January 17, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On Jan. 17, 1893, Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A surfer wipes out at Pe’ahi, also known as Jaws, in Hawaii.
CREDIT: BRIAN BIELMANN/AFP

The Aurora Borealis shine over Gulfoss waterfall in Iceland.
CREDIT: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA WIRE

A fox runs past the entrance to 10 Downing street in London.
CREDIT: NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP
Market Closes for January 17^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Sony in the case of Universal vs. Sony, in effect deciding that VCRs are legal.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks gained after the Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point but cautioned stimulus is still needed, boosting defensive sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 28 points or 0.2 percent by 16,326.70. Rate-sensitive stocks gained, with real estate up 0.5 percent and telecom and utilities adding 0.2 percent.
Offsetting these gains, the materials index fell 0.9 percent, adding to Tuesday’s 1.2 percent decline, as gold miners lost ground. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 3.8 percent and Goldcorp Inc. lost 4.4 percent.
In other moves:
Stocks
* Sherritt International Corp. tumbled 11 percent, the most in two years. The company upsized its offering of shares and cobalt-linked warrants to C$115 million
* New Gold Inc. fell 6.6 percent after analysts said its 2018 guidance was lighter than expected
* Aeterna Zentaris Inc. rose 16 percent after announcing a licensing agreement with Strongbridge Biopharma plc for its Macrilen drug
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $23.75 discount to WTI
* Gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,339.20 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.1 percent to $1.2427 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose 3 basis points to 2.20 percent
US
By Kailey Leinz and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose to fresh highs as companies continued to indicate the tax overhaul will boost earnings this year. Treasuries fell with gold and the dollar climbed on speculation Congress will avert a government shutdown.
The S&P 500 Index posted its biggest gain since November, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 300 points to close above 26,000 for the first time. Semiconductor shares paced gains, taking the Nasdaq indexes to records.
Taxes drove much of the action. Financials were strong after Bank of America Corp. beat estimates and indicated that it could benefit from the U.S. tax overhaul by reducing pressure to cut future costs. And Apple Inc. climbed after saying that under the rules of the new tax plan it will bring hundreds of billions of dollars back to the U.S. from overseas to invest in jobs and facilities.
“We’re all really trying to figure out the real impact off tax reform on some of the major sectors,” said Jamie Cox, a managing partner for Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia. “Financials in particular have been in the news because you’ve seen some weird things with some of their deferred tax assets being reported in earnings. I think a lot of people misunderstood and don’t understand how the deferred tax assets work, and so they’re seeing these massive charges that the banks are taking as a result of tax reform and they can’t see too clearly into the future about how much the impact on tax reform is going to have on their bottom line three quarters from now.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was down slightly. Support came from the weaker euro, which was dragged down by some verbal intervention from the ECB, while the yen and Swiss franc were among the other major currencies falling against the greenback. Bitcoin dropped below $10,000 for the first time since Dec. 1, but then bounced back above the threshold.
Money managers expect the equities rally to continue, particularly with analysts predicting growth of 11 percent in earnings per share over the next two years, according to Bloomberg Intelligence calculations.
“A lot of the move that we’ve been seeing has been just the beginning,” said John Stoltzfus, chief market strategist at Oppenheimer & Co. “It’s hard to quantify, but we see some evidence of bull market bears as well as skeptics of this bull market finally beginning to capitulate. And when that capitulation starts, it’s a process.”
Meanwhile bond investors are mulling the potential for monetary policy in the U.S. to tighten faster than expected and settling their nerves after last week’s selloff. The notion of a bear market doesn’t seem to have endured — the yield curve steepening barely lasted a day.
Elsewhere, West Texas crude slipped before U.S. government data forecast to show stockpiles fell for a ninth week.
Here’s what to watch out for this week:
* U.S. housing starts probably slipped in December for the first time in three months as frigid winter weather impeded work, forecasts show ahead of Thursday’s release.
* The Bank of Canada’s interest-rate decision comes Wednesday. Monetary policy announcements are also this week due in South Korea, South Africa and Turkey.
* China releases fourth quarter GDP, December industrial production and retail sales Thursday.

      And these are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 closed up 0.9 percent to 2,802.57, while the Dow rose 323 points, or 1.3 percent, to 26,115.65.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.1 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped 0.4 percent to the lowest in more than a week.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index added 0.5 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 0.4 percent to the highest in almost 10 years.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent.
* The euro slid 0.4 percent to $1.2209.
* The British pound gained 0.5 percent to $1.3848, the highest since June 2016.
* The Japanese yen dipped 0.7 percent to 111.18 per dollar, the first retreat in more than a week.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained three basis points to 2.5702 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.562 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield added less than one basis point to 1.308 percent.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2 percent to $63.87 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,329.41 an ounce.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.
                               -Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Portfolio Manager &
Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
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