December 6, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: St. Nicholas Day, Europe.

December 6, 1865: 13^th Amendment ratified; slavery abolished.
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I fell a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. -Abraham Lincoln.

Pantone has chosen ‘Living Coral’ as the 2019 color of the year
Good, we need some more brightness in our lives.  –CNN.

BEHIND THE SCENES:  for a fascinating peek behind the scenes of a world-renowned performance hall, take a look at the Royal Opera House’s YouTube channel.  Showcasing livestreamed ballet rehearsals, insights into choreography, and lessons on the history of costuming, the channel reveals the background activities that keep the ROH’s wheels turning.  Also on offer are highlight reels of famous performances and trailers and showtimes for upcoming performances.  See www.youtube.com/user/RoyalOperaHouse. –CSM.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

English Heritage employee Kate Maughan-Brown enjoys ‘Enchanted’ at Brodsworth Hall near Doncaster, which is one of the houses and castles across the country being opened-up after dark by English Heritage as part of their ‘Enchanted’ events season. Brodsworth Hall is one of the most complete surviving examples of a Victorian country house. Credit: Danny Lawson/PA

The sun is about to rise over the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany. Credit: AP Photo/Michael Probst

The Open Siberia Snowkiting Cup 2018, which was held in Novosibirsk, on the Obsk sea, on the Boomerang beach – Hundreds of snow-kiters and winter windsurfers have faced -25 temperatures while showcasing their epic skills on the slopes. Ilnar Salakhiev, 43, attended the Open Siberia Snowkiting Cup 2018 which started on November 27 and had more than 100 participants. Credit: Ilnar Salakhiev/Caters News
Market Closes for December 6^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell Thursday, with the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index losing 1.6 percent. Energy led the drop while health care rebounded.
     Energy stocks took a dive alongside crude oil after OPEC ended talks without a deal on oil production cuts for the first time in nearly five years. Talks will start again tomorrow at 9 a.m. in Vienna, a delegate said.
     Additionally as oil falls and a potential U.S-China trade war threatens the global expansion, investors are fully pricing in just one more increase from the Canadian central bank over the next two years. It would only take a small disappointment — economic growth falling slightly below 2 percent, for example — to eliminate even those chances.
Stocks
* Dollarama plunged 12% after reporting profit that missed estimates
* Detour Gold fell 6.9% ahead of vote on John Paulson’s board-overhaul plan 
* Energy laggards:
** Cenovus Energy -7.7% 
** Baytex Energy -7.4% 
** Pengrowth Energy -7.3% 
** Tamarack Valley Energy -7.2% 
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $18.50 discount to WTI
* Gold gained 0.08 percent to $1,238.10 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar dropped 0.1 percent to C$1.3373 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 5 basis points to 2.081%
US
By Vildana Hajric and Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. equities closed up from the lows of the day after a late rally in large technology stocks helped to propel the Nasdaq 100 higher in what was the biggest reversal for the index since April. 
     The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended in negative territory. Financial markets remained volatile on bets that the trade truce between China and the U.S. won’t last after the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer. Bank shares in the S&P 500 fell as much as 3.9 percent before closing down 1.4 percent, as Treasury yields slid to the lowest since August.
     Helping to ease anxiety were comments from two regional Federal Reserve presidents urging policy caution from the U.S. central bank amid mounting economic uncertainties and recent volatility in financial markets.
     “The biggest qualm is the trade war escalating and this is haunting the markets,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K. in London, in an email. “It is arduous to find bulls in the market and it seems to me that this game is about to become uglier.”
     Oil continued to be a drag on financial markets, with West Texas Intermediate back to $51 a barrel as OPEC ministers seek a deal to cut output. Energy producers in the S&P 500 sank more than 3 percent, and emerging-market equities plunged.
     Traders pointed to a spate of other catalysts for the renewed risk-off tone that’s gripping financial markets. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said economic risks from abroad could be severe, and the Fed’s Beige Book report showed fading optimism over growth prospects at U.S. firms even as most districts continued to report a modest expansion. The pound drifted as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May searched for a compromise to avoid a crushing defeat on her Brexit deal in a key vote in Parliament next week.
     “There are so many forces weighing against markets right now, whether it’s the China slowdown, weak European data, Fed hikes, uncertainty around trade and now Brexit as well,” Bilal Hafeez, head of fixed-income research for EMEA at Nomura, told Bloomberg TV. “We really need to see some stabilization in any of those factors to see markets stabilize now.”
     Whether or not it triggered the slide, Canada’s arrest of the Huawei CFO and reports it may extradite her to the U.S. are a blow to already fragile sentiment, just days after an apparent breakthrough on trade between America and China. The start of the futures session was marred by a sudden and unexpected plunge that sent a shock wave across equity markets.
     “The arrest of the Huawei Technologies CFO gives no confidence that anything the administration came back with after Saturday night’s dinner could possibly be positive,” said Bob Iaccino, chief market strategist at Chicago-based Path Trading Partners, in an email. “This is a huge negative.”
Some of the key events investors will be focused on this week:
* OPEC ministers meet again in Vienna Friday. 
* Friday brings the U.S. monthly employment report for November.
* China November trade data are due on Saturday.
And here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent as of 4:09 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.6 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 sank 3.1 percent. 
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index slumped 2.3 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.8 percent.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3 percent. 
* The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.1380.
* The British pound gained 0.4 percent to $1.2783.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.6 percent to 112.50 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries fell four basis points to 2.87 percent. The three-year note yield dropped four basis points to 2.76 percent as the yield on the five-year note eased four basis points to 2.74 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell four basis points to 0.24 percent.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude slumped 2.3 percent to $51.68 a barrel. 
* Gold edged 0.1 percent higher to $1,238.27 an ounce.
* LME copper fell 1.7 percent to $6,070 per metric ton, the third straight decline.
–With assistance from Samuel Potter.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
                                                                  -Aristotle, 384 BC-322 BC

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

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