Corp. and Eldorado Gold Corp. increased at least 4.3 percent as gold stocks snapped a four-day loss. Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. gained 2.9 percent as the drugmaker joined a consortium conducting Ebola treatment trials.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 15,125.67 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. Canadian equities have advanced 11 percent this year, the second-best performer among the world’s developed countries behind Denmark. The index touched a record Sept. 3.

     Canadian retail sales fell 0.1 percent to C$42.5 billion ($38.7 billion) in July amid lower receipts at general- merchandise stores. Retail spending remains near last month’s record high after rising from a low of C$33.3 billion in December 2008. Future consumption may be crimped by near-record debt loads and sluggish job growth over the last year.

     OceanaGold climbed 4.3 percent to C$2.41 and Eldorado Gold increased 4.8 percent to C$7.84 as raw-materials stocks rallied 1.3 percent as a group, the most in the S&P/TSX. Four of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX advanced on trading volume 8.3 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Gold prices added 0.3 percent to settle at $1,222 an ounce in New York. The U.S. and its Arab allies launched a barrage of airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria, while Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet.

     Tekmira Pharmaceuticals rose 2.9 percent to C$26.77 for a six-month high. A U.S. doctor who contracted Ebola in Western Africa was treated with the company’s experimental therapy for a week while hospitalized in Nebraska, his doctors said. The stock has rallied 18 percent in the past two days.

     BlackBerry Ltd. fell 2.9 percent to C$11.70, snapping a two-day advance, after Cormark Securities Inc. analyst Richard Tse lowered his rating for the stock to market perform, the equivalent of a hold, after the stock advanced 53 percent this year through yesterday.

     BlackBerry has four buys, 24 holds and 10 sells, with an average 12-month price target of C$9.68, implying a 17 percent decline from current levels, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     Merus Labs International Inc. plunged 20 percent to C$1.60, the biggest drop since January 2009, after Chief Executive Officer Elie Farah resigned to pursue other opportunities.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor’s Index sinking a third day, as health-care shares slid amid a government crackdown on tax-saving mergers and as the Middle East conflict escalated.

     Medtronic Inc. slid 2.9 percent after the Treasury Department disclosed plans to limit inversion deals. CarMax Inc. sank 9.5 percent after earnings missed estimates. Alibaba Group Holding Inc. fell 3 percent for a second day of losses. Nabors Industries Ltd. led energy shares higher, as crude oil prices advanced after the U.S. launched a series of airstrikes against the Islamic State.

     The S&P 500 lost 0.6 percent to 1,982.77 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 116.81 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,055.87. The Russell 2000 Index dropped 0.9 percent for a third straight decline. About 6.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 8.4 percent above the three-month average.

     “We’re going to continue to consolidate until we get better visibility as to whether the slowdown this month is for real,” Sam Turner, a fund manager with Richmond, Virginia-based Riverfront Investment Group LLC, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees $4.6 billion. “The tax inversion issue is also hanging over the market in the short-term.”

     The S&P 500 lost 0.8 percent yesterday and has now declined 1.4 percent since closing at a record on Sept. 18. The Russell 2000 has lost 3.5 percent during its three-day slide, the most since April. The small-cap gauge has fallen 5.2 percent from a high on Sept. 2.

     The equity benchmark rallied last week as the Federal Reserve maintained a commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a considerable time after completing asset purchases in October. The gauge has not had a four-day losing streak this year and has not fallen more than 10 percent in three years.

     Data today showed the Markit Economics preliminary index of U.S. manufacturing held at a more than four-year high of 57.9 in September. A reading above 50 for the purchasing managers’ measure indicates expansion.

     “We’re really at a crossroads in terms of what direction we’ll take,” Bill Schultz, who oversees $1.2 billion as chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, said in a phone interview. “What’s going to be the impetus to get us going higher, or to see a correction? The market has gotten a little bit soft here and it needs to get something going. Right now it just doesn’t have that.”                        

     The Treasury’s new rules on inversions apply to deals that close starting yesterday. The changes will have the biggest effect on the eight U.S. companies with pending inversions, including Medtronic and AbbVie, which plan the two largest such deals in U.S. history.

     The rules include a prohibition on “hopscotch” loans that let companies access foreign cash without paying U.S. taxes.  They also curb actions that companies can use to make such transactions qualify for favorable tax treatment.

     “People are concerned that some of the froth in the market will decrease with lower prospect for larger deals,” John Carey, a Boston-based fund manager at Pioneer Investment Management Inc., which oversees about $230 billion, said in a phone interview. “That’s affecting some specific stocks, particularly health care. And the geopolitical situation is very uncertain and fraught with risk. A major event could have serious effects on the economy.”

     In the Middle East, The U.S. and Arab allies Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain launched a series of airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria along the Iraqi border.

     The airstrikes against the militant Khorasan Group in Syria were prompted by plans for an “imminent” terror attack on U.S. soil, the Pentagon said. Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it shot down a Syrian fighter jet after it penetrated Israeli air space over the Golan Heights.

     “There are a lot of geopolitical worries going around,” said William Hobbs, head of equity strategy at Barclays Plc’s wealth-management unit in London. “The Middle Eastern situation feels like it’s not going to go away very quickly. The Islamic State is a significant and very organized military threat.”

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge known as the VIX, increased 8.8 percent to 14.90, the highest since Aug. 8. The index has surged 24 percent in the past three days.

     All of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated, with producers of consumer staples sliding 0.9 percent for the biggest decline.

     CarMax Inc. sank 9.5 percent to $47.80 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings that missed analysts’ estimates.

     UnitedHealth Group Inc. slid 1.3 percent to lead losses in 29 of the 30 components in the Dow.

     AbbVie fell 2 percent to $57.56. The company agreed in July to buy Dublin-based Shire Plc in a 32 billion pound ($52.4 billion) deal where it planned to move its legal address abroad to lower its taxes.

     Medtronic declined 2.9 percent to $64.08. Covidien Plc, the Irish medical supplies company that the U.S. company is trying to buy, lost 2.5 percent to $88.11.

     Abbott Laboratories declined 2.1 percent to $42.50. Mylan Inc. said in July it agreed to buy Abbott’s generic drug business in developed markets and would form a new company incorporated in the Netherlands to cut taxes. Mylan added 0.2 percent to $46.61.

     Burger King Worldwide Inc. slid 2.7 percent to $30.23. The company, which agreed at the end of August to buy Canada-based Tim Hortons Inc., will proceed with the deal even amid the crackdown on inversions. The deal is driven by long-term growth and not tax benefits, according to Tim Hortons spokesman Scott Bonikowsky.

     Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. jumped 5.8 percent to $169.17. Allergan Inc. is in talks to acquire the company to help it fend off a hostile takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said.

     Alibaba fell 3 percent to $87.17. The company soared 38 percent on its trading debut on Sept. 19 and fell 4.3 percent yesterday.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The spirit of democracy

is not a mechanical thing

to be adjusted by abolition of forms.

It requires change of heart.

 

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Our greatest foes and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.

                                       -Miguel de Cervantes, 1547-1616

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this date in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. He called for the freedom of more than 3 million slaves in the U.S. by the new year, recasting the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

The third season of the year begins today in the northern hemisphere.  It is figuratively a season of maturity or decay as in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Alastor (1816):

And now his limbs were lean; his scattered hair,
Sered by the autumn of strange suffering,
Sung dirges in the wind.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is welcomed to the stage by her husband, former US President Bill Clinton, at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. The session is called ‘Reimagining Impact.’ Mark Lennihan/AP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (r.) leads Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls to the podium during a welcoming ceremony with military honors at the chancellery in Berlin. Axel Schmidt/AP

Market Closes for September 22^nd, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17172.68	-107.06
		-0.62%
S&P 500	1994.29	-16.11   -0.80%
NASDAQ	4527.688	-52.101   -1.14%
TSX	15129.00	-136.35
		-0.89%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16205.90	-115.27
		-0.71%
HANG SENG	23955.49	-350.67
		-1.44%
SENSEX	27206.74	+116.32
		+0.43%
FTSE 100	6773.63	-64.29
		-0.94%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.228	2.248
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.755	2.754
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5636	2.5763
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2891	3.2849

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.90566	0.91229
US $	1.10416	1.09615
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41843	0.70500
US $	1.28463	0.77844

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1214.89	1216.15
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	91.52	92.41

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell to a six-week low as commodities tumbled to a five-year low amid speculation China will accept slowing growth.

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. retreated at least 1.1 percent as nickel led declines in industrial metals in London. Lightstream Resources Ltd. and Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd. declined more than 7.1 percent as oil stocks retreated to a four-month low. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the nation’s largest lender by assets, rose 0.4 percent.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 0.9 percent to 15,129 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the lowest since Aug. 7. The gauge sank 1.7 percent last week, the most in 15 months.

     Eight of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX retreated on trading volume 54 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said growth in Asia’s largest economy faces downward pressure and reiterated that there won’t be major changes in policy in response to individual economic indicators. China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S.

     First Quantum Minerals tumbled 1.7 percent to C$21.25 for a sixth straight loss, the longest losing streak in two years.  Teck Resources, Canada’s largest diversified miner, dropped 1.1 percent to C$21.71, for a 14-month low.

     Copper tumbled 1.7 percent to $3.0385 a pound in New York. Raw-materials stocks slumped 1.6 percent as a group for a fourth day of losses, the worst streak since May. The Bloomberg Commodity Index dropped 0.7 percent to the lowest level since July 2009.

     Semafo Inc. fell 4.7 percent to C$3.88 and B2Gold Corp. sank 5.5 percent to C$2.25 as the S&P/TSX Gold Index dropped 1.7 percent for a fourth day of declines. Gold was little-changed in New York after earlier touching the lowest level since Jan. 2.

     BlackBerry Ltd. rose 1.3 percent to C$12.05. The company said its Passport smartphone will be sold in the U.S. for $599 without a mobile phone plan, $50 cheaper than the base iPhone 6 model from Apple Inc.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Callie Bost

     Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — The biggest tumble for smaller companies in seven weeks underscored weakening breadth in the American bull market two weeks after its 5 1/2-year birthday.

     Shares tracked by the Russell 2000 Index slid 1.5 percent, the largest retreat since July 31. While the Russell 3000 Index touched an intraday record at the end of last week, fewer than 55 percent of its components traded above their 200-day moving average, a combination that hasn’t happened since the peak of the dot-com bubble, according to MKM Partners LLC. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index jumped 13 percent for its biggest rally in seven weeks.

     “Small caps are really under-performing again and I think that’s the main issue here,” JC O’Hara, the New York-based chief market technician at FBN Securities Inc, said by phone. “We’re seeing the spread between the Russell and the S&P 500 widening out again and that is worrying some people. Traders want to see small caps participate and every time they don’t they think, ‘it’s still not working.’”

     While losses today were biggest in speculative shares, equities declined throughout the U.S. market and around the world after sales of existing homes unexpectedly dropped and China’s finance minister damped stimulus hopes.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.8 percent, the most since Aug. 5, to 1,994.29 at 4 p.m. in New York, after closing at a record Sept. 18. The benchmark gauge hasn’t had a four-day slide this year and hasn’t fallen 10 percent in three years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 107.06 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,172.68, after ending last week at an all-time high. About 6.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 11 percent above the three-month average.                        

     Among other stocks moving, Yahoo! Inc. dropped 5.6 percent to lead the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index to a one-month low. Homebuilders in the S&P 500 plunged. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. lost 4.3 percent after surging in its trading debut Sept. 19. Sigma-Aldrich Corp. rallied 33 percent after Merck KGaA said it will acquire the company.

     There’s a good chance U.S. equities will decline over the next few weeks, based on the market’s deteriorating breadth, according to a research report from Jonathan Krinsky, a technical strategist at MKM Partners.

     The last time so few companies in the Russell 3000 helped push the gauge to an intraday high was March 24, 2000, his report said. The index dropped 1 percent today.

     “There are enough warning signs to suggest at least a modest pullback,” Krinsky said in the note. “We think some seasonal weakness into early October makes sense.”

     The VIX surged 13 percent to 13.69 today, a one-week high.  The gauge lost 29 percent last month, the biggest drop in almost three years.

     “The market is weaker because of small caps,” Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co LLC in Newton, Massachusetts, said in a phone interview. “When you combine this move in the Russell 2000 with the pickup in volatility in other markets, that’s a big concern.”

     The S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent last week, reaching a record on Sept. 18, as economic data improved and the Federal Reserve maintained a commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time” after asset purchases are completed in October. Central bank officials raised their median estimate for the federal funds rate at the end of 2015 to 1.375 percent, compared with 1.125 percent in June.

     Fed Bank of New York President William Dudley said today the central bank’s rate guidance is not an iron-clad commitment and that it will be driven by economic data. Dudley spoke to Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, at Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit in New York.                          

     A report today showed purchases of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in August for the first time in five months as investors retreated from the market. Separate data showed U.S. economic activity fell in August, according to the Fed Bank of Chicago.

     “People are looking for an excuse to knock the market back down a little bit,” Donald Selkin, chief market strategist for New York-based National Securities Corp., which oversees about $3 billion, said in a phone interview. “The internals for the market are horrible today. Maybe the feeling is that we might finally be ready for a more serious down move.”

     The Fed is on the lookout for signs of asset-price bubbles, and financial stability is a necessary condition for effective monetary policy, Dudley said.

     “I think we do need to try to identify asset bubbles in real time,” Dudley said. “You can’t have an effective monetary policy if you have financial instability.”

     In addition, Group of 20 officials said low interest rates could lead to a potential increase in financial-market risk, as major economies rely on monetary stimulus to bolster uneven growth.

     Julian Robertson, the billionaire founder of Tiger Management LLC, said there’s a bubble in bonds that will end “in a very bad way.”

     “Bonds are at ridiculous levels,” Robertson said today at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit. “It’s a worldwide phenomenon that governments are buying bonds to keep their countries moving along economically.”

     China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said his government won’t make any major policy adjustments in response to changes in individual economic indicators, even as he said growth faces downward pressure. His comments quelled speculation that weaker economic data will spur further stimulus in the world’s second- biggest economy.

     All of the 10 groups in the S&P 500 dropped today, with energy companies and consumer-discretionary shares losing at least 1.4 percent.

     An S&P index of homebuilders slid 2.6 percent, as all 11 members retreated on the sales data. Lennar Corp. slid 2.8 percent and D.R. Horton Inc. dropped 2.6 percent.

     Alibaba fell 4.3 percent to $89.89. The Chinese e-commerce company surged 38 percent on Sept. 19 after raising a record- breaking $21.8 billion in an initial public offering.

     “With Alibaba, people are looking at that as a top in the market,” Patrick Spencer, head of U.S. equity sales at Robert W. Baird & Co. in London, said. “I still feel we are in a ‘Goldilocks’ environment with an accommodative Fed, huge buybacks, and another strong earnings-announcement season shortly.”

     Yahoo declined 5.6 percent to $38.65. Sanford Bernstein lowered its rating on the Sunnyvale, California-based company to market perform from outperform.

     Sigma-Aldrich surged 33 percent to $136.40. Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck said it will acquire the company for $140 a share in cash, 37 percent more than Sigma-Aldrich’s closing price on Sept. 19.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!
 

The spirit of democracy

is not a mechanical thing

to be adjusted by abolition of forms.

It requires change of heart.

 

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

No particular race is the enemy.  Ignorance is

the enemy.

              -George Lopez, 1961-

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Ali Baba was a poor woodcutter who is the hero of a story in the Arabian Nights Entertainments.  He sees a band of robbers enter a cave  by means of the magic password OPENSESAME!  When they have gone away he enters the cave, load hi donkey with treasure and returns home.  The 40 thieves discover that Ali Baba has learned their secret and resolve to kill him, but they are finally outwitted by the slave-girl Morgiana. Ali Baba gives his son to her in marriage and keeps the secret of the treasure.  –from Brewer’s The Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 16^th ed.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A lone ‘Yes’ campaign supporter walks through Edinburgh after the Scottish independence referendum was voted down. Scottish voters have decided that Scotland will remain part of the United Kingdom. Stefan Rousseau/PA/AP

A man wearing a mask depicting Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs holds up a cardboard cut-out of Apple’s new iPhone 6 as he walks into the Apple Store at Tokyo’s Omotesando shopping district. Yuya Shino/Reuters

Market Closes for September 19^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17279.74	+13.75
		+0.08%
S&P 500	2010.40	-0.96   -0.05%
NASDAQ	4579.789	-13.636   -0.30%
TSX	15265.35	-200.19
		-1.29%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16321.17	+253.60
		+1.58%
HANG SENG	24306.16	+137.44
		+0.57%
SENSEX	27090.42	-21.79
		-0.08%
FTSE 100	6837.92	+18.63
		+0.27%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.248	2.287
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.754	2.795
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5763	2.6235
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.2849	3.3561

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91229	0.91422
US $	1.09615	1.09383
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40625	0.71111
US $	1.28290	0.77949

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1216.15	1225.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	92.41	93.07

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Callie Bost

     Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most since February, sending the benchmark gauge to a third weekly decline, after metals miners sank as gold dropped to an eight-month low.

     Primero Mining Corp. slid 10 percent as an index of gold producers sank 2.9 percent. Magna International Inc. slipped 4.8 percent on reports a Brazilian antitrust watchdog visited one of its subsidiary offices. TransCanada Corp. climbed 0.9 percent to extend a weekly gain.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index tumbled 200.19 points, or 1.3 percent, to 15,265.35 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, the biggest decrease since Feb. 3. The gauge sank 1.7 percent this week, the most in 15 months.

     Canada’s 12-month core inflation rate, excluding eight volatile items, accelerated to 2.1 percent in August from July’s 1.7 percent, faster than all 21 economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The total consumer price index rose at a 2.1 percent rate for a second month, matching economist forecasts.

     All but one of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX retreated. Raw-material producers plunged 2.4 percent, capping a 4.9 percent loss this week, the worst since November. Trading in S&P/TSX stocks was 114 percent above the 30-day average.

     Gold for December delivery fell to the lowest since January, extending a weekly slide after the Federal Reserve raised its estimate for interest rates at the end of 2015.

     The S&P/TSX Gold Index slipped 2.9 percent, bringing total declines for the group to 7.1 percent this week. Primero Mining tumbled 10 percent to C$5.90, while OceanaGold Corp. dropped 16 percent to C$2.13, its biggest loss since April 2013.

     Magna International slipped 4.8 percent, the most since June 2012, to C$113.33. The automotive supplier said it intends to cooperate with a continuing antitrust investigation after the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica, Brazil’s competition authority, visited subsidiary offices in the country.

     TransCanada climbed 0.9 percent to C$61.38. The second- largest Canadian pipeline operator said its current corporate structure will generate “significant, sustainable growth” amid reports that an activist shareholder has taken a stake in the pipeline company

US

By Lu Wang and Callie Bost

     Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks were little changed after a three-day rally as shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. began trading and corporate takeovers boosted investor optimism.

     Alibaba climbed 38 percent in its U.S. trading debut, after the company raised a record-breaking $21.8 billion. Dresser-Rand Group Inc. rallied 9.4 percent as Siemens AG prepared to offer more than $6.5 billion for the company, according to people familiar with the plan. Oracle Corp. slid 4.2 percent after Larry Ellison stepped down as chief executive officer.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.96 point to 2,010.40 at 4 p.m. in New York. The gauge is up 1.3 percent this week, the biggest advance in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 13.75 points to 17,279.74 today. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies sank 1.1 percent.

     “It’s quadruple witching hour,” Joe “JJ” Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., said in a phone interview. “Although the headlines are all about BABA, the below-the-surface trading will be centered around expiration for on a lot of products. You may see some added volatility.”

     Trading volume jumped today because of quarterly event known as quadruple witching, when futures and options contracts on indexes and individual stocks expire. About 9.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, the most since March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     Alibaba rose 38 percent to $93.89. The e-commerce company, which started in 1999 with $60,000 cobbled together by founder Jack Ma, is now valued at $231 billion. That makes it larger than Amazon.com Inc. and EBay Inc. combined, and more valuable than all but 9 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

     Yahoo! Inc., which owns a stake in Alibaba, slipped 2.7 percent to $40.93, a third day of losses.

     Oracle slid 4.2 percent to $39.80. Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, currently co-presidents of Oracle, were both named CEO to succeed him, the company said yesterday.

     Technology stocks had the biggest losses today, with the industry falling 0.4 percent in the S&P 500, led by losses in Red Hat Inc., Oracle, and Akamai Technologies Inc. Small-cap shares fared worse as a measure of computer stocks in the Russell 2000 Index slid 1.5 percent.

     European shares rose, sending the Stoxx Europe 600 Index up 0.2 percent. Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond resigned after the anti-independence “No” camp garnered 55 percent of the votes.

     Dresser-Rand advanced 9.4 percent to $79.91. Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering company, is looking to buy Dresser- Rand in a deal that would scupper a competing plan by Sulzer AG, according to people familiar with the plan.

     Concur Technologies Inc. jumped 18 percent to $126.82 as SAP SE agreed to buy the company for $7.4 billion to boost its cloud-computing business.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The end to be sought is human happiness combined with full mental and moral growth .

This end can be achieved under decentralization.

Centralization as a system is inconsistent with a non-violent structure of society.

Mahatama Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

                                             -Golda Meir, 1898-1978

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in 1970, Jimi Hendrix passed away from a drug overdose. The rock musician was 27 years old at the time of this death.

1851- New York Times first published.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man looks at a Twizy, the Renault electric city car, during a presentation of the Wattmobile, a new self-drive Autolib-style electric car service at Gare de l’Est train station in Paris. Charles Platiau/Reuters

Piper Anton Doherty plays to passers-by in front of the Houses of Parliament on Westminster Bridge in London as Scotland votes on independence. Luke MacGregor/Reuters

Market Closes for September 18^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17264.47	+107.62
		+0.63%
S&P 500	2011.09	+9.52   +0.48%
NASDAQ	4593.426	+31.237   +0.68%
TSX	15472.58	+13.70
		+0.09%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	16067.57	+178.90
		+1.13%
HANG SENG	24168.72	-207.69
		-0.85%
SENSEX	27112.21	+480.92
		+1.81%
FTSE 100	6819.29	+38.39
		+0.57%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.287	2.264
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.795	2.784
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.6235	2.6107
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3561	3.3664

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91422	0.90942
US $	1.09383	1.09960
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41371	0.70736
US $	1.29243	0.77373

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1225.00	1223.05
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	93.07	94.42

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed after erasing declines in the final hour of trading, as banks rallied to offset a slump in gold producers.

     Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal each advanced 0.7 percent to all-time highs, as financial shares rose the most in the benchmark index. TransCanada Corp. jumped 3.3 percent after Reuters reported U.S. hedge funds are reviewing the company for a possible breakup. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. jumped 7.6 percent after completing an internal review of its accounting practices. Detour Gold Corp. retreated 6.5 percent as the metal sank to an eight-month low.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 6.66 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 15,465.54 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge fell as much as 0.2 percent earlier in the day, touching a one-month low. It has advanced 14 percent this year, the second- best performer among the world’s developed markets behind Denmark.

     Six of 10 industries in the benchmark Canadian equity index advanced on trading volume 17 percent higher than the 30-day average at this time of day.

     An index of financial stocks rose 0.5 percent for a third day of gains and record close.

     Penn West jumped 7.6 percent to C$8.32. The company restated its annual financial statements as a result of the internal review while maintaining its output goals and dividend.

     Air Canada climbed 4.5 percent to C$9.01. The company added baggage fees and said it may consider a share buyback or increased dividend.

     Detour Gold retreated 6.5 percent to C$9.26 as raw- materials stocks dropped 1.5 percent as a group to the lowest since June. Gold declined 0.7 percent to $1,226.90 an ounce in New York.

USA

By Oliver Renick

     Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for a third day, sending benchmark indexes to records, as data showed fewer Americans filed for jobless claims and investors speculated interest rates will remain low.

     ConAgra Foods Inc., owner of the Chef Boyardee and Healthy Choice food brands, gained 4.6 percent after reporting earnings that topped estimates. Kohl’s Corp. added 1.6 percent after analysts at Citigroup Inc. told clients to buy the shares. Rite Aid Corp. tumbled 19 percent after saying lower reimbursement rates and higher costs for drugs hurt profit. AOL Inc. rallied on takeover speculation.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.5 percent to 2,011.36 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 109.14 points, or 0.6 percent, to an all-time high of 17,265.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index and Russell 2000 Index gained at least 0.5 percent.

     “The market’s still in Fed mode,” Joe Bell, a senior equity analyst at Cincinnati-based Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc., said in a phone interview. “A majority of people are thinking July 2015 may be the rate increase and the market’s responding positively to the idea that rates aren’t coming any sooner.”

     Stocks advanced yesterday, sending the S&P 500 up as much as 0.6 percent, after the Fed renewed its pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time” after its bond-buying program ends, probably next month. Policy makers also projected a steeper increase in borrowing costs next year, raising the median forecast for the benchmark rate at the end of 2015 to 1.375 percent from June’s estimate of 1.125 percent.

     “Anytime the Fed speaks it can move markets and it’s more true today than ever because we’re at an inflection point where non-traditional monetary policy that’s almost been on auto pilot is coming to a close and we’re shifting our focus to traditional policy,” Ron Sanchez, executive vice president and chief investment officer at New York-based Fiduciary Trust Co. International, said by phone.

     Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the Chinese e-commerce giant, intends to pick a price for its nearly $22 billion initial public offering tonight. The company is asking investors to value it as high as $167.6 billion, or 29 times estimated earnings in the year through March. That’s still below Tencent, Baidu Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

     Jobless claims decreased by 36,000 to 280,000 in the period ended Sept. 13, the Labor Department said today. The median forecast of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a decline to 305,000. Those already collecting unemployment benefits fell to a more than seven-year low.

     Financial shares led gains among the 10 primary industries in the S&P 500, as bank stocks climbed 1.5 percent as a group and insurers advanced 1.1 percent.

     CME Group Inc. gained 2.8 percent to $82.96, extending gains to a seventh session. Citigroup Inc. and Prudential Financial inc. jumped at least 2.4 percent.

     ConAgra increased 4.6 percent to $33.48. The maker of packaged meals and condiments reported earnings of 39 cents a share, excluding some items, exceeding the average 35-cent estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

     AOL Inc. jumped 3.3 percent after a strategist at BGC Financial LP said investors should position themselves for gains in the stock. AOL may have a “seasonally stronger” December quarter and could be target of a takeover by Yahoo Inc! after that company’s windfall of cash following the Alibaba IPO, according to derivatives strategist Richard Anthony.

     Kohl’s added 1.6 percent to $62.50. The stock was raised to buy from neutral at Citigroup.

     MSCI Inc. climbed 5.8 percent to $48.98, the biggest advance in the Russell 1000 Index, after increasing its share buyback plans.

     Rite Aid dropped 19 percent to $5.41. The company said net income for 2015 is expected to be 22 cents to 33 cents a share. The drugstore company previously forecast 30 cents to 40 cents.

     Pier 1 Imports Inc. slumped 19 percent to $12.66. Analysts from Barclays Plc to Wells Fargo & Co. cut their rating on the stock after the company reduced its annual-profit forecast, citing weak customer traffic and slimmer margins.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

It is quite proper to resist and attack a system but,

to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself.

For we are all tarred with the same brush.

 

Mahatma Gandhi

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

If you’re going through hell, keep going.

            Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

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

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

In preparation for the 150th anniversary of the first ascent of the Materhorn, Swiss mountain sports specialist Mammut and mountain guides from the village of Zermatt transformed the spectacular summit into a shining stone icon as an anniversary gift to Zermatt. The prominent mountain is regarded as the emblem of the Swiss Alps and enjoys international popularity. Robert Boesch/Mammut/AP

Students explore the inside of a hot air balloon at the Tanglewood Elementary School in South Glens Falls, N.Y. Steve Jacobs/The Post Star/AP

Market Closes for September 17^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17156.85	+24.88
		+0.15%
S&P 500	2001.57	+2.59   +0.13%
NASDAQ	4562.188	+9.429   +0.21%
TSX	15467.88	-42.66
		-0.28%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15888.67	-22.86
		-0.14%
HANG SENG	24376.41	+240.40
		+1.00%
SENSEX	26631.29	+138.78
		+0.52%
FTSE 100	6780.90	-11.34
		-0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.264	2.244
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.784	2.767
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.6107	2.5888
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3664	3.3561

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.90942	0.91139
US $	1.09960	1.09722
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41499	0.70672
US $	1.28682	0.77711

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1223.05	1235.69
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	94.42	94.88

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index to a one-month low, as energy and commodity shares slumped and the Federal Reserve maintained a commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time.”

     Raging River Exploration Inc. lost 3.7 percent as West Texas Intermediate crude dropped from a two-week high. Torex Gold Resources Inc. and Semafo Inc. tumbled at least 5.5 percent as gold declined. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co. climbed more than 0.7 percent to pace gains among industrial stocks.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 51.66 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,458.88 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has fallen 1.3 percent since closing at a record on Sept. 3. It has advanced 13 percent this year, the second-best performer among the world’s developed markets behind Denmark.

     The Fed tapered monthly bond buying to $15 billion in their seventh consecutive $10 billion cut, staying on course to end the program in October. Officials also raised their median estimate for the federal funds rate at the end of 2015 to 1.375 percent, from 1.125 percent in June.

     Seven of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX retreated.

     Raging River declined 3.7 percent to C$10.30 as energy stocks dropped 0.9 percent as a group. West Texas Intermediate crude slid for the first time in three days, down 46 cents to close at $94.42 a barrel in New York. U.S. supplies increased by 3.67 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 12, the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, said. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a drop of 1.5 million.

     Canadian Pacific Railway increased 1.7 percent to C$229.81. Canadian National Railway added 0.8 percent. CN Rail executives, speaking at a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce conference, said the company sees at least five to seven years of growth in crude shipments.

US

By Oliver Renick

     Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — After all the attention paid to the Federal Reserve today, benchmark U.S. stocks indexes ended the session at almost the exact place they were before the central bank pledged to keep interest rates low for a “considerable time.”

     Commodity, financial and telephone shares led gains in seven of the 10 main industry groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. FedEx Corp. and Lennar Corp. rallied more than 3 percent after posting earnings that topped analysts’ estimates. Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 45 percent, the most ever, after getting a takeover bid.

     The S&P 500 increased 0.1 percent 2,001.57 at 4 p.m. in New York after rising as much as 0.6 percent following the release of the Fed’s statement at 2 p.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 24.88 points to a record 17,156.85 after jumping as much as 89 points. Both finished within a point of their levels at 2 p.m., when the Fed released its statement. Fed Chair Janet Yellen later told a press conference that the pledge for low rates is conditional on the economy.

     “Yellen may be a hawk in dove’s clothing because she keeps reiterating that economic data can change the pace of rate hikes and the path to normalization,” Karyn Cavanaugh, the New York- based senior market strategist at Voya Investment Management LLC, said by phone. “The economy is gaining steam. I think we could see some increase in rates by March or sooner.”

     Stocks briefly extended gains as the Fed’s statement said the economy is expanding at a moderate pace and inflation is below its goal. It maintained a commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time” after asset purchases are completed in October. Fed officials raised their median estimate for the federal funds rate at the end of 2015 to 1.375 percent, compared with 1.125 percent in June. The rate will be 3.75 percent at the end of 2017, the Fed said in its Summary of Economic Projections.

     “The labor market has yet to fully recover,” Yellen said at a press conference after a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee today in Washington. “There are still too many people who want jobs but can’t find them.” She added that “inflation has been running below the committee’s 2 percent objective.” In July, the Fed said inflation was “somewhat closer” to its goal.

     Policy makers tapered monthly bond buying to $15 billion in their seventh consecutive $10 billion cut, staying on course to end the program in October. Bond purchases intended to hold down long-term interest rates have swelled the Fed’s balance sheet to $4.42 trillion.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the benchmark gauge of options prices known as the VIX, lost 0.6 percent to 12.65 after earlier gaining as much as 14 percent. More than 6.1 billion U.S. shares traded hands, 8.8 percent above the three-month daily average.

      The S&P 500 rallied 0.8 percent yesterday, led by energy stocks, after China’s central bank reportedly started providing about $81 billion in loans to its biggest banks.

     Data today showed the cost of living in the U.S. unexpectedly dropped in August for the first time in more than a year, showing inflation still is falling short of the Fed’s goal. The central bank is scrutinizing data on labor and prices to gauge whether the economic recovery is strong enough to withstand higher borrowing rates.

     The S&P 500 will advance to 2,050 by the end of the year, according to Credit Suisse Group AG equity research analysts who raised their estimate from an earlier projection of 2,020. Equities are “abnormally cheap” compared with other asset classes, the Credit Suisse team said. Stocks will continue to climb through mid-2015, according to the report, before a second-half correction in 2015 as the Fed raises interest rates.

     FedEx added 3.3 percent to $159.71. The company’s first- quarter earnings increased 24 percent, helped by the completion of a record buyback program, growth in domestic air shipments and lower pension expense.

     Lennar Corp. climbed 5.8 percent to $41.40. The second- biggest U.S. homebuilder by market value reported fiscal third- quarter net income of 78 cents a share, exceeding the 67-cent average of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

     U.S. Steel Corp. rose 10 percent to a three-year high of $45.61. The steelmaker that has reported five years of losses said the Ontario Superior Court granted protection for its Canada unit. The company also said it canceled $800 million of capital investments in projects in Minnesota and Indiana.

     Auxilium Pharmaceuticals jumped 45 percent to $31.18. Endo International Plc, a maker of pain drugs, said it bid $28.10 a share in cash and stock, a 31 percent premium to yesterday’s closing price, for the maker of men’s health medicines. Endo said its offer didn’t include a deal for QLT Inc., which Auxilium agreed to take control of in June. That purchase hasn’t yet closed. Auxilium today said it has adopted a one-year holder rights plan and confirmed its QLT offer.

     Adobe Systems Inc. lost 4.9 percent to $67.30 after reporting third-quarter sales of $1.01 billion. Analysts on average estimated revenue of $1.02 billion. The software maker posted profit before some items of 28 cents a share, exceeding analysts’ projections for 26 cents.

     Rackspace Hosting Inc. tumbled 18 percent to $32.39 after saying it rejected bid offers. The cloud-computing company decided to remain independent after ending a review on strategic options, and rebuffed investor calls to buy back shares, saying it will preserve cash for future acquisitions.

     Gogo Inc. advanced 2.9 percent to $18.47 after announcing a partnership with Virgin Atlantic to offer in-flight connectivity services on Virgin’s aircraft.

     General Mills Inc. lost 4.4 percent to $50.83 after reporting earnings and sales that missed analysts’ estimates. Revenue at the cereal maker was $4.27 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $4.38 billion.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone. 

 

Be magnificent!

 

 

“Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.”

Lao Tzu

As ever,

 

Karen

 

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” Leo Buscaglia

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this date in 2008, the federal government provided an $85 billion emergency loan to AIG to rescue the world’s largest insurance company. The loan came one day after Lehman filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America.

September 16, 1805,  Meriwether Lewis’s and William Clark’s  journals of their expedition from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean – William Clark writes:

A thickly timbered country of eight different kinds of pine, which are so covered with snow, that in passing through them we are continually covered with snow.  I have been wet and as cold in every part as I ever was in my life, indeed I was at one time fearful my feet would freeze in the thin moccasins which I wore,  After a short delay in the middle of the day, I took one man and proceeded on as fast as I could about six miles to a small branch passing to the right, halted and built fires for the party against their arrival which was at dusk, very cold and much fatigued.  We encamped at this branch in  a thickly timbered bottom which was scarcely large enough for us to lie level, men all wet, cold and hungry.  Killed a second colt which we all supped heartily on and thought it fine meat.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A thoroughbred is washed as the sun rises after an early morning workout at Woodbine racetrack in Toronto. Michael Burns Jr./The Canadian Press/AP

A cat is silhouetted as it walks over a fence in Sehnde near Hannover, northern Germany. Julian Stratenschulte/AP

Market Closes for September 16^th, 2014    

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	17131.97	+100.83
		+0.59%
S&P 500	1999.66	+15.53   +0.78%
NASDAQ	4552.758	+33.855   +0.75%
TSX	15515.54	+32.98
		+0.21%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	15911.53	-36.76
		-0.23%
HANG SENG	24136.01	-220.98
		-0.91%
SENSEX	26492.51	-324.05
		-1.21%
FTSE 100	6792.24	-11.97
		-0.18%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.244	2.235
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.767	2.758
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.5888	2.5869
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.3561	3.3382

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.91139	0.90517
US $	1.09722	1.10476
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42213	0.70317
US $	1.29611	0.77154

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1235.69	1234.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	94.88	92.92

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose from a one- month low, erasing an earlier loss, as commodity producers advanced after China’s central bank increased economic stimulus.

     Bankers Petroleum Ltd. and Raging River Exploration Inc. gained at least 2.4 percent to pace gains among oil producers. Cameco Corp. climbed 1.9 percent as uranium entered a bull market amid new sanctions against Russia. Atlantic Power Corp. plunged 33 percent after the company cut its dividend and said it will no longer seek to sell itself.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 27.98 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,510.54 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has fallen 0.9 percent since closing Sept. 3 at a record. It has advanced 14 percent this year, the second-best performer among the world’s developed markets behind Denmark.

     The Canadian stock index reversed losses after a report from Sina.com said China’s central bank has started a 500 billion ($81 billion) yuan standing lending-facility to the nation’s five biggest banks. The move comes amid signs that growth is slowing in the world’s second-biggest economy. China is also the biggest commodity consumer.

     West Texas Intermediate climbed to a two-week high after OPEC’s Secretary General said the group may cut output targets next year. The S&P/TSX Energy Index added 0.4 percent.

     U.S. Federal Reserve officials meet today and tomorrow to review policy amid speculation that the timeline for interest- rate increases may be brought forward.

     Seven of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX advanced on trading volume 26 percent higher than the 30-day average.

     Canadian factory sales rose to a record in July, surpassing the previous peak set in July 2008 before the last recession. The sales were led by a jump in auto shipments.

     Bombardier Inc. declined 0.4 percent to C$3.68 for a second day of losses. Analysts are concerned the company’s proposed CSeries jet, already two years late, will miss its target to be in service by the second half of 2015.

     Bombardier resumed flight trials earlier this month for the first time since an engine fire in May.

US

By Oliver Renick

     Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced, erasing early losses, as rising oil prices spurred a rally in energy shares and China’s central bank reportedly started providing about $81 billion in loans to its biggest banks.

     Health-care stocks added 1.3 percent to lead gains among all 10 of the main industries in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Humana Inc. climbed 3.7 percent after announcing a $2 billion plan to repurchase shares. Zillow Inc. jumped 6.1 percent after Stephens Inc. recommended buying the shares. Wynn Resorts Ltd. slumped amid concern labor protests in Macau will hurt casino earnings.

     The S&P 500 added 0.8 percent to 1,998.98 at 4 p.m. in New York, recovering from a morning loss of 0.3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 100.83 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,131.97, seven points below an all-time high. Trading of S&P 500 companies was the highest since Aug. 7 as investors awaited a Federal Reserve policy statement and press conference tomorrow.

     “The market sees the letters ’Q’ and ’E’ combined with China and it’s Happy New Year to the money printers and that’s what the jump is, they want that game to continue,” Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Chatham, New Jersey-based Themis Trading LLC, said via phone. “They may not know how or why it’s happening. But get some new QE money in there and that’s how the market reacts.”

     Stocks extended gains as Sina.com reported that China’s central bank is starting a 500 billion yuan ($81.4 billion) standing lending-facility to the nation’s five biggest banks. The report cited Guotai Junan banking analyst Qiu Guanhua at Guotai Junan Securities Co.

     Fed officials, who start a two-day meeting today, are considering how much progress toward their goals of full employment and stable inflation would be needed to prompt the first rate increase since 2006. They will outline their outlook for the economy in quarterly projections for growth, unemployment, inflation and the benchmark federal funds rate.

     Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference after the policy announcement on Sept. 17. The S&P 500 had dropped 1.2 percent from its record earlier this month through yesterday.

     “At this point I think anything that comes out of the FOMC meeting can’t be negative, the market’s already expecting some sort of rate change on behalf of the committee certainly by the end of spring and if that’s the case, then economic conditions are supportive and that’s good for the market,” Ron Anari, the Jersey City-based senior vice president of trading at ICAP Plc, said via phone.

     Health-care, utilities and energy companies rose more than 1.1 percent to lead gains in all 10 of the main industry groups in the S&P 500. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Schlumberger Ltd. paced an advance in energy companies in the S&P 500. Oil climbed 2.1 percent to $94.86 a barrel as the report on stimulus in China extended an earlier rally triggered after OPEC’s secretary general said the group may cut output targets next year.

     Humana jumped 3.7 percent to $132.37 after announcing plans for the $2 billion share buyback expiring at the end of 2016. The new buyback replaces a prior $1 billion plan, which had about $782 million remaining.

     Zillow jumped 6.1 percent to $133.36 for its biggest gain since July. Stephens analyst John Campbell initiated the shares with an “overweight” rating and a $170 price estimate, saying the real-estate Web site still leads the category and is in the “early innings” of revenue growth and profitability.

     Wynn Resorts declined 0.5 percent to $179.87 as workers in Macau held protests that threaten to undermine the earnings of casinos there.

     Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell 3.4 percent to $12.06. The stock soared 85 percent yesterday after saying its experimental Alzheimer’s treatment AVP-923 significantly improved agitation in 220 patients.

     SodaStream International Ltd. added 1 percent to $31.79. The company is in talks to sell itself for $840 million to an unidentified British fund, TheMarker reported, citing people it didn’t name. The talks reflect a value of $40 a share, it said.

     Micron Technology Inc. added 4.8 percent to $31.45, almost erasing yesterday’s loss. The chipmaker may see significant upside from Japanese yen depreciation, according to Stern Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

To slight a single human being is to slight those divine powers

and thus harm not only that being but with him the whole world.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

All the arts we practice are apprenticeship.  The big art is our life.

                                                  -M.C. Richards, 1916-1999

 

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7