December 21, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

What is life?  It is a flash of a firefly in the night.  It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. 
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
                                                                                               -Crowfoot (last words).

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone… -Christina Rosetti
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Mountain summits viewed from Rosshutte mountain in the western Austrian ski resort of Seefeld on Tuesday. Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

People skate on the ice rink at Hampton Court Palace in London on Tuesday. Eddie Keogh/Reuters
Market Closes for December 20^th, 2016

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Eric Lam
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks extended their rally into a fourth day, led by gains among banks and raw-materials producers after copper advanced for the first time in four sessions.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 15,292.96 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, closing near the highest level since April 2015. The gauge has risen almost 18 percent in 2016, the top performer among developed markets tracked by Bloomberg, ahead of No. 2 market Norway’s 14 percent advance.
     BlackBerry Ltd. lost 3.1 percent, erasing an earlier gain. The technology company boosted its 2017 earnings outlook and reported an adjusted profit for the third quarter, while total revenue declined and missed estimates. BlackBerry said it now expects to post a profit for the full year, up from a prior range of break even to a five-cent per share loss. BlackBerry has focused on its transition to a software company from its past as a legacy smartphone maker.
     Financial services companies and raw-materials producers added at least 0.4 percent to lead five of 11 industries in the S&P/TSX higher. Copper futures rose as London Metal Exchange data showed a decline in copper stockpiles for the first time in seven days. Trading volume in the benchmark equity index was 15 percent lower than the 30-day average. Energy producers slipped 0.4 percent as crude closed near $52 a barrel in New York.
     In other moves:
* CCL Industries Inc. surged a record 20 percent after agreeing Monday to buy Innovia Group of the U.K. for about C$1.13 billion, boosting the labels and packaging company’s 2017 sales to more than C$5 billion on a pro-forma basis, CCL said
* Amaya Inc. lost 2 percent after founder David Baazov withdrew his $4.1 billion bid to take the PokerStars owner private, saying the price sought by some shareholders was too high
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed as investors bought financial companies, extending the group’s advance to 22 percent since the presidential election.
     The S&P 500 Index added 0.4 percent to 2,270.76 by 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92 points to 19,974 to a record. The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap shares jumped 0.9 percent.
* Financial stocks add 1.1%, with Charles Schwab Corp. and Blackrock Inc. adding at least 2.2%; discretionary shares up 0.8% on Carmax Inc., TripAdvisor Inc.
* Dow gains in Nike Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group of at least 1.6%
* Industrial, telecom shares up at least 0.5%; consumer staples drop 0.3%
* The VIX dropped for a fourth session to 11.45, its lowest close since August
* Strategists on average expect the S&P 500 to end 2017 at 2,356, according to the mean of 15 estimates compiled by Bloomberg; that implies a 4.1% gain from Monday’s close.
* The gauge has advanced 11% this year, putting it among the top four developed-market benchmarks
* The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap firms has climbed almost 15% since the day of the U.S. election. All four major benchmarks reached all-time highs after the vote, with financial firms leading gains on bets higher borrowing costs will boost profitability
* EARNINGS:
** After market Tuesday: Steelcase Inc. (SCS), FedEx Corp. (FDX), NIKE Inc. (NKE)
** Before market Wednesday: Lindsay Corp (LNN), Accenture PLC (ACN), Winnebago Industries (WGO), Finish Line Inc. (FINL), Actuant Corp. (ATU), Paychex Inc (PAYX), Neogen Corp (NEOG)
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose with equities in Europe, while bonds and gold retreated in a demonstration of financial markets’ resilience to recent geopolitical events as investors focus on the prospects for increased government spending in the U.S. 
     The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record after rallying within 13 points of 20,000. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index reached its highest level of the year. Treasuries and gold reversed gains from Monday following a probable terror attack in Berlin and the killing of Russia’s envoy to Turkey. The yen approached the weakest since February versus the dollar after Japan’s central bank kept its yield-curve and asset-purchase programs unchanged.
     Markets have showed increasing immunity to terror incidents this year, with initial reactions to buy haven assets after attacks fading quickly. As trading volumes decrease before December holidays and year-end, investors may be loath to veer too far from the underlying market trends that have prevailed since the election of Donald Trump in November, namely favoring stocks and shunning bonds. A so-called fear gauge of volatility in European stocks was at the lowest since 2014.
     Read here for our Markets Live blog.
     “The market response to each new terror event is less and less pronounced,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. The move in European stocks “confirms ever- thickening investor skin.”
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.4 percent to 2,270.71 at 4 p.m. in New York, a point below its all-time high. The Dow rose 90.54 points to close at 19,973.60, a record.
* Trading in S&P 500 and Dow stocks was at least 20 percent lower than the 30-day average as investors prepare for the Christmas holiday.
* Caterpillar Inc. and Nike Inc. led advances in the blue-chip gauge. Bank shares resumed a rally, adding 0.9 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.5 percent, for the highest close in 2016. Analysts are upbeat about profit at its members next year, expecting earnings to grow 12.5 percent.
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index resumed its rally, pushing its gain in the quarter toward 8 percent, the biggest three-month advance since the third quarter of 2008.
* The euro pared losses versus the dollar after plumbed another 2003 low at $1.0352. It was down 0.1 percent at 103.91.
* The yen fell 0.6 percent to 117.80 per dollar. 
* Treasuries slumped with European debt, erasing most of Monday’s gains.
* Yields on 10-year Treasury notes climbed two basis points to 2.56 percent after dropping five basis points on Monday.
* German bunds of the same maturity fell, sending yields higher by two basis points to 0.26 percent.   
* Gold closed near a 10-month low as the dollar climbed and concerns eased over geopolitical events that had briefly supported the price. Futures for February delivery fell 0.8 percent to $1,133.60.
* Copper rebounded from the lowest in almost month after London Metal Exchange data showed a drop in copper stockpiles for the first time in seven days. The metal settled 0.1 percent higher at $2.5025 a pound in New York.
* Oil was little changed and closed near $52 a barrel as Libya said it reopened two oil fields while analysts project government data to show U.S. crude stockpiles fell for a fifth week.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

The whole universe is bound by the law of causation.
There cannot be anything, any fact – either in the internal or in the external world –
that does not have a cause; and every cause must produce an effect.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

Carolann

Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability, which is capacity to act
wisely on the thing apprehended.
                                                                    -Alfred North Whitehead, 1861-1947

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
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com