December 28, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
                                          By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake. 
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
PHOTOS FROM 2016

Tourists visiting Grand Prismatic Spring are seen through the mist in June. The National Park Service celebrated its centennial this year. Ann Hermes/Staff

Musician Bryce Avary records a music video in March outside the Prada Marfa art installation in Valentine, Texas. The roadside installation by artists Elmgreen and Dragset, is sealed, though stocked with those and handbags. Ann Hermes/Staff
Market Closes for December 28^th, 2016

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Joseph Ciolli
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced for a seventh time in eight sessions with commodity producers leading gains as crude oil and gold prices climbed.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.4 percent to 15,383.60 at 9:44 a.m. in Toronto, extending a rally that has propelled the benchmark gauge toward its sixth straight monthly advance. Raw-material producers paced the gain Wednesday, rising 2.2 percent, while health-care and real estate stocks were the worst performers.
     In other moves:
* Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. slipped 5.4% after Raymond James downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform, citing normalizing energy markets that pose a near- term growth headwind for the company
* Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. and First Majestic Silver Corp. each gained at least 7% as silver prices rose for a second straight day
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell as all 11 groups in the S&P 500 Index slid, with real estate and raw-material companies leading the decline. The benchmark gauge lost 0.8 percent to 2,249.92 at 4 p.m. in New York, the biggest one-day decline since Oct. 11. Trading volume was about 40 percent lower than the average of the past month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell further from the elusive 20,000 level, losing 111.36 points to 19,833.68.
* Real estate shares dip 0.9% after worse-than-expected pending home sales
* Materials, energy stocks down at least 0.9%
* Phone companies least changed, with 0.3% loss
* VIX up 8% for fourth straight increase
* The Dow has struggled to reach the 20,000 level after coming within about 30 points of it on Dec. 20
* EARNINGS: no earnings expected
By Joseph Ciolli
     (Bloomberg) — One measure of U.S. equity sentiment just had its biggest jump since 2009. Does that imply a euphoric moment that puts the bull market on death watch? History suggests not.
     A Conference Board index tracking Americans who expect shares to rise surged 45 percent in December, data showed Tuesday. While that was the highest reading in more than a decade, similarly elevated levels haven’t been reliable sell signals. Six times the survey was higher since 1997, the S&P 500 Index rose in the next 12 months by an average of 2 percent, Bloomberg data show.
     Surging confidence is a double-edged sword. Exuberant investors are buyers, with the potential to exhaust themselves. December’s bullishness followed the election of Donald Trump and coincided the biggest rally ever to greet a new president. It also came with valuations near decade highs amid the second- longest bull market on record.
     Here are some statistics that might suggest stocks have further to run:
* Wall Street forecasts a median S&P 500 gain of 3.5% to 2,340 by the end of 2017, according to a survey of 15 strategists
* Companies in S&P 500 expected to increase earnings by 12% in 2017, which would be the biggest full-year profit expansion since 2010: Bloomberg data.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

The idea of a duty to understand violence engenders for me
a great vitality and passion for knowledge.
But to transcend this violence, I need not repress it, nor deny it, nor say to myself:
It has become a part of me, I can do nothing about it; or, I wish to reject it.
I must observe it, study it, enter into it intimately,
and for that purpose I need neither condemn it nor justify it.
And yet, it is this that we do.
I would ask you, then, to suspend for an instant your judgments on the subject.
Krishnamurti

As ever,

Carolann

One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten
men who haven’t and don’t.
                               -George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950             

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