Category: Newsletters

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On this day in 1971, Nasdaq, the world’s first electronic stock market, begins trading.

POINTS OF PROGRESS:
FRANCE:
Workers can relax a little more fully as they begin the new year with a new right: the ability to ignore their bosses’ weekend emails.  As o January1, France has enacted a law that gives its workers a legal right to ignore digital correspondence from co-workers and bosses when out of the office.  Dubbed “the right to disconnect,” the new law mandates that companies must negotiate with their employees to agree on terms of communication, a move that officials hope will redefine the blurring line between work and leisure.

SAN DIEGO:
Smartphones could assist criminal investigations – in an unexpected way.  A new tool developed by University of California, San Diego scientists analyzes trace chemicals left behind by the user on a device’s screen, providing insights into factors such as diet, hygiene products, and locations visited.  Senior author Pieter Dorrestein envisaged a scenario in which such an object was found at a crime scene but revealed no useful fingerprint or DNA.  His team’s new method would allow investigators to build a lifestyle picture of the person in question.

INDIA:
The world’s biggest solar power plant in a single location was recently unveiled.  The facility, based in the country’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, covers an area of almost four square miles and has a capacity of 648 megawatts, compared with the previous title holder, Topaz Solar Farm in California, which boasts a capacity of 550 MW.  The Indian plant will be able to produce enough electricity to power about 150,000 homes.

UNITED STATES:
Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were the lowest since 1991 in the first half of 2016, and the US Energy Information Administration expects the year as a whole to exhibit the lowest figures since 1992, once all data are available.  The agency attributes the numbers to various factors, including the mildest weather since at least 1949, a drop in coal consumption of 18 percent compared with the same period in 2015, and an increase of 9 percent in the use of renewable energy sources.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People walk next to the art installation ‘Monument,’ made from three passenger busses, by Syrian artist Manaf Halbouni in Dresden, Germany, on Wednesday. Matthias Schumann/Reuters
Vintage and classic cars are displayed by Bonhams auction house at the Grand Palais exhibition hall during Retromobile week in Paris on Wednesday. Benoit Tessier/Reuters
A devotee sits in the woods of Changu Narayan during the Swasthani Bratakatha festival in Bhaktapur, Nepal, on Wednesday. Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
Market Closes for February 8^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20054.34	-35.95   -0.18%
S&P 500	2294.59	+1.51   +0.07%
NASDAQ	5682.453	+8.236   +0.15%
TSX	15547.89	+49.09
		+0.32%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19007.60	+96.82
		+0.51%
HANG SENG	23485.13	+153.56
		+0.66%
SENSEX	28289.92	-45.24
		-0.16%
FTSE 100*	7188.82	+2.60
		+0.04%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.622		1.693
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.293		2.358
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.3400		2.3931
U.S. 30 Year Bond		2.9509		3.0179

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76438	0.75854
US $	1.30824	1.31832
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.39935	0.71462
US $	1.06964	0.93489

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1242.10	1231.00
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.34	52.17

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, reversing earlier losses, as energy producers turned higher with oil prices. New Gold Inc. and Genworth MI Canada Inc. paced gains among raw- materials and real estate companies.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.4 percent to 15,554.04 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after sliding as much as 0.5 percent. Energy shares reversed a decline exceeding 1 percent as oil rebounded following a report showing U.S. gasoline inventories fell for first time since December. Materials and real estate shares climbed at least 0.9 percent.
     New Gold jumped 6.7 percent, the most in the benchmark index, as the company sold the El Morro gold stream to Goldcorp Inc. for $65 million in cash. The agreement strengthens New Gold’s balance sheet and the company now needs less than $100 million to fund the completion and ramp-up of Rainy River, Desjardins analyst Michael Parkin wrote in a note.
     Genworth MI rallied 6.7 percent to the highest level in three years after the residential mortgage insurance company reported earnings that beat analyst estimates.
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — Treasuries rose for a fourth day and gold reached a three-month high as demand for haven assets persisted with investors assessing political risks in Europe and the U.S. American equities erased losses after crude rebounded above $52 a barrel
     The S&P 500 Index was little changed as energy producers turned higher after an unexpected slide in U.S. gasoline supplies boosted the price of crude. Bank shares slipped as yields on 10-year Treasury notes fell to 2.33 percent. Bond auctions in Europe lifted debt in Germany and Portugal. Gold topped $1,240 an ounce. Bloomberg’s dollar index fell for the first time in three days.
     Trades sparked by Donald Trump’s election continued to falter as long-awaited details on pro-growth policies remain undelivered. Even one of the best corporate earnings season since the financial crisis hasn’t been able to jolt equities higher, as macroeconomic uncertainty has driven demand for safety. The calendar for data is light in the week.
     “There is less macro and more micro driving the market because we are in the earnings season,” Lucy MacDonald, chief investment officer for global equities at Allianz Global Investors, said on Bloomberg Television. “But we haven’t had an election for a while and we know we have plenty coming up. The negative outcomes aren’t really priced in.”
     What’s coming up in the markets:
* A U.S. court of appeals is reviewing arguments on whether to reinstate the Trump administration’s temporary ban on immigration, with the outcome likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. A decision is not due on Wednesday.
* A strike looms at BHP’s Escondida mine. Workers at the world’s largest copper operation vowed to down tools indefinitely after wage negotiations with the company failed. The walkout will halt all production at the site.
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1 percent to 2,294.65 at 4 p.m. in New York, 0.2 percent below an all-time high.
* Financial shares lost 0.8 percent as the rally in bonds threatened interest income.
* High-dividend yielding industries surged, with utilities and real-estate stocks jumping at least 0.6 percent.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 percent as banks and industrial shares slipped.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.3 percent.
* Emerging market stocks added 0.3 percent.
     Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1 percent, paring losses that reached 0.3 percent.
* The reversal came after a 10-year Treasury auction was poorly received, with traders still apprehensive about the Trump administration’s currency and trade policies.
* The euro was little changed at $1.0683 and the British pound strengthened to $1.25188.
     Commodities
* Oil erased a loss of 1 percent to climb 0.5 percent to $52.42 a barrel in New York, looking to end a two-day slide.
* Oil has fluctuated above $50 a barrel since a deal to trim output between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other nations took effect on Jan. 1.
* Copper three-month forwards jumped 1.8 percent after workers at the biggest mine in Chile vowed to strike. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecast what would be the first deficit of the metal since 2011.
* Gold climbed to the highest in almost three months as investors purchased metal through the biggest exchange-traded fund for a fifth day, the longest buying spree since June. Futures rose 0.5 percent to settle at $1,239.24 an ounce.
     Bonds
* Yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped four basis points to the lowest in three weeks, as bonds extending the longest rally since June.
* Wednesday’s $23 billion 10-year U.S. note sale drew a yield of 2.33 percent, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.29, compared with an average of 2.5 in the previous 10 auctions.
* Strong demand for government bond sales by Germany, Portugal and Finland drove gains for European debt ahead of Treasury’s 10-year note auction this afternoon.
* Portugal’s 10-year debt yield fell 13 basis points while German benchmark yields dropped five basis points to 0.30 percent.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Truth has no path, and that is the beauty of truth, it is living.
Krishnamurti

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
                                   -William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939

 

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 Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time, giving rise to Beatlemania.

Go to article »
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A woman plays with her daughter in a field of anemones near Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel on Tuesday. Amir Cohen/Reuters

Actor and model Jason Duaval Hunter poses for a photo with the art installation ‘We Were Strangers Once Too’ on Tuesday in New York’s Times Square. The 10-foot-high, red and pink heart incorporates 2015 census data. Thirty-three metal poles are inscribed to represent the national origins and shifting populations of foreign-born New York City residents. The installation will be on view until March 5. Mary Altaffer/AP
Market Closes for February 7^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20090.29	+37.87   +0.19%
S&P 500	2293.08	+0.52   +0.02%
NASDAQ	5674.219	+10.667   +0.19%
TSX	15498.80	+41.86
		+0.27%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18910.78	-65.93
		-0.35%
HANG SENG	23331.57	-16.67
		-0.07%
SENSEX	28335.16	-104.12
		-0.37%
FTSE 100*	7186.22	+14.07
		+0.20%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.693		1.703
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.358		2.377
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.3931		2.4077
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0179		3.0473

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.75854	0.7512
US $	1.31832	1.30809
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40791	0.71027
US $	1.06796	0.93636

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1231.00	1226.75
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.17	53.01

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Joseph Ciolli
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second time in three days as industrial and financial shares climbed, offsetting losses in energy companies.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to 15,486.63 at 10:23 a.m. in Toronto. The gauge sits 0.9 percent from a more than two-year high reached on Jan. 25. The index finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market and posted its seventh straight monthly increase in January.
     Parex Resources Inc. surged as much as 8.5 percent, the biggest intraday increase since Nov. 30, following a year-end 2016 reserve report. Haywood Securities analyst Darrell Bishop wrote in a note that the report was “excellent,” and said that company’s cash flow-funded growth under current oil prices is “unmatched.”
     In other moves:
* Ensign Energy Services Inc., Surge Energy Inc. and Bonavista Energy Corp. decreased more than 2.2 percent as crude oil fell 1.6 percent
* Asanko Gold Inc., Pretium Resources Inc. and Endeavour Mining Corp. lost at least 1.8 percent as a Bloomberg index of commodities slipped as much as 0.4 percent before paring loss.
     (Canadian Press) — TORONTO — The loonie fell for a third consecutive day while the price of oil continued its slide, as uncertainty around U.S. President Donald Trump kept North American stock markets relatively flat Tuesday.
     The Canadian dollar shed 0.46 of a U.S. cent to 75.95 cents US. It has lost 0.85 of a U.S. cent over the past three trading days.
     Most strategists on the currency side have been surprised with the loonie’s strength, said Scott Vali, vice president of equities and a portfolio manager at CIBC Global Asset Management.
     Last week, the Canadian dollar was trading at its highest levels in nearly five months.
     The commodity-sensitive loonie had been boosted by the price of oil, he said, rather than weakening on the strength of the greenback as some analysts have expected.
     But the recent drop in oil prices has sent the loonie falling as well, said Vali.
     The March crude contract was down 84 cents at US$52.17 per barrel, for a week’s loss of US$1.66 so far.
     It’s “a bit of a seasonal pause,” says Vali, as oil prices typically experience a weaker period from February through to March.
     During that time, demand for refined product is weaker and refiners typically shut down for annual maintenance, he said.
     But as demand picks up between April and June, Vali expects prices will as well.
     Though, he adds, that does somewhat depend on whether or not the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are abiding by the oil production quotas they’ve put in place — a development the market is watching closely.
     With lower oil prices, the energy sector on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index underperformed with stocks in the sector losing nearly one per cent of their worth on average.
     Still, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 41.86 points to 15,498.80.    
     Bay Street and Wall Street are taking a bit of a breather from their rally following the election of Trump.
     The markets are questioning whether some of his recent moves, like an executive order imposing a 90-day travel ban into America on travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, will challenge the growth they’ve been anticipating during his tenure at the White House, Vali said.
     Elsewhere in commodities, the April gold contract rose $4.00 to US$1,236.10 an ounce, March natural gas gained eight cents to US$3.13 per mmBTU, and March copper contracts fell around two cents to about US$2.63 a pound.   
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks pared an earlier advance Tuesday as crude oil extended losses and investors continued to sift through earnings reports for clues on the economy’s health.
     The S&P 500 Index added less than 0.1 percent to 2,293.08 at 4 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 38 points to 20,083 after earlier reaching an intraday record.
* Industries mixed with energy shares underperforming as consumer staples shares lead advance, up 0.8%
* Tech up 0.4% as phone and utility stocks gain; 10-year Treasury yields down 1.6%
* Energy down 1.7% after weighing on market Monday as oil slides for third session
* VIX reversed earlier gain to end 0.7% lower at 11.3
* The U.S. Commerce Department said the December trade deficit was little changed at $44 billion, compared with an estimate of $45 billion; the shortfall was marked by weaker overseas sales of U.S.-produced goods and stronger domestic demand for imported products as the dollar rallied in the second half of 2016
* Almost 30 members of the S&P 500 reported quarterly results today, including Walt Disney Co. and General Motors Co. With more than half the S&P 500 stocks having released earnings this season, about three-quarters beat profit estimates and about half beat sales estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Tuesday: Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), Mondelez International (MDLZ), Walt Disney (DIS), Plains All American Pipeline (PAA), Assurant (AIZ), New Relic (NEWR), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Genworth Financial (GNW), CSRA (CSRA), Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Microchip Technology (MCHP), Fortive (FTV), Akamai Technologies (AKAM), Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), Twilio (TWLO), Yum China Holdings (YUMC), O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY)
** Pre-market Wednesday: Allergan (AGN), Exelon (EXC), Time Warner (TWX), Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH), Arch Coal (ARCH), GrubHub (GRUB), Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC), Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT), Humana (HUM), Alaska Air Group (ALK)

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

Does distress and despair, melancholy, and madness come from God?
Does pleasure and prosperity, joy, and reason come from God?
Was the human form, in all its beauty, designed by God?
Does God give each person a distinct character and appearance?
Does God give men and women the ability to think?
Does God give human beings the urge to worship?
Does God plant the notions of truth and untruth in the human mind?
Does God decide when human beings should die?
Does God offer the hope of immortality?
Atharva Veda

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

When your passion and drive are bigger than your fears, you just drive.
                                                                     -Viola Davis, b. 1965

 

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:

My apologies for the e-mail problems we have been experiencing.  Our switch to the cloud has created complications this past two weeks, that we’ve been gradually recognizing and resolving.  Some of my communications have not been sent and some of yours have not been received.  Think we’ve got everything solved now. 🙂

On Feb. 6, 1952, Britain’s King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.
Go to article »

On this day in 1808, the Milan Stock Exchange is established.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Horsemen prepare to leave after the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery Royal 41-gun salute to mark the start of Queen Elizabeth’s Blue Sapphire Jubilee year at Green Park in central London on Monday. Hannah McKay/Reuters

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (l.) and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady pose with the MVP trophy during a news conference after Super Bowl 51 on Monday in Houston. Brady was named most valuable player. David J. Phillip/AP
Market Closes for February 6, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20052.42	-19.04   -0.13%
S&P 500	2292.56	-4.86   -0.21%
NASDAQ	5663.551	-3.215   -0.06%
TSX	15456.94	-19.45
		-0.13%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18976.71	+58.51
		+0.31%
HANG SENG	23348.24	+219.03
		+0.95%
SENSEX	28439.28	+198.76
		+0.70%
FTSE 100*	7172.15	-16.15
		-0.22%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.703		1.765
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.377		2.426
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4077		2.4685
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0473		3.0927

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7512	0.76755
US $	1.30809	1.30284
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40582	0.71133
US $	1.07468	0.93051

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1226.75	1215.20
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.01	53.83

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Linda Nguyen
     (Canadian Press) — TORONTO — A pullback in the price of crude pushed the Canadian dollar lower Monday, prompting worries the currency may continue to face downward pressure if oil prices stay range bound this year.
     The loonie, which was trading at its highest levels in nearly five months last week, started the week on the soft side, tumbling 0.35 of a U.S. cent to settle at 76.41 cents US.
     A major contributor to the weakness was falling oil prices, as the March crude contract fell 82 cents at US$53.01 per barrel — with global supply and demand continuing to be in flux as effects of a cut imposed by OPEC and non-OPEC members take hold.
     Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, says he anticipates oil prices to stay range bound this year, which will likely pull the Canadian currency lower.
     Another factor that will negatively influence the loonie will be the growing gap between interest rates in Canada and the U.S., he said, with assumptions being that growth will accelerate faster south of the border.
     But a lower Canadian dollar isn’t necessarily bad news for everyone.
     “To the extent that the loonie can stay low, stay where it is at the moment or move a bit lower, that provides a pretty powerful boost to the export output particularly when it’s combined with faster growth and higher demand out of the U.S.,” Fehr noted.
     In other commodities, March natural gas was down a penny at US$3.05 per mmBTU, the April gold contract gained $11.30 at US$1,232.10 an ounce, and March copper was up four cents at US$2.65 a pound.
     Meanwhile, stock markets on both sides of the border were quiet in the absence of any major economic releases or corporate earnings results.
     In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 19.45 points at 15,456.94, with the losses in energy partially offset by gains in gold and materials stocks.
     On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 19.04 points at 20,052.42, the S&P 500 slipped 4.86 points at 2,292.56, and the Nasdaq composite declined 3.22 points at 5,663.55.
     “In the short term, day-to-day, it’s going to be more of what we’ve seen in the last week or two — up days followed by down days as we try to make sense of very solid fundamentals combined with what is an increasing amount of (U.S.) policy uncertainty in this environment,” said Fehr.
     On Monday, nearly 100 tech companies announced they were pushing back in court against U.S. President Trump’s temporary travel ban, calling it unconstitutional, un-American and bad for the economy.
     The companies filed briefs Sunday to back lawsuits from Washington state and Minnesota fighting Trump’s travel temporary ban. The ban keeps refugees and travellers from seven Muslim- majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days since being enacted Jan. 27.
     The 97 companies are mostly in the technology industry and include social media companies Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. Non-tech companies participating include yogurt maker Chobani and jeans-seller Levi Strauss & Co.    
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell in tandem with world equity markets Monday as nine of 11 industry groups in the S&P 500 Index declined, coming off a mixed week that ended with the best day for financial stocks since November.
     The benchmark gauge for American equity fell 0.2 percent to 2,292.56 at 4 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 19 points lower at 20,052. Stocks drifted lower in Europe on Monday as investors turned cautious on the region’s assets including bonds and the euro as their focus shifted to potential political risks.
* Energy shares weighed on stocks with biggest sector decline, down 0.9% as oil drops 1.5%
* Industrial and financial shares pared or reversed earlier gains, with industrial stocks little changed and financials down 0.4%
* S&P 500 hasn’t seen a move of 1% in either direction since Jan. 7, longest stretch since September
* VIX up 3.7% to 11.4
* With 6 billion shares trading hands, smallest day of volume in more than a week
* “Fed officials will see good labor-hours growth as confirming their view that the economy is approaching full employment and that rate hikes are in order,” David Sloan, a senior economist at 4CAST-RGE, said in a note; “The fly in the ointment is that average hourly earnings growth weakened in January, a problem for the reflationary outlook”
* Investors are keeping a close eye on the rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump’s administration; some who were bullish in the immediate aftermath of his election have since warned his pledges could ignite a trade war
* Nine S&P 500 members are reporting quarterly results Monday, including 21st Century Fox Inc. With more than half of the gauge’s members having released earnings this season, about three-quarters beat profit estimates and about half beat sales estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* EARNINGS:
**       After-market Monday: Tesoro (TSO), FMC (FMC), Twenty-
First Century Fox (FOXA), Macerich (MAC)
**       Pre-market Tuesday: AMETEK (AME), Fidelity National
Information Services (FIS), Cardinal Health (CAH), Centene (CNC), Vulcan Materials (VMC), Cynosure (CYNO), TransDigm Group Inc (TDG), Church & Dwight (CHD), Sabre (SABR), Aramark (ARMK), Omnicom Group (OMC), Mallinckrodt (MNK), Emerson Electric (EMR), National Oilwell Varco (NOV), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Mosaic (MOS), S&P Global (SPGI), General Motors (GM), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)

 

Have a wonderful day!

 

Be magnificent!

 

It is not a question of belief.
Stop believing in that which is;
this is what is taught in jnana yoga.
Believe in no other,
stop believing in that which is;
this is the first stage.  Dare to be rational.
Dare to follow reason where it may take you.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

 

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.
–Beverly Sills, 1929-2007

 

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: 

February 3, 1874, Gertrude Stein was born.

Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone. –Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946

Also on this day,

1959 – Rock ‘n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
1971 – Apollo 14 astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell landed on the lunar sufrace during the third successful manned mission to the moon.

2002 – the New England Patriots win their first Super Bowl, upsetting the St. Louis Rams 20-17.

Year of the Rooster: The ancient Chinese calendar has 12 months based on the moon, six of them with 29 days and six with 30 days.  An intercalary month is added every few years, so 7 out of 19 years have 13 months. 

NUMBER OF THE DAY

55%

The jump in Amazon’s fourth-quarter profit, to $749 million, beating company guidance—though revenue, up 22% to $43.7 billion, was just at the midpoint of Amazon’s target, and below analysts’ expectations.

 PHOTOS OF THE DAY
The Eiffel Tower is lit in the colors of the Olympic flag during the launch of the international campaign for the Paris bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, France on Friday. Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Huge waves crash on the seafront in San Esteban de Pravia, in the northern region of Asturias, Spain on Friday. Eloy Alonso/Reuters

Market Closes for February 3, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20071.46	+186.55     +0.94%
S&P 500	2297.28	+16.43   +0.72%
NASDAQ	5666.766	+30.568   +0.54%
TSX	15469.05	+69.94
		+0.45%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18918.20	+3.62
		+0.02%
HANG SENG	23129.21	-55.31
		-0.24%
SENSEX	28240.52	+13.91
		+0.05%
FTSE 100*	7188.30	+47.55
		+0.67%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.765		1.766
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.426		2.411
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4685		2.4737
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0927		3.0877

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76755	0.76771
US $	1.30284	1.30258
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40461	0.71194
US $	1.07814	0.92753

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1215.20	1221.95
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.83	53.54

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Joseph Ciolli
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced as gains in financial and technology companies offset losses in raw-material and telecom stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.4 percent to 15,461.42 at 10:10 a.m. in Toronto. The gauge traded in a tight range over the prior three days, moving less than 0.15 percent in either direction on a closing basis. The index finished 2016 as the best-performing developed stock market and posted its seventh straight monthly increase in January.
Brookfield Property Partners LP rose 0.9 percent after reporting funds from operations that exceeded analyst estimates. The company also boosted its quarterly distribution to 29.5 cents from 28.
In other moves:
Precision Drilling Corp., Inter Pipeline Ltd. and Veresen Inc. rose more than 1.8 percent as crude oil gained 0.5 percent 
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Teck Resources Ltd. slipped at least 2 percent as a Bloomberg index of commodities lost 0.5 percent
(Canadian Press) — Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
^Toronto Stock Exchange (15,476.39, up 77.28 points)@:
Ensign Energy Services Inc. (TSX:ESI). Oil and gas. Up 21 cents, or 2.31 per cent, to $9.32 on 7.5 million shares.
B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Up two cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $4.05 on 5 million shares.
 Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B). Aerospace, rail equipment. Up two cents, or 0.78 per cent, to $2.59 on 4.9 million shares.
Encana Corp. (TSX:ECA). Oil and gas. Down 24 cents, or 1.45 per cent, to $16.33 on 4.5 million shares.
Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K). Miner. Down two cents, or 0.39 per cent, to $5.10 on 4.5 million shares.
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN). Miner. Unchanged at $4.00 on 3.9 million shares.
^Companies reporting major news@:
Hudson’s Bay Company (TSX:HBC). Retailer. Up 39 cents, or 3.9 per cent, to $10.39 on 2.6 million shares. The company appears to be continuing its aggressive international growth with reports it’s eyeing another American retailer, Macy’s Inc. HBC declined to comment after a report by the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said the two retail giants were in preliminary talks for a takeover. 
US
By Oliver Renick
(Bloomberg) — A one-day rally in financial stocks on Friday helped push U.S. equities into positive territory for the week after the S&P 500 Index spent most of the period fluctuating between gains and losses against the backdrop of a slew of executive orders by President Donald Trump.
The S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 2,297.42 on the week as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 percent to 20,071.46. Both gauges trailed the Russell 2000 Index as small-cap shares added 0.5 percent for the fourth gain in five weeks.
While health-care stocks had the biggest five-day gain with a 2.4 percent advance, it was a 2 percent rally in financial companies that pushed the S&P 500 into positive territory late Friday after Trump signed directives aimed at reducing regulation on banks and examining the Dodd-Frank rule.
Equities also got a lift Friday after U.S. Labor Department data showed employers added the most workers in four months, stoking enthusiasm in the economy that was tempered by hourly earnings numbers, which showed growth of 2.5 percent year-over- year, the weakest since August.
The Federal Reserve will probably “interpret the labor market condition as having moderately more slack near term,” Tim Hopper, chief economist at TIAA Investments, said in a research note Friday. “This gives them room to forestall a rate hike in March.”
Investors continue to watch corporate earnings. With more than half of S&P 500 companies having reported, profits are beating expectations by an average 3.3 percent, even as revenue figures fall in line with analyst projections. Earnings are up 5.5 percent on average, with eight of 11 industry groups posting gains. 
Shares of phone companies had the worst week in three months, dropping 1.9 percent as a group. Frontier Communications Corp. lost 3.4 percent and Verizon Communications Inc. declined 2.1 percent. Despite the fourth week of gains in oil this year, energy stocks lost 1.2 percent as declines in Range Resources Corp. and Transocean Ltd weighed on the group.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do not believe in that which comes to your imagination,

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

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

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

and which will be beneficial to you and to others;

believe that, and shape our conduct to it.

Buddha

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself.

                             -Plato, c. 428 – 348 BCE

 

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:

Imbolc: Wiccan Feast of Torches

Groundhog’s Day

Candlemas Day: formerly the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, now called the Presentation of Christ.  One of the Quarter Days in Scotland.  In Roman Catholic churches all the candles that will be needed in the church throughout the year are consecrated on this day.  They symbolize Jesus Christ, “The light of the World: and a “a light to lighten the Gentiles”.  The ancient Romans had a custom of burning candles to scare away evil spirits.

Quarter Days: The days on which certain payments are traditionally due and tenancies begin and end, so called as they fall at quarter-yearly intervals.

New Style:
Lady Day: March 25^th.

Midsummer Day: June 24^th.
Michaelmas Day: September 29^th.
Christmas Day: December 25^th.

Old Style:

Lady Day: April 6^th.
Old Midsummer Day: July 6^th.
Old Michaelmas Day: October 11^th.
Old Christmas Day: January 6^th. 

In Scotland the quarter days are Candlemas Day (February 2^nd), Whitsunday (May 15^th), Lammas Day (August 1^st) and Martinmas Day (November 11^th).

 -from Brewer’s.

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half o’ winter’s come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half o’ winter was gone at Youl.

   Scottish proverb

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
A masked dancer takes part in a celebration honoring the Virgin of Candelaria in Diriomo, Nicaragua, on Wednesday. Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters

Groundhog Club handler John Griffiths holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 131st celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., on Thursday. Phil’s handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter weather.Gene J. Puskar/AP

Waves hit the seawall during heavy seas and high winds in Dawlish, southwest England, on Thursday. Toby Melville/Reuters

Market Closes for February 2^nd, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	19884.91	-6.03     -0.03%
S&P 500	2280.85	+1.30   +0.06%
NASDAQ	5636.199	-6.451   -0.11%
TSX	15399.11	-3.29
		-0.2%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18914.58	-233.50
		-1.22%
HANG SENG	23184.52	-133.87
		-0.57%
SENSEX	28226.61	+84.97
		+0.30%
FTSE 100*	7140.75	+33.10
		+0.47%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.766		1.761
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.411		2.405
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4737		2.4699
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0877		3.0753

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76771	0.76653
US$	1.30258	1.30459
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40198	0.71328
US $	1.07631	0.92910

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1221.95	1203.65
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.54	53.88

Market Commentary:

NUMBER OF THE DAY

51%

The jump in Facebook’s revenue in the fourth quarter, as the social-media giant squeezed nearly 30% more revenue per user, pumping its advertising muscle ahead of an anticipated slowdown in growth later this year. CANADA Most actively traded companies on the TSX 2017-02-02 21:42:07.630 GMT      (Canadian Press) — Some of the most active companies traded Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: ^Toronto Stock Exchange (15,399.11, down 3.28 points)@: B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Down 11 cents, or 2.66 per cent, to $4.03 on 12.5 million shares. Spartan Energy Corp. (TSX:SPE).  Oil and gas. Down six cents, or 2.03 per cent, to $2.89 on 10.5 million shares.  OceanaGold Corp. (TSX:OGC). Miner. Down 30 cents, or 6.45 per cent, to $4.35 on 7.9 million shares.  Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K). Miner. Up seven cents, or 1.39 per cent, to $5.12 on 4.4 million shares.  Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX). Miner. Up 57 cents, or 2.36 per cent, to $24.68 on 4.2 million shares.  Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO). Miner. Down 71 cents, or 4.83 per cent, to $13.99 on 4.1 million shares. ^Companies reporting major news@: BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE). Media and telecommunications. Down 95 cents, or 1.63 per cent, to $57.44 on 2.4 million shares. The company reported a profit of $657 million in the fourth quarter or 75 cents per share. That was up about 30 per cent from $496 million or 58 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2015. It beat analyst expectations as it added 315,311 net postpaid wireless subscribers in its last fiscal year, ending Dec. 31, 2016, up 19 per cent compared to 265,369 in 2015. Saputo Inc. (TSX:SAP). Consumer packaged goods. Down 83 cents, or 1.75 per cent, to $46.49 on 463,779 shares. The founder of the Montreal-based cheese and dairy processor, Lino Saputo, is retiring in August and handing his position as chairman to his son, Lino Saputo Jr., who remains chief executive. It also reported third quarter results. Net income increased 12.7 per cent to $197.4 million or 49 cents per diluted share. Revenues for the period ended Dec. 31 grew 2.2 per cent to $2.97 billion from $2.90 billion.  US By Jeremy Herron (Bloomberg) — Stocks, bonds and the dollar ended little changed as investors turned attention to Friday’s jobs report following a week of central-bank decisions and unconventional moves by the Trump administration that did little to alter views on the state of the world economy. The S&P 500 Index zigzagged to a gain of less than two points for a second straight day amid corporate results and deal news. The dollar was little changed after slumping to its lowest level since November. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held below 2.50 percent for a fifth session after briefly rising above that level Wednesday. The pound fell after the Bank of England said there’s more slack in the economy than previously thought. Oil slipped after approaching a one-month high. With central banks from Japan to England and the U.S. signaling they’re in no rush to change policy direction as the world assesses the impact of American’s new leadership on global growth, investors continue to look for clues on economic strength. While signs point to increasing confidence that growth will accelerate, data have painted a murkier picture, increasing the significance of Friday’s jobs report as the White House leaves investors waiting for details on tax and spending initiatives. What’s coming up in the markets: Economists expect a 175,000 increase in U.S. nonfarm payrolls for January, in line with the recent trend, when the Labor Department releases jobs data on Friday. With both hiring and unemployment likely to remain relatively stable, the focus on the jobs report will center on wage pressures. Here are the main market moves on Thursday: The S&P 500 Index rose 1.3 points to 2,280.85 at 4 p.m. in New York. The index has gained or retreated by less than 0.1 percent for five of the past six days, and is down 0.6 percent on the week. Facebook fell 1.8 percent after reporting results.  Mead Johnson surged 21 percent after Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc emerged as a surprise suitor for perennial bid candidate. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.3 percent as investors assessed disappointing corporate outlooks with health-care shares falling the most. Deutsche Bank tumbled 5.2 percent after its quarterly trading revenue missed analysts’ estimates. Earnings are coming thick and fast, with mixed results clouding the picture on the state of the global economy. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lost 0.2 percent, paring a slide by half after its decline this year reached 3 percent.  The euro strengthened 0.1 percent to $1.0764, while the yen traded at 112.74 per dollar. The pound weakened 1 percent. Sterling initially jumped as policy makers signaled increased concern about inflation, before dropping as the forecasts for price growth weren’t as aggressive as some analysts expected. Oil slipped after reaching a one-month high amid signs OPEC will have to make further cuts to fully comply with a production deal. West Texas Intermediate slipped 0.2 percent to $53.70 a barrel after earlier topping $54. The oil industry’s struggle through the worst slump in a generation showed signs of easing, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc managing to reduce its record debt for the first time since the downturn began. Gold futures for April delivery advanced 0.9 percent to $1,219.40 an ounce in New York, after touching $1,227.50, the highest for a most-active contract since Nov. 17. Sugar’s rally and higher grain costs helped boost global food prices to the highest in two years last month. Treasuries were little changed, with the 10-year yield at 2.47 percent. Apple Inc. is making its first trip to the bond market in six months, becoming the second cash-rich technology company to sell debt this week despite prospects of a U.S. repatriation-tax holiday. Gilts advanced, pushing the yield on the 10-year security down seven basis points to 1.38 percent, after BOE President Mark Carney warned that surprises could still be ahead as the U.K. starts the Brexit process.  Spanish and French bonds advanced after auctions were met with ample demand. German bunds gained, with the yield on the benchmark note due in a decade dropping four basis points to 0.43 percent.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

Adaptability is not imitation.

It means power of resistance and assimilation.

Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow

belongs to those who prepare for it.

                                         -Malcolm X, 1925-1965

 

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

Unsubscribe me from this list 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 1, 1793: William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister, in the House of Commons; France declared war this day, Louis XVI having been executed on January 31^st:

They [the French] have stated that they would organize every country by a disorganizing principle; and afterwards they tell you all this is done by the will of the people.  And then comes this plain question, what is the will of the people?  It is the power of the French….This has given a more fatal blow to the liberties of mankind than any they have suffered, even from the boldest attempts of the most aspiring monarchs.

FEBRUARY:  The month of purification among the ancient Romans (Latin februum, purgation).  The Dutch used to call the month Spokkelmaand, meaning vegetation month and the Anglo Saxons knew it as solomonath, meaning mud month.  In the French Revolutionary  calendar is equivalent, from 21 January to 19 February, was Pluviose, rain month. –from Brewar’s.

The days lengthen.   The sun is still more red than gold.  Yet the sky brightens when the clouds part and the rain – or snow – passes.  The month opens with the Celtic festival of Imbolc, marking the lactation of the ewes, the flow of milk announcing the return of life: the joy of becoming.  But spring is still far away.  Patience and faith are called for.  Perhaps this is why the month takes its name from Februa, the Roman festival of Purification.  To purify is to separate the gold from the dross, the good from the bad.  It requires memory and the practice of discernment.  Discernment is often symbolized by a sword, but there is something feminine about February.  It is a gentle month, filled with feasts celebrating female figures like St. Brigit, the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin Goddess Artemis.  They ask us to practice keeping silent, pondering all things in our hearts.  Great strength, you may be sure, will come from such discretion. –CD.

FEBRUARY BIRTHSTONE: Amethyst
FEBRUARY FLOWER: Violet
Jan 20-Feb 18: Aquarius
Feb 19-Mar 20: Pisces
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fr. Denis Crosby blesses a live lamb during a Pattern Day mass to St. Brigid at the holy well of St. Brigid in Liscannor, Ireland on Wednesday. Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

A woman prays for good fortune on the fifth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year at Baiyun Temple in Beijing, China on Wednesday. Jason Lee/Reuters
Market Closes for February 1^st, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	19890.94	+26.85   +0.14%
S&P 500	2279.55	+0.68   +0.03%
NASDAQ	5642.652	+27.866   +0.50%
TSX	15402.39	+16.43
		+0.11%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19148.08	+106.74
		+0.56%
HANG SENG	23318.39	-42.39
		-0.18%
SENSEX	28141.64	+485.68
		+1.76%
FTSE 100*	7107.65	+8.50
		+0.12%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.761		1.761
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.405		2.409
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4699		2.4624
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0753		3.0654

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76653	0.76655
US $	1.30459	1.30455
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40451	0.71199
US $	1.07659	0.92886

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1203.65	1212.80
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.88	52.81

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks reverse losses after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged while acknowledging rising confidence among U.S. consumers and businesses following Donald Trump’s election victory.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.1 percent to 15,402.39 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, after falling as much as 0.4 percent. Materials and consumer discretionary shares led Wednesday’s gain, countering losses from utility and health-care shares. The benchmark index had fallen four straight days after reaching a record high on Jan. 25.
     Cameco Corp. plunged 11 percent after the uranium miner said it’s rejecting Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s termination notice of a multi-year supply contract.
     While Fed hailed Trump’s effects on U.S. economy, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said uncertainty becomes more prominent under the new U.S. president. In remarks to the University of Alberta School of Business, Poloz outlined how uncertainty means policy making is far from an exact science and judgment matters. Geopolitical risks, for example, could increase the central bank’s tolerance of small shocks, he said.
     In other movers:
     * First Global Data Ltd. (FGD CN) climbed 7 percent after saying it’s close to reaching an agreement with Aamra Group for its mobile payment services to be deployed in Bangladesh.
     * Concordia International Corp. (CXR CN) jumped 12 percent. The pharmaceutical company said it paid out the final installment related to its October acquisition of Amdipharm Mercury.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fluctuated Wednesday before ending flat after the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates and a report showed companies last month added the most workers to payrolls since June.
     The S&P 500 Index added less than 0.1 percent to 2,279.55 at 12:50 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 27 points to 19,890.94 and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.5 percent.
     Utility shares and energy stocks weighed on the market after the S&P 500 on Tuesday capped its longest streak without gains since the week before the U.S. presidential election, trimming a third monthly advance.
* Utility stocks down 1.7% after the Dow utilities closed above its 200-day average on Tuesday; S&P utilities posted worst day since Nov. 30 with 27 of 28 members in index lower;
** 10-year Treasury yield up 2.1 basis points to 2.474%
** Dominion Resources worst performer after warning of “challenging year” pushed shares down 5.8%; American Water Works, Aqua America, Shenandoah Telecommunications, Telephone and Data Systems and Iridium Communications Inc. all decline
* REITs down 1.2% for fifth loss in six sessions
* Tech and health-care shares lead market, up at least 0.6%
* Energy shares decline 0.8% even as oil adds 1.3%
* VIX down from a two-week high, falling 2% after jumping 12% on Monday
* Volume: about 7.6 billion shares traded hands, above the year- to-date average of 6.7 billion
* Apple up 6.1% after reporting better-than-forecast quarterly earnings, while Facebook Inc. added 2.2% ahead of its results due Wednesday before adding to gains in after-market trading
* Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged while acknowledging rising confidence among consumers and businesses following Donald Trump’s election victory
* More than a third of S&P 500 members have released quarterly results so far this season, of which about three-quarters beat profit estimates and half topped sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Wednesday: Lincoln National (LNC), MetLife (MET), AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Qorvo (QRVO), Ameriprise Financial (AMP), Hologic (HOLX), Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA), Lannett Co (LCI), Tractor Supply (TSCO), Symantec (SYMC), Facebook (FB), Torchmark (TMK), Allstate (ALL), Edwards Lifesciences (EW), Unum Group (UNM)
** Pre-market Thursday: Xcel Energy (XEL), Ball (BLL), Ryder System (R),Gartner (IT), Eaton (ETN)Snap-on (SNA), Becton Dickinson (BDX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Cigna (CI), Boston Scientific (BSX), Harris (HRS), Merck (MRK), Estee Lauder (EL), Xylem (XYL), Marsh & McLennan (MMC), IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX), Sirius XM (SIRI), CME Group (CME), Philip Morris International (PM), CMS Energy (CMS), Parker-Hannifin (PH), Ralph Lauren (RL)

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

To expect something is to look for something pleasant.
Searching for the pleasurable is  a form of denial.
You cannot expect anything, because the expectation is within you,
and what you are waiting for is dependent on external forces.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,
 

Carolann

 

Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.
                                 -Zeno of Citium, 334-262 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:

The Poem
The Pigeon
        -by DM Black

                      …This interminable wet winter,
we found a dead pigeon lying on its back
(no obvious cause of death) beside a rose-bed.
Two or three days later, overcoming some reluctance,
I prepared it for burial: two spits deep in the mounded
earth behind our Buddha who in spring
is surrounded by daffodils.  I arranged the pigeon
deep in the shining clay and spaded down the overspill
over that subtle plumage; then set on top
an old heavy drain-cover to keep off the foxes,
and was turning to clean the spade when I noticed
another pigeon obsequious in the shrubbery,
hunched like a small football, and watching me.
I started toward her, as, at a funeral,
one might toward a fellow-mourner, not known but,
for an instant, kin in loss.  She didn’t scare , or move, and I,
aware of our difference of species, stopped halfway –
and we both stayed still then, silenced, and somehow respecting
a truth we neither of us could get on top of.

From The Arrow Maker, Arc Publications.

On this day in 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Florence Lutje Spelberg and Nicolas Mouchart have dinner while sitting inside ‘The Pearl,’ a spheric dining room five meters underwater at the NEMO33 diving center in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday. The center has one of the world’s deepest pools at 33 meters (36 yards), built to train professional divers. Yves Herman/Reuters

People perform a fire dragon dance under a shower of sparks from molten iron during the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on Monday night. Reuters
Market Closes for January 31^st, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	19864.09	-107.04   -0.54%
S&P 500	2278.87	-2.03   -0.09%
NASDAQ	5614.785	+1.074   +0.02%
TSX	15385.96	-19.16
		-0.12%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19041.34	-327.51
		-1.69%
HANG SENG	23360.78	-13.39
		-0.06%
SENSEX	27655.96	-193.60
		-0.70%
FTSE 100*	7099.15	-19.33
		-0.27%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.761		1.785
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.409		2.435
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4624		2.4881
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0654		3.0785

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76655	0.76223
US $	1.30455	1.31193
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40905	0.70970
US $	1.08011	0.92583

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1212.80	1192.80
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.81	52.63

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
$630 million
The amount Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay to end probes by U.K. and New York regulators into Russian equity trades that transferred $10 billion out of that country in violation of anti-money-laundering laws.
Canada
By Lu Wang
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks retreated for a fourth day, as investors studied better-than-expected November data on gross domestic product before a speech from Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which hit a record high last week, fell 19.16 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,385.96 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. Industrial and technology shares led the decline, offsetting gains among utility and health-care stocks.
     Canada’s economic momentum gathered steam in November, with GDP growing 0.4 percent. That’s slightly higher than economist expectations of 0.3 percent, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa.
     The stronger performance may come as a relief to policy makers who struggled to cope with a near-stagnant economy, as the nation dealt with the impact of an oil price shock and a faltering export sector.
     Poloz is due to give a speech after the market close at the University of Alberta School of Business in Edmonton. The lecture, entitled “Models and the art and science of making monetary policy,” will be followed by a press conference.
     In other movers:
     * Detour Gold Corp. (DGC CN) jumped 12 percent after saying it will keep West Detour out of its 2017 plans as it’s not sure it can obtain permits in time. The removal should ease some concerns of an imminent capital raise, BMO analyst Brian Quast wrote in a note.
     * New Gold Inc. (NGD CN) slumped 11 percent. Cormark and GMP became the latest brokerages to downgrade the stock after the company said earlier this week that it has a $100 million liquidity shortfall due to increased capital spending.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks were mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower as companies in the Nasdaq Composite Index ended little changed.
     The S&P 500 Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 2,278.87 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow lost 107 points to 19,864. Stocks fell on Monday as Trump’s executive order halting some immigration stoked concern that potentially isolationist policies may overshadow a pro-growth agenda. Four days straight without gains in the S&P 500 marks the longest dry spell since Nov. 4.
* Industrial stocks led market lower with a 0.9% decline, followed by financials, tech, materials — some of the biggest winners after the election
* Utilities, real estate and health care at front of pack with gains of at least 0.7%
* The S&P 500 has lost 0.8% over the past four days; up 1.8% in January for a third consecutive monthly advance
* VIX up 0.9% after adding 12% Monday — down 15% in the month
* Exxon Mobil Corp., Pfizer Inc. and Apple are among more than 30 companies reporting on Tuesday
* About a third of S&P 500 members have released quarterly figures so far this season, of which about three-quarters beat profit estimates and half topped sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* EARNINGS
** After-market Tuesday: Boston Properties (BXP), Electronic Arts Inc (EA), Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS), United States Steel (X), Illumina (ILMN), CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), Aflac (AFL), Arconic (ARNC), Oclaro (OCLR), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Equity Residential (EQR), Apple (AAPL)
** Pre-market Wednesday: Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Anthem (ANTM), Dominion Resources (D), Ingersoll-Rand (IR), Avery Dennison (AVY), Johnson Controls International (JCI), International Paper (IP), Pitney Bowes (PBI), Altria Group (MO), WEC Energy Group (WEC)

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

We must refuse to be lifted off our feet.
A drowning man cannot save others.
Mahatma Gandhi

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Education costs money, but then so does ignorance.
                                     -Claus Moser, 1922-2015

 

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:
Chinese markets will remain closed for most of the week as Lunar New Year celebrations kick off for much of Asia. The PBOC pumped 1.13T yuan (roughly $165B) into domestic money markets last week via its routine operations as consumers prepared for shopping sprees and to hand out red packets filled with fresh notes to friends and relatives. Markets will reopen on Friday.

On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Performers participate in a temple fair at Daguanyuan Park as the Chinese Lunar New Year, which welcomes the Year of the Rooster, is celebrated in Beijing on Monday. Jason Lee/Reuters
Russian servicemen with the Northern Fleet’s Arctic mechanised infantry brigade participate in a military drill on sleds pulled by reindeer near the settlement of Lovozero outside Murmansk, Russia. Lev Fedoseyev/Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation/Reuters
Market Closes for January 30^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	19971.13	-122.65   -0.61%
S&P 500	2280.90	-13.79   -0.60%
NASDAQ	5613.711	-47.071   -0.83%
TSX	15405.12	-170.69
		-1.10%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19368.85	-98.55
		-0.51%
HANG SENG	23360.78	-13.39
		-0.06%
SENSEX	27849.56	-32.90
		-0.12%
FTSE 100*	7118.48	-66.01
		-0.92%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.785		1.780
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.435		2.429
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4881		2.4825
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0785		3.0596

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76223	0.76063
US $	1.31193	1.31470
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40327	0.71262
US $	1.06962	0.93491

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1192.80	1184.85
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.63	53.17

Market Commentary:
82%
The percent earnings are forecast to fall  at S&P 500 energy companies last year, the largest decline of any sector in the index since 2008.
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most this year as energy shares led declines in every sector and commodity prices dropped. At the same time, a shooting at a Mosque in Quebec left at least six dead as police arrested two suspects.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 1.2 percent to 15,397.37 by 10:43 a.m. in Toronto, after adding after eking out the fourth straight weekly gain in mixed trading last week. The benchmark is down 1.6 percent after setting an all-time high on Jan. 25.
* All 11 groups in benchmark gauge lower
* Energy shares down 2% as oil drops 1.1% in second session of declines
* Tech stocks down 1.8% as every company in 12-member index falls; Celestica down 3.2% and DH Corp down 3%
* Raw-materials stocks down the least, declining 0.3% as a Bloomberg Commodity Index drops 0.9% for fourth straight session of losses
* New Gold down 13% for biggest loss in market after cut to underperform at Scotiabank
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell with global equities, as energy shares declined with the price of crude oil and global criticism mounted against U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order halting some immigration to the country.
     The S&P 500 Index lost 0.6 percent to 2,280.90 at 4 p.m. in New York, trimming a third monthly advance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 123 points to 19,971.13 while the CBOE Volatility Index jumped the most since November.
* VIX up 12% after four days of declines took the gauge to 10.6, the lowest in more than two years
* Energy shares down 1.8% as crude oil drops 0.9% for second session of losses
* Tech and financial shares down at least 0.8% as S&P banks index drops 1.1% with all 17 members declining
* Trump’s executive order halting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations sparked a backlash from world governments to companies, with major international firms saying it threatened to choke the free flow of workers and commerce
* Michael Block, chief global strategist at Rhino Trading Partners, writes: “markets give a somewhat more interested than usual thumbs down to the Trump Administration”
* Investors will also focus on corporate earnings this week, with Apple Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Pfizer Inc. among more than a 100 firms in the S&P 500 scheduled to report results
* About a third of the benchmark’s members have released quarterly figures so far this season, of which three-quarters beat profit estimates and about half topped sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Monday: Leggett & Platt (LEG), UDR (UDR), General Growth Properties (GGP), Principal Financial Group (PFG)
** Pre-market Tuesday: Valero Energy (VLO), Simon Property Group (SPG), Danaher (DHR), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Aetna (AET), HCA Holdings (HCA), Nucor (NUE), Eli Lilly (LLY), AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC), Pfizer (PFE), Coach (COH), Harley- Davidson (HOG), Xerox (XRX), Nasdaq (NDAQ), LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), Under Armour (UAA), Ally Financial (ALLY), Sprint (S), Zimmer Biomet Holdings (ZBH), United Parcel Service (UPS), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Mastercard (MA), PACCAR (PCAR)

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

 

There is no master, there is no instructor,
there is no person to tell you what you must do.
Krishnamurti

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.
                                                                         -Joseph Joubert, 1754-1824

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: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, January 27^th, 1756.

KINDNESS
    by Naomi Shihab Nye
…Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore.
…only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say,
“It is I you have been looking for,”
and then goes with you everywhere 
like a shadow or a friend.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man visits Auschwitz-Birkenau at sunrise on the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of the German death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on Friday. Czarek Sokolowski/AP

Malabon Zoo owner Manny Tangco holds a full-grown, but very small, rooster named ‘Small But Terrible,’ from Malaysia, to compare it with the giant red rooster from France named ‘Mr. Universe’ at the ‘Roosters of the World’ exhibition in Milan celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. The exhibition features roosters from many countries, including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Poland. Bullit Marquez/AP

A newborn baby wears a chicken costume to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rooster at the nursery in Paolo Chockchai 4 Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday. Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters
Market Closes for January 27^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20093.78	-7.13   -0.04%
S&P 500	2294.69	-1.99   -0.09%
NASDAQ	5660.781	+5.605   +0.10%
TSX	15575.81	-39.71
		-0.25%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19467.40	+65.01
		+0.34%
HANG SENG	23360.78	-13.39
		-0.06%
SENSEX	27882.46	+174.32
		+0.63%
FTSE 100*	7184.49	+23.00
		+0.32%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.780		1.820
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.429		2.459
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.4825		2.5043
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0596		3.0851

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76063	0.76358
US $	1.31470	1.30963
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40646	0.71101
US $	1.06980	0.93476

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1184.85	1189.70
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	53.17	53.78

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
     (Bloomberg) — Canada S&P/TSX Composite falls 0.4% to 15,558.05 at 1:35pm. Energy, health care, utilities fall while tech rises.
Advancers:
    * Avesoro Resources (ASO CN) +17%; Appointed Hannam & Partners as joint broker
    * Tembec (TMB CN) +12%; Raised to buy at TD; among top ten HY movers; reported 1Q results on Jan. 26
    * Celestica (CLS CN) +12%; 4Q adj. EPS beats highest est.; upgraded at Macquarie
    * RMP Energy (RMP CN) +8.1%; two block trades with shares above 100k
    * Golden Standard (GSV CN) +7.9%; Jan. 23, finds northern extension of north bullion high grade deposit
    * DH Corp (DH CN) +4.6%; Said getting interest from CPPIB, PE firms, according to Reuters
Decliners:
    * Orbite Technologies (ORT CN) -16%; C$10m bought deal via Echelon Wealth
    * Moneta Porcupine Mines (ME CN) -6.5%; 2-day drop
    * NioCorp Developments (NB CN) -5.5%; C$2m non-brokered placement
    * Baytex (BTE CN) -3.7%; Spot WTI crude drops 1.7%
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined Friday as benchmark indexes slipped from records reached earlier in the week and data showed economic growth slowed more than forecast last quarter.
     The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent to 2,294.69 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark index ended little changed on Thursday, after touching an intraday record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell less than 0.1 percent to 20,093.78 on Friday, after crossing the 20,000 mark for the first time earlier in the week.
     Nearly one-third of S&P 500 companies have reported results so far in the earnings season, with 68 percent beating estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The current season is “off to a good start” and will confirm that the yearlong earnings recession ended in the third quarter of 2016, JPMorgan equity strategists Emmanuel Cau and Mislav Matejka said in a note.
    * Energy shares lagged, down 0.9% as oil fell for second time this week: down 1.2%
    * Health-care shares led market, rising 0.8%; tech, phone stocks also up at least 0.3%
    * VIX down 0.5% for fourth straight decline
    * U.S. equity funds saw $6.3 billion in investment outflows in the week to Jan. 25 that followed Trump’s inauguration, the largest weekly outflows in four months, according to a Bank of America-Merrill Lynch strategy note, citing EPFR Global data
    * European stocks edged lower on Friday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index falling 0.5%, as UBS Group AG paced banks’ first decline in four days
    * S&P 500 EARNINGS:
    ** After-market Friday: none
    ** Pre-market Monday: Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), Affiliated Managers Group (AMG)

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The very essence of the Hindu Philosophy
is that man is a spirit, and has a body,
and not that man is a body and
may have a spirit also.
Swami Vivekananda

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Peace is our gift to each other.
     -Elie Wiesel, 1928-2016

 

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:
Poet Robert Burns AKA Rabbie Burns & The Bard of Ayrshire, was born today in 1759.

The writer Virginia Woolf was also born on this day in 1882.
Virginia Woolf once said that “fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.”  One of the 20^th century’s great literary innovators, she  and her sister Vanessa formed the core of the intellectual Bloomsbury group.

In 1917, Woolf and her husband Leonard Woolf, bought an old hand press and set two stories on it, one by each of them, which sold out almost immediately.  Hogarth Press, as they called it, continued to publish, preferring young and unknown writers including Katherine Mansfield and T.S. Eliot.

Woolf’s hold on life was not attached at all four corners.  Sexually abused by her stepbrothers, she had her first nervous breakdown at age 13.  She ended her life on March 28, 1941, at age 59, when she filled her pockets with stones and walked into the River Ouse. –Kerry Miller.

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. –Virginia Woolf.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man fishes through an ice hole in the Finnish Gulf in St. Petersburg, Russia on Wednesday, with the new soccer stadium on Krestovsky Island, which will host some of the Confederations Cup 2017 and World Cup 2018 soccer matches in the background. Dmitri Lovetsky/AP

A black Mudi, an ancient Hungarian species of shepherd dogs, helps to drive a herd of 120 buffalo from their summer pasture to their winter habitat on the premises of the Kiskunsag National Park, near Fulopszallas, south of Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday. Sandor Ujvari/MTI/AP
Market Closes for January 25^th, 2017

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	20068.58	+115.80   +0.78%
S&P 500	2298.37	+18.30   +0.80%
NASDAQ	5656.340	+55.382   +0.99%
TSX	15643.84	+33.15
		+0.21%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19057.50	+269.51
		+1.43%
HANG SENG	23049.12	+99.26
		+0.43%
SENSEX	27708.14	+332.56
		+1.21%
FTSE 100*	7164.43	+14.09
		+0.20%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous  % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		1.825		1.761
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.457		2.394
U.S.    10 Year Bond		2.5135		2.4652
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.0975		3.0497

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.76535	0.75994
US $	1.30660	1.31589
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.40435	0.71207
US $	1.07481	0.93039

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1195.00	1216.80
Oil	Close	Previous
WTI Crude Future	52.25	52.53

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose as U.S. equities marched to a record high. Tech companies advanced and energy shares climbed for a second day after U.S. President Donald Trump revived discussion over TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added as much as 0.4 percent to 15,667.94 in Toronto, after jumping 0.8 percent Tuesday. Health- care stocks led the charge with a 1.4 percent rally on the back of a 2.3 percent climb in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International.
* Financial shares also rallied, adding 0.7% as all but four companies in the 27-member index advanced
* Energy shares gained 0.4% even as the price crude oil slid 0.6% for the first decline in five sessions
* Trump has put Canada and Mexico on notice that he’s determined to wring more favorable terms for the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement; his plan to re-negotiate Nafta was received in Mexico with a call to protect tariff-free trading, while in Canada, officials seemed more concerned about avoiding unintentional damage to the economy as the U.S. targets Mexico
* Raw-material stocks and phone shares lagged, down at least 0.8 percent
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose Wednesday, carrying forward a global equity rally that’s propelled by expectations of stronger economic growth and government spending by President Donald Trump’s administration.
     The S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent to 2,298.37 at 4 p.m. in New York after adding 0.7 percent on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has hovered below the 20,000 mark since mid-December without crossing it, broke through the threshold with a 0.8 percent advance to 20,068.51.
* Financial shares lead market, up 1.7% with gains of 3.5% in Wells Fargo and a 2.6% rally in Morgan Stanley
* Tech stocks rose 1.1%, advancing for the fourth straight session as Seagate Technology surged 14% and chip-makers advanced
* In the Dow, Boeing and Caterpillar led an advance that lifted all but seven stocks
* VIX down 2.4% to 10.8, the lowest since July 2014
* The world’s largest economy will expand 2.3% this year, accelerating from 1.6% growth last year, according to economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg
* The surge in shares of raw-material producers Tuesday came as traders unwound hedges in the SPDR Materials Select Sector ETF, which tracks raw-material producers in the S&P 500
** Short interest on the fund sits at 4.7% of shares outstanding, just 2.2 percentage points from its level on Dec. 23, which marked the lowest since August 2014; the measure has seen an average of 9% since the start of the bull market
* March will be a key month for U.S. stocks as it will signal maximum optimism in the market in terms of potential earnings revisions, David Kostin, a strategist at Goldman Sachs, told Bloomberg TV
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Wednesday: Crown Castle International (CCI), Murphy Oil (MUR), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Varian Medical Systems (VAR), United Rentals (URI), SL Green Realty (SLG), Qualcomm (QCOM), AT&T (T), McKesson (MCK), Xilinx (XLNX), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), ServiceNow (NOW), F5 Networks (FFIV), Lam Research (LRCX), Citrix (CTXS), Western Digital (WDC), eBay (EBAY)
** Pre-market Thursday: Helmerich & Payne (HP) Northrop Grumman (NOC), PulteGroup (PHM), Praxair (PX), Blackstone Group (BX), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), Alliance Data Systems (ADS), L3 Technologies (LLL), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), Whirlpool (WHR), Caterpillar (CAT), Baker Hughes (BHI), American Electric Power (AEP), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Dow Chemical (DOW), Invesco (IVZ), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Ford Motor (F), Comcast (CMCSA), Lear (LEA), Dover (DOV), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Biogen (BIIB), Raytheon (RTN), T Rowe Price (TROW), Celgene (CELG), Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN US)

 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

 

Be magnificent!

The Upanishad tells us: Know the soul that is your own.
In other words: Realize the grand unique principle of the whole that is in all men.
Rabindranath Tagore

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

Dare to be honest and fear no labor.
             -Robert Burns, 1759-1796

 

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