February 3, 2017 Newsletter

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. 

 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

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

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