Category: Newsletters

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
I was given a book over the holidays entitled The Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Recently the person who gave it to me was visiting my office and asked if I had a chance to read it yet.  I told him I had not, and he told me that he loved the book and that he even reads one of the chapters, The Road Trip, to some of his patients (he’s a counselor/metal health therapist).   That impressed me so I thought I must go home and read it that night, which I did.  Here is the chapter, The Road Trip.

                                                            The Road Trip
Here’s how I’ve learned to deal with my fear: I made a decision a long time ago that if I want creativity in my life – and I do – then I will have to make space for fear, too.
  Plenty of space.
  I decided that I would need to build an expansive enough interior life that my fear and my creativity could peacefully coexist, since it appeared that they would always be together.  In fact, it seems to me that my fear and my creativity are basically conjoined twins – as evidenced by the fact that creativity cannot take a single step forward without fear marching right alongside it.  Fear and creativity shared a womb, they were born at the same time, and they still share some vital organs.  This is why we have to be careful of how we handle our fear – because I’ve noticed that when people try to kill off their fear, they often end up inadvertently murdering their creativity in the process.
  So I don’t try to kill off my fear.  I don’t go to war against it.  Instead, I make all that space for it.  Heaps of space.  Every single day.  I’m making space for fear right this moment.  I allow my fear to live and breathe and stretch out its legs comfortably.  It seems to me that the less I fight my fear, the less it fights back.  If I can relax, fear relaxes, too.  In fact, I cordially invite fear to come along with me everywhere I go.  I even have a welcoming speech prepared for fear, which I deliver right before embarking upon any new project or big adventure.
  It goes something like this:
  “Dearest Fear:  Creativity and I are about to go on a road trip together.  I understand you’ll be joining us, because you always do.  I acknowledge that you believe you have an important job to do in my life, and that you take your job seriously.  Apparently your job is to induce complete panic whenever I’m about to do anything interesting – and, my I say, you are superb at your job.  So by all means, keep doing your job, if you feel you must.  But I will also be doing my job on this road trip, which is to work hard and stay focused.  And Creativity will be doing its job, which is to remain stimulating and inspiring.  There’s plenty of room in this vehicle for all of us, so make yourself at home, but understand this: Creativity and I are the only ones who will be making any decision s along the way.  I recognize and respect that you are part of this family, and so I will never exclude you from our activities, but still – your suggestion will never be followed.  You’re allowed to have a seat, and you’re allowed to have a voice, but you are not allowed to have a vote.  You’re not allowed to touch the road maps; you’re not allowed to suggest detours; you’re not allowed to fiddle with  the temperature.  Dude, you’re not even allowed to touch the radio.  But above all else, my dear old familiar friend, you are absolutely forbidden to drive.”
  Then we head off together – me and creativity and fear – side by side by side forever, advancing once more into the terrifying but marvelous terrain of unknown outcome.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A lotus flower grows in a dry cracked earth of an empty pond during the dry season outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Friday. Heng Sinith/AP

A yellow barn is surrounded by snow covered trees after an overnight snowstorm on Friday, in Zelienople, Pa. Keith Srakocic/AP

A FedEx cargo airplane flies as the moon is seen from Whittier, Calif., on Thursday. Nick Ut/AP

A Pug arrives for the second day of the Crufts Dog Show in Birmingham, England, on Friday. Darren Staples/Reuters
Market Closes for March 10^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20902.28	+44.79   +0.21%
S&P 500	2372.60	+7.73   +0.33%
NASDAQ	5861.727	+22.920   +0.39%
TSX	15506.68	+9.84
		+0.06%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19604.61	+286.03
		+1.48%
HANG SENG	23568.67	+67.11
		+0.29%
SENSEX	28946.23	+17.10
		+0.06%
FTSE 100*	7343.08	+28.12
		+0.38%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.815		1.808
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.483		2.490
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.5745		2.6035
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.1614		3.1913

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74253	0.74027
US $	1.34675	1.35087
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.43764	0.69558
US $	1.06749	0.93678

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1202.65	1206.55
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	48.49	49.28

Market Commentary:
March 10, 1862: Paper money issued in the US.
On this day in 2000, NASDAQ closes at a record 5048.62, up 24.1% for the year to date — after gaining 86.5% in 1999. It would take NASDAQ 15 years to surpass that level.

Happy birthday, bull market. Eight years ago, the S&P 500 hit its crisis-era low. It was hard to imagine at the time that one of the longest bull markets in history would start the next day. Since then, it has risen by almost 250%. 
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks nudged higher as gains in health-care and materials stocks were offset by a big drop in shares of one of the country’s biggest banks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose less than 0.1 percent to 15,506.68 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge slipped 0.7 percent for the week. The materials index was among the biggest gainers today, led by an 11 percent increase in copper miner Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. as the price of the resource climbed 0.8 percent.
     All sectors gained except financials, which fell 1.1 percent as shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank declined 5.6 percent, the most since 2009. The stock fell on reports from Canada’s state broadcaster that some workers broke the law to meet sales targets.
     In other moves:
* Element Fleet Management Corp. plunged as much as 12 percent, its biggest intraday drop since August 2015, after management cut its 2017 guidance
* Gold producers rose, snapping an eight-day streak of declines, with New Gold Inc. and Semafo Inc. each gaining more than 7.7 percent
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose after jobs data cleared the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates without forcing it to accelerate the pace for future tightening. The dollar fell versus the euro after European Central Bank policy makers were said to have considered their ability to tighten before a bond-buying program comes to an end.
     The S&P 500 Index pared its first weekly loss in seven after U.S. employers added jobs at an above-average pace for a second month, bolstering confidence in the economy. The yield on 10-year Treasuries headed lower for the first time in 10 days, while the dollar retreated versus its major peers. The euro strengthened past $1.06 as a person familiar with the ECB meeting Thursday said officials discussed if it is possible to raise rates before stopping quantitative easing. Gold was little changed near $1,200 per ounce after four days of declines. Crude fell below $49 a barrel to cap its worst week since November.
     Friday’s American jobs report is the last major piece of economic data before the Federal Reserve meets next week, with markets pricing a rate increase as a near certainty. While hiring was robust and wage gains strong, the pace might not be fast enough to force the central bank to accelerate its timeline for future rate hikes from the current forecast of three. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled Thursday its accommodative bias may have reached an end as global growth picks up.
     Read our Markets Live blog here.
     Here are the main market moves:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 percent to 2,372.90 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring a weekly slide to 0.4 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1 percent to pare its loss in the five days to 0.5 percent. The FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent Friday.
* The MSCI Emerging Markets Index advanced 0.6 percent to pare its weekly drop.

     Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.6 percent, trimming a gain in the week.
* The euro gained 1.2 percent to $1.0699, rising a second day while the British pound was little changed at $1.2185.
* The yen strengthened 0.2 percent to 114.692 per dollar to halt a fourth day of declines..

     Bonds
* The yield on the U.S. Treasury note due in a decade slipped three basis points to 2.58 percent.
* It climbed five basis points Thursday to exceed the 2.6 percent mark that Bill Gross, the bond-market veteran at Janus Capital Management, said will signal the start of a bear market, should it hold on a weekly basis.
* European bonds tumbled after the ECB meeting discussion was reported. German 10-year bund yields rose six basis points to 0.49 percent. Similar-maturity Italian bond yields added five basis points to 2.36 percent.
* Governing Council members meeting on March 9 exchanged views on ways of communicating and sequencing an exit from unconventional stimulus, euro-area central-bank officials said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations were private.

      Commodities
* Oil fell below $49 a barrel in New York after surging U.S. supplies erased three months of gains that followed OPEC’s deal to cut output.
* WTI crude sank 1.6 percent at $48.49 per barrel. It fell 2 percent on Thursday to the lowest close since Nov. 29.
* Gold advanced 0.1 percent to $1,204 per ounce.
* Copper rebounded from 2-month low as London Metal Exchange stockpiles ended the biggest surge in decades and workers at one of the world’s biggest mines in Peru voted to strike.
 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The supreme being impregnates all, and, by consequence, is the goodness innate in every thing.
To be truly united with all in knowledge, love, and service, and thus to realize the Self in the omnipresent God,
is the essence of good.  This is the keystone of the Upanishad teaching: Life is immense.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The work of today is the history of tomorrow and we are its makers.
                                      -Juliette Gordon Low, 1860-1927

 

Even if just a passenger, I’m not leaving the ship during the storm.
                                                -Alain Juppe, b. 1945
                                                 March 10, 2017

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On March 9^th, 1932, Conrad Russell wrote to his sister Diana, “As to parents, some do and some don’t try and teach manners.  I think many are glad for an excuse not to have anything in the nature of criticism or a reprimand.  Of course it is only shirking something.  Sir John Horner used to say: ‘Shake hands, Katharine, shake hands’, to his daughter [Katharine Asquith] after she was forty if visitors came into the room.  He also never lit a cigarette in his own room without saying to me first, ‘Do you mind if I smoke?’
   Right up to 1914 it was utterly impossible for two young people to dine at a restaurant together.  When Raymond [Asquith] and Katharine were engaged they used to have breakfast together at an ABC shop.  Except both going to the same ball there was no other way of meeting – at least there would have been the risk of being seen.  That’s twenty-five years ago.  Times have changed.” –from The Book of Days.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Shelves of hollow hens’ eggs decorated by award-winning Hungarian applied folk artist Ildiko Fekete are on display during her exhibition in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday. Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI/AP

Fireworks explode off of a wheeled paper bull rigged with pyrotechnics in the middle of the packed town square in Tultepec, on the outskirts of Mexico City, during the annual pyrotechnics fair on Wednesday. Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Market Closes for March 9^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20858.19	+2.46   +0.01%
S&P 500	2364.87	+1.89   +0.08%
NASDAQ	5838.809	+1.257   +0.02%
TSX	15496.84	-0.14
		—

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19318.58	+64.55
		+0.34%
HANG SENG	23501.56	-280.71
		-1.18%
SENSEX	28929.13	+27.19
		+0.09%
FTSE 100*	7314.96	-19.65
		-0.27%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.808		1.741
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.490		2.430
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.6035		2.5161
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.1913		3.1169

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74027	0.74113
US $	1.35087	1.34929
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42917	0.69971
US $	1.05797	0.94870

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1206.55	1209.20
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	49.28	50.28

Market Commentary:
NUMBER OF THE DAY
5.38% 

The drop in U.S. crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. Oil prices suffered their biggest one-day plunge in more than a year after U.S. crude stockpiles hit record levels, raising concerns that even after recent production cuts, the world remains awash in oil. 

On this day in 2000, the NASDAQ Composite Index closes above 5000 for the first time, a mere 48 trading days after breaking through the 4000 barrier.  Today, the NASDAQ closed at 5838.809, (i.e., +17% in 17 years) a good indicator as to why active management beats ETF indexing.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed virtually unchanged as gains spurred by an acquisition among energy companies helped the S&P/TSX Composite Index buck a week-long slide in oil prices.
     The benchmark gauge slipped just 0.1 point to 15,496.84. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. was the biggest gainer, rising almost 10 percent after it agreed to buy Alberta oil sands assets from Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Marathon Oil Corp. for C$12.7 billion. That helped drive the energy index up 0.75 percent even as West Texas Intermediate crude lost 2 percent to $49.28, its lowest level since Nov. 29.
     Stocks in Canada are often closely correlated to the price of oil but that relationship has loosened in recent months as investors obsess over the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump and what they’ll mean for the economy, said Stephen Lingard, senior vice president and portfolio manager with Franklin Templeton Solutions, a unit of Franklin Templeton Investments.
     “That automatic relationship between higher oil prices and better Canadian pricing in exports is in limbo in light of Trump and his potential border-adjustment tax,” Lingard said. “The economics are a little clouded, and that may be what’s causing the correlation to break down.”
     Oil prices will probably stay stuck between $45 and $55 amid a supply glut that is unlikely to break until at least 2018, said John Stephenson, chief executive at Stephenson & Co. Capital Management in Toronto.
     “It’s time to stay out of the sector in general,”  Stephenson said. “Eventually we’re going to get into balance, but we’re not there now.”
     Shell’s decision to largely exit the Canadian oil sands with its sale to CNRL, adding to several other sales by international players in recent months, is another signal to investors to avoid the Canadian energy space, Stephenson added.
     “The strong will come out of this stronger, but in general it’s not a positive when everyone’s leaving the burning building,” he said.
     The health-care index declined 1.1 percent as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. planned to sell $3.25 billion of debt, according to a person familiar with the matter. Valeant shares lost 2.6 percent.
     Raw material stocks fell 0.4 percent on lower gold prices. Both Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and Agrium Inc. rose about 3 percent amid reports that Belarus is ready to cooperate with Uralkali PJSC, the largest global miner of potash by volume, on production and sales.
US
By Jeremy Herron and Cecile Gutscher
     (Bloomberg) — Oil’s lowest settlement since November added to concern that commodity-fueled inflation will wane. The selloff in Treasuries continued, while U.S. stocks finished little changed as European Central Bank optimism on global growth bolstered the euro.
     The S&P 500 Index eked out a gain for the first time in four days, as health-care shares lifted the measure in late trading before Friday’s jobs report. Thursday marked the eighth anniversary of the bull market that’s seen the index more than triple since 2009. Real estate stocks tumbled, as the yield on 10-year Treasury notes approached 2.60 percent, a level Bill Gross suggested would usher in a bond bear market. The euro strengthened after ECB president Mario Draghi said risks to growth are more balanced. The crude selloff rippled through the junk-debt market with a gauge for the high-risk securities poised for the worst week since November. 
     Friday’s jobs report is the last major piece of economic data before the Fed meets next week with markets poised for a rate increase. Still, signs are mounting that the reflation trade sparked by Donald Trump’s election is fading, with the selloff in oil rekindling concern that energy inflation won’t persist. At the same time, the ECB meeting fueled speculation the central bank won’t add to stimulus as growth picks up.
     Read our Markets Live blog here.
     What’s ahead for the markets:
* Official U.S. jobs data for February are due Friday. Employers probably added around 200,000 workers to payrolls, in line with the average over the past six months and a sign of steady job growth, economists forecast.

     Here are the main moves in markets:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 2,364.94 at 4 p.m. in New York. The measure is down 1.3 percent since reaching a record on March 1.
* Real estate shares have retreated eight straight days, the longest rout since August 2013. The stocks are coveted for their high dividend yield, which becomes less attractive as Treasury rates rise.
* Financial shares benefit from higher rates. They added 0.3 percent Thursday.
* The Euro Stoxx 600 Index advanced 0.1 percent, for a second day of middling gains.
* Emerging-market equities sank 1.5 percent, the most since December.

     Commodities
* WTI crude dropped 2 percent to settle at $49.28 per barrel, the lowest close since Nov. 29.
* Concerns mounted that OPEC’s output cuts are failing to restrain record U.S. stockpiles, with the post-agreement oil rally evaporating.
* All London Metal Exchange metals declined as the dollar strengthened ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data Friday..
* Gold slid toward $1,200 an ounce in its longest losing run since October as positive U.S. economic figures reinforce expectations that yields on other investments will rise this year. Futures fell 0.7 percent to $1,201.10 an ounce, declining for a fourth day.

     Currencies
* The dollar was little changed as measured by the Bloomberg dollar index, holding in the middle of a narrow daily range as momentum stalled
after the greenback breached a key technical resistance level at the 55-day moving average.
* The euro rose 0.4 percent to $1.0583, paring a gain that took it above $1.06.
* The yen slipped to 114.943 per dollar.
* South Korea’s won paced losses in emerging-market currencies.

    Bonds
* The yield on the U.S. Treasury note due in a decade rose four basis points to 2.598 percent.
* They’re approaching the 2.6 percent mark that Gross, the bond- market veteran at Janus Capital Management, said will signal the start of a bear market, should it hold on a weekly basis.
* The yield on the 10-year German bund jumped six basis points to 0.426 percent.

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Nature’s law dictates that, in order to survive, bees must work together.
As a result, they instinctively possess a sense of social responsibility.
They have no constitution, no law, no police, no religion or moral training but,
because of their nature, the whole colony survives.
We human beings have a constitution, laws and a police force.
We have religion, remarkable intelligence, and hearts with a great capacity to love.
We have many extraordinary qualities but, in actual practice,
I think we are behind those small insects.
In some ways, I feel that we are poorer than the bees.
His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Great acts are made up of small deeds.
                         -Lao Tzu, 604 BC-531 BC

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

In case you missed it today, Lululemon commanded a full page in the Globe & Mail  for the following message to commemorate International Women’s Day.  I think it is very special and I hope you do too:

For you,

 

If you feel strong, or fragile, or strong and fragile.  If you

 

sometimes laugh at your mistakes and sometimes cry at

 

them.  Whether you are loud, or quiet, or are sometimes

 

loud and sometimes quiet.  If you are a mother, not yet

 

a mother, a stepmother, will never be a mother, or never

 

want to be a mother.  If some days you battle the feelings

 

of being infinitely worthless, and some days you recognize

 

your infinite worth.  If you take a stand for what you

 

believe in, or don’t know what to believe in.  Whether you

 

are full of love, or fear, or sometimes love and sometimes

 

fear.  If you feel most beautiful in high heels and dark

 

lips surrounded by bright lights, or most beautiful with

 

a naked face gazing up at bright stars.  If some days you

 

refuse to give up, and other days you have nothing left

 

to give.  Whether you feel lost, are searching, or have

 

found yourself.   If you take a step forward, or a step back,

 

but no matter what, you keep stepping.

 

 

Wherever you are, in all that you are, we honour you.

 

Namaste

 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

At right, Emma Benany, part of the Egyptian National Rowing Team, rows with team members in the Nile River on International Women’s Day, in Cairo on Wednesday. Nariman El-Mofty/AP

Young girls collect sugar cane husks for cooking and heating fuel in Charsadda, Pakistan on Wednesday. Fayaz Aziz/Reuters
Market Closes for March 8^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20855.73	-69.03   -0.33%
S&P 500	2362.98	-5.41   -0.23%
NASDAQ	5837.551	+3.622   +0.06%
TSX	15496.98	-111.80
		-0.72%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19254.03	-90.12
		-0.47%
HANG SENG	23782.27	+101.20
		+0.43%
SENSEX	28901.94	-97.62
		-0.34%
FTSE 100*	7334.61	-4.38
		-0.06%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.778		1.741
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.464		2.430
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.5615		2.5161
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.1522		3.1169

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74113	0.74554
US $	1.34929	1.34131
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42225	0.70311
US $	1.05407	0.94870

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1209.20	1216.65
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	50.28	53.14

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks declined the most in eight days as oil slumped more than 5 percent to its lowest level of the year, dragging down energy shares. Nine of the 11 major industries on the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell, with real estate and telecommunication stocks dropping more than 0.7 percent.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.7 percent to 15,496.98 in Toronto. The energy index dropped 2.5 percent as U.S. government data showed record oil stockpiles, indicating production cuts from OPEC haven’t reduced supplies. Baytex Energy Corp., MEG Energy Corp. Secure Energy Services Inc. and Whitecap Resources Inc. all lost more than 7 percent.
     Construction company Aecon Group Inc. was the biggest gainer of the day, up 6.3 percent, after the company reported better than expected fourth-quarter profit and revenue and boosted its dividend. The TSX health care index rose 0.7 percent, led by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. as the company negotiates with its lenders to ease its $30 billion debt load.
     In other moves:
     * West Texas Intermediate crude tumbled 5.4 percent to $50.28 a barrel, the lowest close since Dec. 7. Baytex Energy Corp. fell 8.2 percent while MEG Energy Corp., Secure Energy Services Inc. and Whitecap Resources Inc. fell more than 7 percent.
     *Materials were largely unchanged as commodity prices fell. Methanex Corp. slid 2.9 percent while Asanko Gold Inc. jumped 6.1 percent.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities reversed early gains to end lower Wednesday after ADP data showed companies added the most workers in almost three years to payrolls last month and financial stocks pared an early advance.
     The S&P 500 Index lost 0.2 percent to 2,362.98 as of 4 p.m. in New York for the third consecutive loss in as many days. That’s the longest losing streak in more than a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 percent to 20,855.73.
* Financials end unchanged after rallying as much as 1.3% in early trading
* Bond proxies such as utilities and real estate declined at least 1.4% as the 10-year Treasury yield jumped 3.5 basis points
* Volume in energy stocks 43% above average at this time as the group loses 1.7% with oil down 5.3%
* VIX up 3.6% to 11.9
* S&P 500 still within two percentage points of its record set March 1, and the gauge’s price-to-earnings ratio is wedged close to a more than seven-year high.
* “This is probably only a correction, rather than the beginning of the end,” said Michael McCarthy, chief markets strategist in Sydney at CMC Markets. “The global drivers are still there with the signs of strength in the U.S. economy and China’s economy as well”
* ECONOMY:
** February private payrolls climbed by 298,000 (forecast was 187,000), the most since April 2014, after a revised 261,000 gain in January, according to ADP
* EARNINGS:
** Pre-market Thursday: Fairmount Santrol (FMSA), Signet Jewelers (SIG)
* In Europe, stocks halted a four-day losing streak, as gains in lenders were tempered by losses in energy and mining shares.
Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The person who can wear the mantle of a Master
is one who is devoted to the cause of non-violence and non-possession
who is driven by the quest for truth and the right perspective,
who is capable of solving his own emotional and mental problems and
who can show others the way to overcome their emotional and mental problems.
Acharya Mahaprajna

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.
                                -Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, b.1938

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Watch your thoughts:  They become words.
Watch your words:  They become actions.
Watch your actions:  They become habits.
Watch your Habits:   They become your character.
Watch your Character:  It becomes your destiny.
                                    -Monte Hummel
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Inkosi, a white Transvaal lion, watches over his two-month-old triplets in their outdoor enclosure of the Nyiregyhaza Zoo in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, on Tuesday. Attila Balazs/MTI/AP

French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (l.) and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni (r.) visit Versailles Palace during a Franco-German-Italian-Spanish summit ahead of upcoming EU Summit, near Paris, France. Martin Bureau/Reuters
Market Closes for March 7^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20924.76	-29.58   -0.14%
S&P 500	2368.39	-6.92   -0.29%
NASDAQ	5833.930	-15.245   -0.26%
TSX	15608.78	-20.97
		-0.13%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19344.15	-34.99
		-0.18%
HANG SENG	23681.07	+84.79
		+0.36%
SENSEX	28999.56	-48.63
		-0.17%
FTSE 100*	7338.99	-11.13
		-0.15%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.741		1.706
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.430		2.412
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.5161		2.4925
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.1169		3.0997

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74554	0.74589
US $	1.34131	1.34069
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41749	0.70547
US $	1.05680	0.94625

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1216.65	1230.95
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.14	53.20

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1878, the Toronto Stock Exchange is incorporated; fewer than a dozen stocks are traded, and a seat on the exchange costs $250.
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell for the first day in three, with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. leading a drop among health-care companies, as the company is seeking a refinancing of debt and President Donald Trump promised in a tweet to lower drug prices in the U.S.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 0.1 percent to 15,608.78 at 4 p.m. in Toronto as eight of the 11 main industries retreated. An index of health-care companies sank 3.4 percent to the lowest since June 2010.
     Investors watched acquisitions and corporate earnings ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. SunOpta Inc. (SOY CN) lost 1.4 percent after jumping 7 percent earlier. Oaktree Capital funds bought 3 million shares of the organic food producer. Separately, William Blair analyst Jon R Andersen raised the stock’s rating to outperform from market perform.
     Slate Office REIT (SOT-U CN) slipped 3.9 percent after saying it bought three office properties in the Greater Toronto area and Fredericton for C$165m.
     Raging River Exploration Inc. (RRX CN) climbed 1.7 percent after fourth-quarter earnings beat the highest analyst estimate.
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks headed for the third decline in four days, Treasuries slipped and the dollar churned in place as investors come to terms with the likelihood that interest rates will rise next week.
     The S&P 500 Index slumped to 1.2 percent below its all-time high with the Federal Reserve all but certain to raise borrowing costs March 15. Energy producers led declines, and health-care shares slid Tuesday after President Donald Trump promised in a tweet to lower drug prices in the U.S. Large-cap tech shares advanced. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 2.51 percent, while the dollar was little changed. Copper fell to a one-month low.
     Bets the global economy is strong enough to withstand rising borrowing costs helped stoke stock gauges to records last week, even as a U.S. interest rate hike this month seemed to become a near certainty. With valuations on the S&P 500 near the highest since 2002 and after the longest weekly rally in 16 months, investors now seem to be waiting for a fresh catalyst.
     “Financial market sentiment behaves like a boat tacking into a moderate headwind: progress is being made, albeit choppily,” Kit Juckes, a London-based global strategist at Societe Generale SA, wrote in a note. “The headwind, of course, is the Fed, and the painfully slow grind higher in rates, especially 10-year Treasury yields.”
     Read our Markets Live blog here.
     What’s ahead for the markets:
* Japanese data on balance of payments and gross domestic product are due Wednesday, along with Chinese trade figures. China reports on inflation on Thursday.
* Mario Draghi probably won’t flinch at Thursday’s ECB meeting even after headline inflation reached its 2 percent target in February. He’s expected to keep QE going until the end of the year with underlying price pressures muted. 
* U.S. jobs data for February are due Friday. Employers probably added around 190,000 workers to payrolls, in line with the average over the past six months and a sign of steady job growth, economists forecast.

     Here are the main moves in markets:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 2,368.23 at 4 p.m. in New York, capping its first two-day slide since January.
* Health-care shares fell 0.5 percent. In a tweet shortly before 9 a.m. New York time, Trump said he’s working on a “new system where there will be competition in the drug industry.”
* The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3 percent, after a 0.5 percent drop on Monday.

     Currencies
* The dollar was little changed as traders waited out the event risk stacked in the latter half of the week. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was virtually unchanged, while the euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.0570.
* The British pound dropped 0.3 percent to 1.2206 versus the dollar and touched a seven-week low.

    Bonds
* Yields on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 2.51 percent. Treasuries have fallen seven straight days.
* The three-year sector led losses after the government’s monthly auction of the maturity drew a higher-than-expected yield.
* The German 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.319 percent

    Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 16 cents to settle at $53.14 a barrel. Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih said that OPEC and its partners are making good progress in delivering promised output curbs.
* Copper fell a fourth day as stockpiles in London Metal Exchange-tracked warehouses jump 33 percent in 2 days, most since 2004.
* Gold for delivery in three months fell 0.7 percent $1,217.30 an ounce after dropping 0.8 percent in the previous session.
* Rhodium’s on the best run in a decade on expectations of more demand for the material that’s used in cleaning toxic car emissions.
Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

A diamond is lost in the mud;
all are seeking it.
Some go to the East – or to the West,
Wishing to find it.
Is it lost in the river?
Or in the rocks?
Kabir, your servant, appreciates it
for its just value.
He will take it away,
warmly sheltered
in a corner of his heart.
Kabir

As ever,

 

Carolann

  

To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.
                                -Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
March: Candlemas Day came in “fair and bright” and winter certainly “had another flight.”  So the old saying was proved right.  I am pleasantly surprised how many people have mentioned this to me in the past few days.  Here we had two weeks of hard frost in February, which proved to be the exact treatment needed to control the over-precocious bulbs showing an unwonted amount of growth.  However, I was anxious lest the aconites and dwarf iris, already in flower, should succumb.  On the contrary, everything has behaved magnificently.  The aconites have never looked so good for so long, from mid-January until the end of February; the iris have spanned the frosty days, and all the early crocus were held back until the sun came out and the temperature rose enough to entice the bees from their hives. – Rosemary Verey, A Countrywoman’s Notes.

No Matter How You Feel:
Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up, And Never
Give Up.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man collects lotus flowers for sale at a pond in Kandal province, Cambodia on Sunday. Samrang Pring/Reuters

The stork at right chases another stork away from its nest in Biebesheim, south of Frankfurt, Germany on Monday. About 30 storks in the area are now looking for the right partner and nest. Michael Probst/AP

An elderly nun stands and watches the view from Nagi Gomba Nunnery on the outskirt of Kathmandu, Nepal on Monday. Hundreds of nuns from different parts of Nepal study and practice Buddhism in this nunnery, which lies on top of the northern hill in Shivapuri National Park. Niranjan Shrestha/AP
Market Closes for March 6^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20954.34	-51.37   -0.24%
S&P 500	2375.31	-7.81   -0.33%
NASDAQ	5849.176	-21.577   -0.37%
TSX	15629.75	+21.25
		+0.14%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19379.14	-90.03
		-0.46%
HANG SENG	23596.28	+43.56
		+0.18%
SENSEX	29048.19	+215.74
		+0.75%
FTSE 100*	7350.12	-24.14
		-0.33%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.706		1.701
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.412		2.404
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4925		2.4798
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0997		3.0713

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74589	0.74761
US $	1.34069	1.33759
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.41827	0.70508
US $	1.05787	0.94530

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1230.95	1226.50
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.20	53.33

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
78
The number of trading sessions the S&P 500 has gone without closing at least 1.5% below its 52-week high, the longest such streak since 1964.
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second day, reversing earlier losses, as energy shares led a rebound amid an analyst comment that the industry may have fallen too far too fast.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.1 percent to 15,629.75 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after sliding as much as 0.7 percent. Energy, telecom and financial shares rose at least 0.5 percent, offsetting losses among materials and health-care companies. Before Friday, the benchmark index had fallen in six of seven sessions, retreating from a record high amid concern over the country’s trade talks with the U.S.
     David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, said the nation wants to move quickly with U.S. President Donald Trump to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, as delays and any new border taxes will discourage investment across the continent. The future of Nafta, Buy-American provisions and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s proposal for a tax on imports have caused concern among investors, he said in a wide-ranging interview on March 3.
     Energy shares, the biggest loser among 11 industry groups this year, advanced 0.7 percent Monday. The group is closing in on oversold territory given a higher-than-normal discount to U.S. peers, TD analysts led by Menno Hulshof wrote in a note.    
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slipped with Treasuries, while the dollar advanced as caution rippled through markets after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen all but assured investors that interest rates will rise next week. 
     The S&P 500 Index retreated in trading that was 12 percent below the 30-day average. JPMorgan Chase & Co. warned that hawkish Fed rhetoric has increased the likelihood for a short- term pullback after stocks reached records last week. The dollar rose as a surge in corporate bond issuance pushed up Treasury yields. Deutsche Bank AG pulled down European shares after announcing plans to raise capital. Metals slumped on Chinese growth prospects and the French presidential race continued to roil the euro.
     Markets appear to be coming off recent peaks as investors price in a near-certain March U.S. interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned of larger challenges ahead during his work report to the annual National People’s Congress gathering in Beijing. In Europe, politics has become the main market driver as election campaigns in the Netherlands, France and Germany put the status quo under threat.
     “The ‘pothole’ is a political one with far-right parties gaining ground in opinion polls ahead of both a Dutch and French ballots in spring,” Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Geneva- based Pictet, said in a research note. “We are scaling back exposure to European stocks, albeit retaining our overweight stance.”
     Read our Markets Live blog here.
     What’s ahead for the markets:
* Mario Draghi probably won’t flinch at Thursday’s ECB meeting even after headline inflation reached its 2 percent target in February. He’s expected to keep QE going until the end of the year with underlying price pressures muted. Other economic highlights of the week are industrial output for Germany, France and the U.K., and German factory orders.
* U.S. jobs data for February are on tap for Friday. Employers probably added around 190,000 workers to payrolls, in line with the average over the past six months and a sign of steady job growth, economists forecast.
* European automakers gather this week at the Geneva Motor Show.
* Philip Hammond’s U.K. budget arrives Wednesday. The chancellor pledged on Sunday to set aside money to cushion the economy from Brexit. 

     Here are the main moves in markets:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 declined 0.3 percent to 2,375.45 at 4 p.m. in New York, paring a loss that reached 0.6 percent at its lowest in the morning. The index is up 6.2 percent in 2017.
* Ten of 11 S&P 500 groups retreated, led by materials producers and lenders. Energy shares rose.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.5 percent, with Deutsche Bank dropping 5.5 percent.
* The Topix fell 0.2 percent as Japan moved to the highest possible alert level after North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into nearby waters. Most other Asian equity markets rose, with the Kospi erasing a loss as Samsung Electronics Co. jumped 1.2 percent.

     Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index added 0.2 percent, headed for its sixth advance in seven days.
* The euro weakened 0.4 percent to $1.0585, the worst performer among major. The yen was at 113.895 per dollar.
* Mexico’s peso strengthened past its 200-day moving average as the country’s central bank prepared to hold its first $1 billion auction of non-deliverable forward contracts on Monday.

     Bonds
* Treasury yields were higher led by the longest-maturity issues, with the 10-year yield up by about a basis point at 2.49 percent.
* German bonds rose, sending 10-year yields lower by one basis point to 0.34 percent on haven demand.
* French bonds dropped as former Prime Minister Alain Juppe said he won’t enter the race for the Presidency, reducing the chances of anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen being eliminated in the first round of voting.

     Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.2 percent to settle at $53.20 a barrel. Clashes between armed factions in Libya curbed crude output, while U.S. drilling increased.
* Copper futures tumbled 1.6 percent after the biggest inflow of the metal in 15 years to warehouses managed by the London Metal Exchange, according to bourse data released Monday.
* Gold futures slumped 0.1 percent to settle at $1,225.50 an ounce in New York for a fifth day of losses. That’s the longest slump since November.
Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Your way is very good for you, but not for me.
My way is good for me, but not for you.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.
                                      -Margaret Fuller, 1810-1850

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Numbers:
65: Years Queen Elizabeth II has sat upon the throne – the first time a British monarch has achieved a sapphire anniversary.  She became the country’s longest-reigning monarch in 2015.
1955: year Elvis Presley made his first TV appearance.
2040: Year when India’s economy is projected to surpass that of the United States, making it the world’s second largest.  China is projected to be No. 1.
9,032: Distance (in miles) of the world’s longest commercial flight.  Qatar Airways launched the new route in February, connecting Auckland, New Zealand, with Doha, Qatar.

INSPIRING WOMEN:
In Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for the  album of the year award at the 2016 Grammys, she encouraged young women to continue to work hard.  This year, the Recording Academy created a Grammys commercial in which young women and girls recite parts of Swift’s speech as they practice musical instruments and dance routines.  See the inspiring video at http://bit.ly/grammyswomen.

And if by chance you haven’t seen the movie Hidden Figures yet, get thee to the cinema as soon as possible to see this amazing movie – true story of a few extraordinary black women who worked at NASA on the space program in the early ‘60s.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ffion Williams presents a bunch of daffodils to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth following a visit to the Royal Welsh Regiment at Lucknow Barracks to mark St David’s Day, in Tidworth, Britain on Friday. Ben Birchall/Reuters

Personalized coffee mugs featuring Elvis Presley’s face line the wall of a gift shop during the grand opening of the new ‘Elvis Presley’s Memphis’, a $45 million, state of the art entertainment and museum complex, in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday. Brandon Dill/Reuters
Market Closes for March 3^rd, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	21005.71	+2.74   +0.01%
S&P 500	2383.12	+1.20   +0.05%
NASDAQ	5870.754	+9.532   +0.16%
TSX	15608.50	+71.85
		+0.46%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19469.17	-95.63
		-0.49%
HANG SENG	23552.72	-175.35
		-0.74%
SENSEX	28832.45	-7.34
		-0.03%
FTSE 100*	7374.26	-8.09
		-0.11%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.701		1.699
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.404		2.402
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4798		2.4833
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0713		3.0770

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74761	0.74679
US $	1.33759	1.33907
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.42090	0.70378
US $	1.06228	0.94137

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1226.50	1238.10
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.33	52.61

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
2356
The consensus estimate among Wall Street analysts was that the S&P 500 would rise about 5% in 2017, to 2356. The index closed on Thursday at 2381.92, and analysts are scrambling to raise their estimates to reflect the rally.
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian equities ticked up as gains in energy and industrials offset declines in seven of 11 sectors in the benchmark gauge.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 15,560.70 at 11:08 a.m. in Toronto. An advance on the day would mark the index’s second gain in eight sessions. The index, which closed at a record on Feb. 21, finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market — a 2.3 percent decline since its high has left it up just 1.8 percent on the year.
* Crude oil rose 1%, rising above $53
* Transalta up 6% for biggest advance in index after beating earnings estimates
* GMP Capital Inc. up 3.8% after the Canadian firm returned to profitability in a quarter fueled by a jump in investment- banking revenue
* Freehold Royalties up 5.2% after issuing positive guidance
* Valeant Pharmaceuticals down 4.4%; the stock is down 80% since last March as the drugmaker got embroiled in scandals about prices hikes and accounting that led to legal and regulatory investigations
* ECONOMY:
** Toronto home prices jumped more than 20 percent in February for the sixth straight month as listings dried up, pushing the price of a suburban house beyond C$1 million ($750,000) for the first time, according to the city’s real estate board
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced for the sixth consecutive week as economic data sailed past forecasts and shares of financial companies rose with higher bond yields.
     So strong were signals on growth in the U.S. and beyond that investors were left almost completely unfazed by the surging odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase, as the likelihood priced by Fed funds futures more than doubled. Chair Janet Yellen on Friday capped the week of rising expectations by explicitly supporting a hike if economic progress persists. The S&P 500 nevertheless rose for the fifth time in seven days.
     The benchmark gauge for American equity added 0.7 percent over the five days to end the week at 2,383.12. Helped by President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress, the index briefly crossed 2,400 for the first time ever on Wednesday, before closing that session, the best of the year, at a record 2,395.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9 percent to end the week 21,005.71 as small-cap shares finished lower for a second week.
     “Earnings on a forward-looking basis are going to be higher rather than lower and growth is quite good and maybe accelerates some,” Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at Oppenheimerfunds Inc., said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The question is in the current context, without any policy initiative, can earnings growth be significantly higher than 7 or 8 percent? If not, one could argue all that information is all pretty much priced in.”
     Comments from Fed officials calling for a March interest- rate hike came against economic data that is beating estimates at the strongest rate in almost five years, according to a Bloomberg Index measuring the degree to which data surpasses analyst expectations. The gauge advanced for the second straight week and has been in positive territory since November.
     The majority of the S&P 500’s points were tallied Wednesday as investors embraced Trump’s cooler rhetoric in a speech that was short on details. Energy companies jumped on support from higher oil prices. Volume on U.S. exchanges was the year’s heaviest.
    Financial stocks were the biggest winners on the week, advancing 2 percent after posting the biggest single-day jump since Nov. 10 on Wednesday. Energy shares climbed 1.4 percent as phone shares and real estate companies declined amid five days of higher Treasury yields.
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks were little changed Friday as investors assessed Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s intention to hike rates at the central bank’s March meeting.
     The S&P 500 Index ended less than 0.1 percent higher at 2,383.12 at 4 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 3 points to 21,005.71.
* Five of 11 groups ended higher with financials and health care leading gains with 0.4% advances
* Real estate, utilities and staples fell at least 0.3% as the 10-year Treasury yield climbed a fifth day to 2.478%
* Fed funds futures show a 94% chance the Fed will raise rates this month, versus 40% at the end of last week
* The earnings season is drawing to a close, with about 73% of S&P 500 members beating profit estimates and a little over half exceeding sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* ECONOMY:
** Yellen capped a week of rising expectations about an imminent interest-rate increase by explicitly supporting a hike in mid- March if U.S. economic progress persists
** Markit February PMI falls to 54.1 from 55.8 in Jan.; Year ago 50
* EARNINGS:
** Next S&P 500 companies reporting Tuesday March 7: Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS), Editas Medicine (EDTS)
* In Europe, stocks closed little changed, paring earlier losses, as banks rallied and French shares climbed after polls showed anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen lagging rival Emmanuel Macron for the first time
     For related equity market news:
* Animal Spirits Driving Stock Market Surge, Says Fundstrat’s Lee
* Harvard Academics Reveal Blueprint for Avoiding Stock Crashes
* Goldman Indicator Shows Complacency as Traders Give Up Hedging

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Truth resides in the heart of every man.
And it is there that he must seek it, in order to be guided by it so that,
at the least, it will appear to him.
But we do not have the right to force others to see the Truth in our way.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

To live is the rarest thing in the world.  Most people exist, that is all.
                                                           -Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Birthday: Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel, March 2, 1904

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not. –Dr. Seuss.

During Theodor (“Ted”) Seuss Geisel’s career as an illustrator and writer of children’s books, he filled the hearts and minds of generations of readers with joy, solace, and pure pleasure.  His characters like Horton and Nerkle and Humpf-Humpf-a-Dumpfer stick around in our heads forever; the memory of their stories read to us by parents or grandparents, or enjoyed in wonderful solitude, mark our childhood innocence and delight.  In 1937, Dr. Seuss’ first attempt at a child’s book – And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street – met rejection after rejection.  Finally, it was published and critics began to take notice..  but it was when Houghton Mifflin and Random House challenged Geisel to write a reading primer that wasn’t the usual boring, “See Dick run” kind of book, that he moved into our collective consciousness.   His answer to that challenge was the Cat in the Hat.

  Handsome, kind, and mischievous, Ted Geisel died on September 24, 1991, and left us an entire universe of whimsical creatures dedicated to our happiness.  See www.seussville.com.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A young girl pushes her scooter past the front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a Snap Inc. logo hung on the front of it shortly before the company’s IPO in New York on Thursday. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer escorts a group that claimed to be from Syria after they crossed the US-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada on Thursday. Dario Ayala/Reuters
Market Closes for March 2^nd, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	21002.97	-112.58   -0.53%
S&P 500	2382.24	-13.72   -0.57%
NASDAQ	5861.223	-42.807   -0.73%
TSX	15537.00	-62.68
		-0.40%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19564.80	+171.26
		+0.88%
HANG SENG	23728.07	-48.42
		-0.20%
SENSEX	28839.79	-144.70
		-0.50%
FTSE 100*	7382.35	-0.55
		-0.01%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.699		1.686
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.402		2.392
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4833		2.4544
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0770		3.0576

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.74679	0.75028
US $	1.33907	1.33284
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40687	0.71080
US $	1.05070	0.95174

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1238.10	1240.40
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.61	53.83

Market Commentary:
Daily Factoid
On this day in 1844, the New York Stock Exchange raises the initiation fee for new members to $400 (or more than $9,400 in modern money).
Number of the Day
$24 billion
The market value of Snap Inc., based on its $17 a share price for its initial public offering. That makes it the biggest technology IPO in the U.S. since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. made its debut in 2014.
Canada
     (Canadian Press) — Some of the most active companies traded Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
     ^Toronto Stock Exchange (15,536.65 down 63.03 points):@
     Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC). Financial Services.
Down 11 cents, or 0.45 per cent, to $24.23 on 8.6 million shares.
     B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Down 33 cents, or 7.76 per cent, to $3.92 on 8.2 million shares.
     Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K). Miner. Down 20 cents, or 4.31 per cent, to $4.44 on 8.03 million shares.
     Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN). Miner. Down 35 cents, or 7.92 per cent, to $4.07 on 6.7 million shares.
     Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD). Bank. Down 52 cents, or 0.75 per cent, to $68.98 on 5.6 million shares. The bank reported $2.53 billion of net income during its first quarter ended Jan. 31, up 13.9 per cent from a year ago. The earnings amounted to $1.32 per diluted share, up from $1.17 during the same quarter last year. Revenue was $9.12 billion, up from $8.61 billion a year ago.
     Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Oil and gas. Down four cents, or 0.07 per cent, to $55.23 on 5.5 million shares.
     ^Companies reporting major news@:
     BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB). Wireless communications. Up five cents, or 0.54 per cent, to $9.23 on 829,514 shares. The Waterloo, Ont.-based firm’s chief operating officer, Marty Beard, says the former smartphone leader’s shift to being a software company is complete, but branding itself as a software player remains challenging.
     Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ). Oil and gas. Up $2.04, or 5.30 per cent, to $40.50 on 4.9 million shares. The Calgary-based oil and gas company says its net income in last year’s fourth quarter rose to $566 million, up from $131 million a year earlier. Revenue was $3.67 billion, up from $2.96 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015.  
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined as raw-material shares slid with commodity prices and investors assessed the rally that has pushed equities to new highs.
     The S&P 500 Index dropped 0.6 percent to 2,381.91 at 4 p.m. in New York as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 43 points, about 0.5 percent, to 21,002. The gauge passed 21,000 for the first time Wednesday.
* Financial shares down 1.5% for biggest loss since Jan. 17
* Industrial companies lose 1%
* Raw-material stocks down 1.1%; Bloomberg Commodity Index falls 1.5%
* VIX down 6% for a second day of declines, back below 12
* Traders are betting on an 88% chance the Federal Reserve will raise rates this month, versus 40 percent at the end of last week, after several central-bank officials signaled their willingness to increase borrowing costs
* “If the Fed had wanted to keep its options open, a move back to around 60 percent would have been sufficient,” Michael Hewson, a market analyst at CMC Markets in London, wrote in a note. “In raising expectations to such an extent in such a short space of time, to not act now would deal a serious blow to their credibility, and also prompt quite a sharp market reaction”
* The earnings season is drawing to a close, with about 73% of S&P 500 members that have already reported beating profit estimates and a little over half exceeding sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* Monster Beverages Corp. jumped 16% after posting better-than- forecast quarterly sales, while Broadcom Ltd. climbed 2.9% after the chipmaker predicted revenue that beat analysts’ estimates
* ECONOMY:
** Initial jobless claims drop to lowest in almost 44 years
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Thursday: Autodesk (ADSK), American Outdoor Brands (AOBC),       Varex Imaging (VREX), Costco Wholesale (COST)
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell less than 0.1%

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

To go from opinion to perception,
from imagination to fact, from illusion to reality,
from something that is not there,
to something that is;
that is the way forward.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Humility is attentive patience.
       -Simone Weil, 1909-1943

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order creating the Peace Corps, enlisting men and women for voluntary, unpaid service in developing countries around the world.

1872: Yellowstone National Park established.

March: The month of March is so called from Mars, the Roman god of war, identified in certain aspects with the Greek ARES.  He was also the patron of husbandmen.  The planet of this name was so called because of its  reddish tinge.  Among the alchemists, Mars designated iron and in Camoens’ Lusiads (1572) typified divine fortitude.
The last three days of March are said to be borrowed from April, as is shown by the proverb in John Ray’s Collection of English Proverbs (1670): March borrows three days of April, and they are ill. –from Brewar’s.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Exile Tibetans climb high on poles to tie multicolored flags with Buddhist prayers printed on them on the third day of the Tibetan New Year called ‘Losar’ in Dharmsala, India, Wednesday. Tibetans believe that the prayer flags representing the five elements: earth, fire, sky, water and wind, spread prayers on wind. Ashwini Bhatia/AP

Two women are silhouetted while another two examine a light installation titled ‘Hybycozo’ by artists Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu of the United States and Canada on Wednesday in Singapore. The iLight Marina Bay exhibition features innovative and environmentally sustainable light art installations from around the world, displayed along the Singapore river. Wong Maye-E/AP
Market Closes for March 1^st, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	21115.55	+303.31   +1.46%
S&P 500	2395.96	+32.22   +1.37%
NASDAQ	5904.031	+78.594   +1.35%
TSX	15599.68	+200.43
		+1.30%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19393.54	+274.55
		+1.44%
HANG SENG	23776.49	+35.76
		+0.15%
SENSEX	28984.49	+241.17
		+0.84%
FTSE 100*	7382.90	+119.46
		+1.64%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.686		1.635
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.392		2.342
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4544		2.3899
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0576		2.9952

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75028	0.75135
US $	1.33284	1.33093
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40602	0.71131
US $	1.05492	0.94794

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1240.40	1255.60
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.83	54.01

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Joseph Ciolli
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose the most in more than three months amid growing investor confidence that global economic growth is accelerating, with industrial and financial companies leading the move higher.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 1 percent to 15,559.49 at 11:43 a.m. in Toronto. The gauge continued its recovery from a 2.6 percent skid over the four days ending Monday. The index, which closed at a record on Feb. 21, finished 2016 as the best- performing developed stock market. The S&P/TSX climbed 0.1 percent in February, its eighth straight monthly increase.
     National Bank of Canada rose the most since December after reporting first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, led by gains in wealth management and capital markets. The gain helped push financial companies in the S&P/TSX up 1.4 percent as Canadian Western Bank, Power Corp. of Canada and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. also rose at least 2.6 percent.
     In other moves:
* Encana Corp., Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. and Ensign Energy Services Inc. climbed more than 3.4 percent even as crude oil decreased less than 0.1 percent
* Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Hudbay Minerals Inc. increased at least 7.3 percent as a Bloomberg index of commodities added 0.4 percent
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced as investors embraced President Donald Trump’s cooler rhetoric in a speech to Congress that was short on details and after comments by Federal Reserve officials that signaled the central bank may increase borrowing costs as soon as this month.
     The S&P 500 Index jumped 1.4 percent to a record 2,395.96 at 4 p.m. in New York, the biggest single-day advance since the election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 303 points to 21,115 and small-cap shares in the Russell 2000 Index surged 1.9 percent. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.4 percent to a record.
     About 8.2 billion shares traded hands Wednesday, the heaviest day of volume on U.S. exchanges since Dec. 16, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
* S&P 500 up 12% since Nov. 8, most in that stretch after an election since Bill Clinton’s second victory in 1996 — market added 13% over period of same length
* Financial shares up 2.8%, for the biggest gain since Nov. 10; bank stocks in the S&P 500 surging 3.2% on gains in all 17 companies
* Industrial stocks up 1.6% as energy companies rally 2.1%; materials shares up 1.8% as commodities gained for a second day
* Lowe’s up 9.5% for biggest gain in market as Americans pour money into their homes
* The odds of the Fed raising interest rates in March rose to 80% from 40% last Friday, based on Fed fund futures, pushing up the dollar and dragging Treasuries lower
* Fed Bank of New York President William Dudley said the case for tightening has become more compelling, while Fed Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said he expects a rate increase to be seriously considered at this month’s meeting
* VIX lost 2.9% to 12.5
* With the earnings season drawing to a close, about three- quarters of S&P 500 members that have reported thus far beat profit estimates and a little over half exceeded sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* ECONOMY:
** Consumer spending rose less than projected in January as rising prices pinched Americans’ wallet
** China’s official factory gauge strengthened in February as producer prices rebounded, spurring gains in metal prices. Stoxx 600 miners rose from their lowest level in three weeks
* EARNINGS:
** Pre-market Thursday: Kroger (KR), Sears Holdings (SHLD)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 1.4% at the close, as all 19 industry groups gained

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Find the Unique and possess the Whole.
This truly is our highest, most sublime privilege.
It is in the law of this unity that is, as long as we understand it,
our immutable force.  Its living principle is the force that resides in truth –
Truth is one.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level
and then beat you with experience.
                                                        -Mark Twain, 1835-1910

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  TODAY IS MARDI GRAS

And so ends Carnival for Christians around the world.  Carnival derives from the Italian, carnevale, going back ultimately to Medieval Latin carnelevamen, “raising flesh” from Latin caro, carnis, “flesh”, and levare, “to raise.”  To “raise flesh” is to abstain from meat which is the regime that Lent strictly entails.  It is the great fast that begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, and extends to Easter.  The fast of 36 days was introduced in the 4^th century, but it did not become fixed at 40 days until the early 7^th century, thus corresponding with Christ’s fast in the wilderness. –from Brewar’s.

**On this day in 1964, just under three years after breaking the 700 mark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks through 800 for the first time, closing at 800.14.**

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, spews lava as it erupts on the southern island of Sicily, Italy, on Tuesday.Antonio Parrinello/Reuters

Costumed revelers, in protective helmets, throw oranges during Carnival in the northern Italian Piedmont town of Ivrea on Tuesday. The traditional orange-throwing battle has its roots in the middle of the 19th century. Luca Bruno/AP
Market Closes for February 28^th, 2017

MarketIndex	Close	Change
DowJones	20812.24	-25.20  -0.12%
S&P 500	2363.64	-6.11  -0.26%
NASDAQ	5825.438	-36.461  -0.62%
TSX	15399.24	-64.26
		-0.42%

International Markets

MarketIndex	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19118.99	+11.52
		+0.06%
HANGSENG	23740.73	-184.32
		-0.77%
SENSEX	28743.32	-69.56
		-0.24%
FTSE 100*	7263.44	+10.44
		+0.14%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND.10 Year Bond		1.635		1.647
CND.30 Year Bond		2.342		2.364
U.S.   10 Year Bond		2.3899		2.3650
U.S.30 Year Bond		2.9952		2.9833

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75135	0.75882
US$	1.33093	1.31783
Euro Rate1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40729	0.71058
US$	1.05737	0.94574

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London GoldFix	1255.60	1257.20
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	54.01	54.05

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Linda Nguyen
     (Canadian Press) — TORONTO — Mixed earnings results from some of Canada’s biggest companies dominated a quiet trading day Tuesday, as the Toronto Stock Exchange pulled back for a fifth straight session in a row.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell a moderate 64.27 points at 15,399.24, as health-care stocks led decliners amid a weak earnings release by drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
The Quebec-based company warned that revenues and profits will drop more than analysts had anticipated for this year.
Shares in Valeant lost 85 per cent of its value last year after it came under scrutiny for a strategy of acquiring drug companies and imposing dramatic price increases. It also faces a series of shareholder lawsuits and criminal fraud investigations by U.S. authorities.  Valeant (TSX:VRX) shares plunged 13.9 per cent, or $3.05, to $18.89 on Tuesday.
In other corporate news, two of Canada’s largest financial institutions reported better than expected results.
The Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) reported net income of $1.49 billion, up 39 per cent from a year ago. Its shares rose 2.24 per cent, or $2.21, to $100.79.
Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) had $2.01 billion of net income during the first quarter, up 10 per cent compared to the same period last year. Its shares declined 2.79 per cent, or $2.21, to $77.04. Four out of the five major Canadian banks have reported strong results so far this quarter. TD Bank (TSX:TD) is the last of the group and is scheduled to release earnings on Thursday. On Wall Street, major New York indices were barely changed ahead of a highly-anticipated speech Tuesday night in front of Congress by U.S. President Donald Trump. Colum McKinley, a vice-president of Canadian equities at CIBC Asset Management, said investors are hoping to “get another look” at what might be coming down the road from the new commander-in-chief.  “Potentially, we’ll hear more about taxation plans, the fiscal stimulus program, whether or not there will be a repatriation of capital, cash sitting offshore and whether that is used to finance bigger infrastructure spending,” he said.
     “And potentially we’ll have more information about how the U.S. budget will unfold. For Canada, one area that we’re watching for is more news on the border taxation issue and what that could mean for Canadian companies.”  McKinley said stock markets will react according to how much is touched on in the speech, and whether there will be any concrete details announced. “There is the chance that we receive no greater clarity than we have today,” he said.  If markets react to the downside, McKinley said it could be a positive buying opportunity because economic indicators show growing strength, particularly in the U.S.
     The Canadian dollar declined 0.67 of a U.S. cent to 75.30 cents US, the currency’s lowest close since Feb. 7.  Commodities were mixed as the April crude contract retracted four cents at US$54.01 per barrel and April natural gas added eight cents at US$2.77 per mmBTU. 
     April gold gave up $4.90 at US$1,253.90 an ounce and May copper was up two cents at US$2.71 a pound.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell as investors awaited details on specific policy plans from U.S. President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress.
     The S&P 500 Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,363.64 at 4 p.m. in New York as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25 points to 20,812, ending a 12-day streak that marked its longest rally since 1987.
* Consumer discretionary stocks down 0.7% for biggest loss in market
* Industrial and telecommunications shares down at least 0.4%
* Traders are seeking answers from Trump tonight on how he plans to bring the fundamental changes he has promised to U.S. health- care policy, the tax system, defense spending and immigration
* With the earnings season drawing to a close, about three- quarters of S&P 500 members that have reported so far beat profit estimates and a little over half exceeded sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* While the reflation trade is still intact, stocks look stretched in the short term, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist James Barty wrote in a note; S&P 500 closed on Monday about 6 points above its year-end average strategist consensus level of 2,364
* ECONOMY:
** The U.S. economy grew in the fourth quarter at an unrevised 1.9% pace, as slower investment by businesses and state and local agencies offset stronger household purchases
** Core PCE — which is tied to consumer spending and strips out food and energy costs — climbed at a 1.2% annualized pace, compared with a previously reported 1.3 percent
** Chicago Business Activity at 57.4 after 50.3 the prior month
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Tuesday: Envision Healthcare (EVHC), AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC), Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), LogMeIn (LOGM), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), TESARO (TSRO), ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (ACAD), salesforce.com (CRM)
** Pre-market Wednesday: Dollar Tree (DLTR), Lowe’s Cos (LOW), Best Buy (BBY)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2% at the close, trimming intraday declines on Monday as construction companies rallied on Trump’s comments about “big” spending on infrastructure

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.
I want the cultures of all the lands to blow about my house as freely as possible.
But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Just remember the world is not a playground but a schoolroom.
Life is not a holiday but an education.
                                              -Barbara Jordan, 1936-1996

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Birthday: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet

Longfellow, the second of eight children, was born in Portland, Maine, and it is the wilderness and the sea that supplies his poetry, like Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, and The Courtship of Miles Standish, with their images and meaning.  He wrote poems as a young man during his years at Bowdoin College and then turned to academic writing and translation as a professor of modern languages at Harvard.   His store of languages included French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish, and some Finnish.

In 1854, at the age of 47, a skilled lecturer known for his courtesy to his students, he left academia and pursued his literary ambitions with remarkable publishing success.

In July 1861, his wife Fanny’s dress caught fire while she was using sealing wax.  She ran to Longfellow whose efforts to beat out the flames left him critically burned; Fanny died hours later.  The scars on Longfellow’s face made shaving impossible and from then on, he was the bearded man with the mane of white.

He finished his last poem, The Bells of San Blas, on March 15, 1882.  He died nine days later on March 24, 1882.

The Bells of San Blas

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

What say the Bells of San Blas 
To the ships that southward pass 
        From the harbor of Mazatlan? 
To them it is nothing more 
Than the sound of surf on the shore,— 
        Nothing more to master or man. 

But to me, a dreamer of dreams, 
To whom what is and what seems 
        Are often one and the same,— 
The Bells of San Blas to me 
Have a strange, wild melody, 
        And are something more than a name. 

For bells are the voice of the church; 
They have tones that touch and search 
        The hearts of young and old; 
One sound to all, yet each 
Lends a meaning to their speech, 
        And the meaning is manifold. 

They are a voice of the Past, 
Of an age that is fading fast, 
        Of a power austere and grand; 
When the flag of Spain unfurled 
Its folds o’er this western world, 
        And the Priest was lord of the land. 

The chapel that once looked down 
On the little seaport town 
        Has crumbled into the dust; 
And on oaken beams below 
The bells swing to and fro, 
        And are green with mould and rust. 

“Is, then, the old faith dead,” 
They say, “and in its stead 
       Is some new faith proclaimed, 
That we are forced to remain 
Naked to sun and rain, 
        Unsheltered and ashamed? 

“Once in our tower aloof 
We rang over wall and roof 
        Our warnings and our complaints; 
And round about us there 
The white doves filled the air, 
       Like the white souls of the saints. 

“The saints! Ah, have they grown 
Forgetful of their own? 
        Are they asleep, or dead, 
That open to the sky 
Their ruined Missions lie, 
        No longer tenanted? 

“Oh, bring us back once more 
The vanished days of yore, 
        When the world with faith was filled; 
Bring back the fervid zeal, 
The hearts of fire and steel, 
        The hands that believe and build. 

“Then from our tower again 
We will send over land and main 
        Our voices of command, 
Like exiled kings who return 
To their thrones, and the people learn 
        That the Priest is lord of the land!” 

O Bells of San Blas, in vain 
Ye call back the Past again! 
        The Past is deaf to your prayer; 
Out of the shadows of night 
The world rolls into light; 
       It is daybreak everywhere.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People walk through the Dark Hedges, a tunnel-like avenue of intertwined beech trees planted in the 18th-century, in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, on Monday. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Men parade through the village of Stein, Switzerland, during the traditional Swiss carnival ‘Bloch’ on Monday. The ‘Bloch’ is an adorned tree log that symbolizes a gift to workers. It is dragged through villages in the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in eastern Switzerland. Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone/AP

A dog catches a ball on Whiterocks beach at sunset in Portrush, Northern Ireland, on Monday. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Market Closes for February 27^th, 2017

MarketIndex	Close	Change
DowJones	20837.44	+15.68  +0.08%
S&P 500	2369.75	+2.41  +0.10%
NASDAQ	5861.898	+16.592  +0.28%
TSX	15463.51	-69.95
		-0.45%

International Markets

MarketIndex	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19107.47	-176.07
		-0.91%
HANGSENG	23925.05	-40.65
		-0.17%
SENSEX	28812.88	-80.09
		-0.28%
FTSE 100*	7253.00	+9.30
		+0.13%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND.10 Year Bond		1.647		1.607
CND.30 Year Bond		2.364		2.328
U.S.   10 Year Bond		2.3650		2.3152
U.S.30 Year Bond		2.9833		2.9526

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75882	0.76299
US$	1.31783	1.31063
Euro Rate1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.39511	0.71679
US$	1.05863	0.94461

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London GoldFix	1257.20	1253.65
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	54.05	53.49

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, with the key benchmark gauge hitting a three-week low, as investors pared bets ahead of a major speech by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Bank of Canada’s decision on interest rates this week.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 0.5 percent to 15,463.51 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, extending declines for a fourth straight session after reaching a record high last week. Gold miners tumbled, leading a 3.6 percent slump among materials producers, while health-care and energy companies advanced.
     Trump is scheduled to address the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, when he’s expected to propose major defense-spending increases and big cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, State Department and other federal agencies, according to a person familiar with the plan. Stocks have rallied across the globe amid optimism that Trump’s pro-growth agenda will help strengthen the world’s largest economy.
     In Canada, the central bank is expected to keep its monetary policy unchanged Wednesday.
     In other movers:
     * Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. climbed 3.3 percent. The drug company said it hired about 250 sales people at its Salix gastrointestinal-disorder unit in the past three months, scaling up the staff by almost 40 percent.
     * Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. slipped 5.8 percent as the company said Chief Financial Officer Steeve Thibeault plans to retire in May.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced Monday to record highs as investors awaited a speech tomorrow by U.S. President Donald Trump that’s expected to provide more details on his policies.
     The S&P 500 Index added 0.1 percent to 2,369.73 at 4 p.m. in New York while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 16 points to 20,837.44. The 30-member index has climbed for 12 straight sessions, the longest streak since 1987, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
* Energy shares higher, up 0.9% with oil up 0.4%
* “Safety” stocks from staples, utility and phone shares all down at least 0.5% in reversal from last week
* The U.S. president is expected to lay out his plans for tax and health-care reform and infrastructure spending before a joint session of Congress Tuesday
** Trump will propose boosting defense spending by $54 billion in his first budget plan and offset that by an equal amount cut from the rest of the government’s discretionary budget, according to administration officials
* This week’s economic releases include gross domestic product and personal spending tomorrow
* Strategists expect the S&P 500 to end the year at 2,364, according to the average of 19 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
* With more than 90% of S&P 500 firms having reported earnings so far, about three-quarters have beat profit estimates and about half have exceeded sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nine companies are reporting results today
* VIX up 5.4% to above 12 for the first time in more than a month
* ECONOMY:
** Orders for U.S. durable goods rebounded in January, a sign companies remained upbeat at the start of the year
** Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly declined in January
** Dallas Fed manufacturing activity at 24.5 vs 22.1 in the prior month
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Monday: Tenet Healthcare (THC), Workday (WDAY), Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ), Exelixis (EXEL), Priceline Group (PCLN), Albemarle (ALB), EOG Resources (EOG), Frontier Communications (FTR)
** Pre-market Tuesday: Medicines (MDCO), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX), Platform Specialty Products (PAH), NRG Energy (NRG), AutoZone (AZO), Target (TGT)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1% at the close, paring an earlier drop of as much as 0.4%

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Never under any circumstances ask “how.”
When you  use the word “how” you really want someone to tell you what to do,
some guide, some system, someone to lead you by the hand so that you lose your freedom,
our capacity to observe, your own activities, your own thoughts, your own way of life.
Krishnamurti

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.
                                                                                        -Vernon Law, b. 1930

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
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Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

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