January 3, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
2004    NASA’s Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the red planet.
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BIRTHDAY: J.R.R. Tolkien, writer, b. 1892.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say.  “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” -J.R.R Tolkien.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Zoe Harrigan & Anna Milson stand in front of the York Minster’s 600 year-old Great East Window, following a 10-year conservation and restoration project. All 311 panels of the window, which is the country’s largest single expanse of medieval stained glass, were removed and restored by York Glaziers Trust – a task which took 92,400 hours and cost 11.5 millions pounds.
CREDIT: CHARLOTTE GRAHAM FOR THE TELEGRAPH

A woman harvests water lilies in a pond in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

Camels walk across the Liwa desert, some 250 kilometres west of the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi, during the Liwa 2018 Moreeb Dune Festival.

A man stands on rocks surrounded by waves at Godrevy Lighthouse near St Ives in Cornwall.
Market Closes for January 3^rd, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
*On this day in 1977, Apple Computer Corp. is incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.*
Number of the Day
17%
The rise in natural gas futures over the past seven sessions, driven by the cold weather affecting large swaths of the U.S.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed at a new high as oil prices approached $62, the highest in three years.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 62 points or 0.4 percent to 16,371.55, its second day of gains. Energy shares rose 1 percent as crude gained 2.1 percent, reflecting ongoing unrest in Iran and dwindling U.S. stockpiles.
     Financials gained 0.4 percent, while the technology index added 1.3 percent. BlackBerry Ltd. jumped 13 percent to the highest in nearly five years after partnering with Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc. on automotive software.
     In other moves:
                          Stocks
* Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. jumped 6 percent. The company paid down an added $300 million of debt for a total of $6.5 billion since early 2016
* Bonavista Energy Corp. fell 7.4 percent and Painted Pony Energy Ltd. lost 6.2 percent after updated reserve-engineer commodity forecasts indicated weaker outlooks
* Aurora Cannabis Inc. jumped 19 percent, adding to Tuesday’s 24 percent gain, despite being mentioned cautiously by Citron Research
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $23.90 discount to WTI, the narrowest gap in three and a half weeks
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.22 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,318.50 an ounce, the highest since September
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.2 percent to $1.2541 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell three basis points to 2.05 percent
US
By Kailey Leinz
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed to record highs, gold fell and the dollar extended gains as the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting showed officials continued to back gradual interest-rate increases.
     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose past 2,700 for the first time, while the Nasdaq Composite Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average reached all-time highs. An earlier report showed U.S. manufacturing expanded in December at the fastest pace in three months. European stocks rose following a positive session in Asia and bonds gained as the region’s new investment regulations finally took effect.
     “There’s no desire within the Fed anywhere to actually moderate any potential boom and cause a downturn,’ said Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee. “They will let it run hot… I don’t think the Fed will stomp it out.”
     Most participants at the Fed gathering reiterating support for “continuing a gradual approach to raising the target range” for the benchmark policy rate, according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s Dec. 12-13 meeting. U.S. central bankers raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point and penciled in three more hikes for 2018, according to the median estimate.
     Elsewhere, West Texas oil approached $62 a barrel for the first time in three years, surpassing a crucial threshold for spurring new shale drilling. Gold dropped from a near four-month high after the Fed minutes were released.
     Emerging-market shares also gained for a second session. European bonds rose after strong investor interest in an Irish debt sale, and the euro retreated for the first time in six days.
     In Europe the MiFID II rules are one of the most seismic regulatory shifts in history, affecting everything from investment research to trade execution.    These are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.6 percent to close at a record 2,713.07 as of 4:05 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 percent to 24,922.68 and the NASDAQ Composite Index rose 0.8 percent to 7,065.531.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.5 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index rose 0.8 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent to the highest on record.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index increased 0.6 percent.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent to 1,155.81, snapping a five-day slide that was the longest streak of losses since September.
* The euro weakened 0.4 percent to $1.21011, dropping from the strongest level in about three years.
* The British pound fell 0.1 percent.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.2 percent to 112.45 per dollar.                            
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis point to 2.45 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dropped three basis points to 0.44 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased seven basis points to 1.21 percent.
                            Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate oil for February delivery rose $1.26 to settle at $61.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since December 2014.
* Gold dropped 0.2 percent to $1,315.24 an ounce, after trading near a four-month high.
* Copper dipped 2.2 percent to $3.26 a pound.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.
                                 -Aeschylus, 525 BC-456 BC

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