December 7, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On December 7, 1813, Lord Byron wrote in his Journal:
Awoke, up an hour before being called; but dawdled three hours in dressing.  When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation), sleep, eating, and swilling – buttoning and unbuttoning – how much remains of downright existence?  The summer of a dormouse. -from The Book of Days.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II. More than 2,300 Americans were killed.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Alexa Meade attends Refinery29’s ‘29Rooms Los Angeles:  Turn It Into Art’ in California, US.
CREDIT: EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES FOR REFINERY29

Jay Fai (left), the cook and owner of a street food eatery in Bangkok, speaks to reporters after her street-side eatery was recognized with a one-star Michelin guide mark at a hotel in Bangkok. Jay Fai’s was the only streetside establishment listeed in Michelin’s first-ever Bangkok guide released on December 6 that touted the Thai capital’s culinary scene as “diverse as it is surprising.”
‘Buttnmandl’, men masqueraded with straw and bells, walk with a Santa Claus through a snow covered mountain landscape in Berchtesgaden, southern Germany.

A wildfire burns along the 101 Freeway in Venture, US. Raked by ferocious Santa Ana winds, explosive wildfires northwest of Los Angeles and in the city’s foothills burned a psychiatric hospital and scores of homes and other structures Tuesday and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
Market Closes for December 7^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1999, Yahoo formally joins the Standard and Poor’s 500. It had climbed 32% in the prior week.

Number of the Day
$15,058
The latest all-time high for Bitcoin, which topped $15,000 early Thursday. It was at $11,000 on Monday and around $1,000 at the start of 2017.
Hackers Steal $70 Million in Bitcoin: Nearly $70 million worth of bitcoin was stolen from a cryptocurrency-mining service called NiceHash following a security breach.

Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks posted their biggest gain in 10 weeks, ending a 4-day decline as oil prices rebounded and a risk appetites revived.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 107 points or 0.7 percent to 16,015.68. Energy shares gained 0.8 percent as crude rose 1.3 percent. Cenovus Energy Inc. added 2.7 percent.
     The consumer discretionary index gained 1.3 percent as Dollarama Inc. jumped 5.3 percent, the most in three months. The retailer snapped a 6-day losing streak as strong results from Dollar General boosted its competitors.
     In other moves:
                            Stocks
* Canadian Western Bank gained 3.3 percent, the most in five weeks, after fourth-quarter earnings beat the highest analyst estimate
* BlackBerry Ltd. rose 1.2 percent. The wireless equipment company is collaborating with Qualcomm Inc. on connected-vehicle platforms
* Athabasca Oil Corp. fell 3.4 percent. The oil sands company expects to produce 38,500 to 41,000 barrels a day in 2018
                            Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $19.35 discount to WTI, the widest gap since 2015
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.41 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold fell 1 percent to $1,249.80 an ounce, the lowest since July
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.5 percent to C$1.2853 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield was little changed at 1.85 percent
US
By Brendan Walsh and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose as investors evaluated the outlook for a final tax bill while the dollar advanced for a fourth day and oil rebounded from its worst selloff in two months.
     The S&P 500 ended a four-day losing streak, with industrial and consumer discretionary shares among the best performers in a modest but broad rally that saw two stocks gain for every one that dropped. Gold fell to a four-month low. The pound jumped on speculation that Ireland and Britain were close to a Brexit deal. Brazil’s real and stocks tumbled amid growing skepticism a pension overhaul will be passed this year.
     Stocks resumed their runup tied to speculation that the U.S. tax overhaul will boost corporate profits. That follows a few days in which the markets drifted as investors awaited the details of a final bill. Focus has also started to turn to efforts to avert a U.S. government shutdown at the end of the week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell named eight Republican lawmakers to be part of the conference committee responsible for negotiating a final tax bill with GOP House lawmakers.
    “Stock-market investors are nervous right now,” Matthew Litfin, a portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments who helps oversee $473 billion in assets, said by email. “Looking ahead into 2018, the tailwind of global earnings growth is strong, U.S. corporate tax rates are probably going to be lower, and investors likely will still be in the mood to take on risk.”
     Elsewhere, West Texas oil rose past $56 a barrel after falling the most in two months on Wednesday. The Australian dollar dropped to the lowest since June after trade data missed estimates. European equities were little changed. Asian equities were mixed, with stocks rising in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia and falling in China and South Korea. 

     Here are some of the key events facing markets in the coming days:
* The U.S. faces a partial government shutdown after money runs out on Dec. 8 if Congress can’t agree on a spending bill by then.
* U.S. employers probably hired at a robust pace in November as the unemployment rate held at an almost 17-year low. The Labor Department’s jobs report Friday may also show a bump up in average hourly earnings.
* Theresa May will present draft wording on the Irish border as soon as Thursday.

      And these are the main moves in markets:
                            Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent at the close of trading in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index ended little changed.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.4 percent.
* Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.4 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index slipped 0.1 percent.                         
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index advanced 0.3 percent to the highest in more than two weeks.
* The euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.1776
* The British pound rose 0.7 percent to $1.3481.
* The Japanese yen decreased 0.7 percent to 113.07 per dollar.
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.36 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.29 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose two basis points to 1.25 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.1 percent to $56.60 a barrel.
* Gold fell 1.3 percent to $1,249.40 an ounce, the weakest since July.
* Copper gained 0.1 percent to $2.9645 a pound.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

What then do I mean by the ideal of a universal religion?
I do not mean a universal philosophy, or a universal mythology, or a universal ritual,
but I mean that this world must go on, wheel within wheel.
What can we do?
We can make it run smoothly, we can lessen friction, we can grease the wheels, as  it were.
By what?
By recognizing variation.
Just as we have recognized unity, by our very nature so we must also recognize variation.
We must learn that truth may be expressed in a thousand ways, and each one yet be true.
We must learn that the same thing can be viewed from a hundred different standpoints,
and yet be the same thing.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

Carolann

One man’s poison ivy is another man’s spinach.
                           -George Ade, 1866-1944

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
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