January 4, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Points of Progress:
GERMANY: 
Germany is set to launch the world’s most environmentally friendly trains.  Since the trains are powered by hydrogen and oxygen, the only exhaust waste they produce is water vapor.  They can travel 1,000 kilometers on a single tank, at speeds of 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour).  Fourteen of these trains are scheduled to come on line in Germany in December 2021.  A pilot program will begin in December 2018. -World Economic Forum.

ENGLAND:
England is experimenting with free 24-hour vending machines for the homeless.  In December Huzaifah Khaled’s charity, Action Hunger, will launch the first machine (which will dispense water, fresh fruit, sandwiches, socks, toiletries, and books) in Nottingham.  Major supermarkets are among the donors that will provide the goods, and volunteers will stock the machines.  So-called rough sleepers will receive special keycards allowing them three items per day. -World Economic Forum, CNN.

ST. HELENA:
An ancient tortoise is looking forward to a new crowd of admirers.  Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, is believed, at 185 years old, to be the oldest reptile on earth.  Experts estimate that he was born several decades after Napoleon died in exile on the remote South Atlantic island in 1821.  But now Jonathan’s quiet life may be about to change as St. Helena opens its first airport and prepares for more tourism.
“[Jonathan] loves company,” Lisa Phillips, governor of St. Helena, told Agence-Presse.

On Jan. 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his ”Great Society” in his State of the Union address.
Go to article »

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People look at the damage to the harbour wall that was caused last night during Storm Eleanor in Portreath, Cornwall.

Jonathan Czitkovics and his wife Yvonne Chen take wedding photos in Niagara Falls, Canada as a cold snap gripping much of Canada and the United States has nearly frozen over the American side of the falls.

A family caught in blowing sea foam on the Brittany coast after storm Eleanor hit Saint-Guenole in western France.

Peter Prevc of Slovenia jumps during the training round for the third stage of the 66^th Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck, Austria.
Market Closes for January 4^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1865, the New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent building at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets in Manhattan, after decades of shifting from one rented or borrowed space to another.
Number of the Day
625 million
The number of rotisserie chickens Americans bought at supermarkets in 2017, a rare bright spot in an industry struggling to adapt to a shift away from packaged foods.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose to a third consecutive record as a slump in pot stocks was offset by gains in financials and materials.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 41 points or 0.3 percent to 16,412.94. Financials gained 0.7 percent, the most since September, while the materials index rose 0.4 percent, boosted by higher gold prices.
     Health-care stocks, meanwhile, tumbled 3.8 percent. Marijuana companies took a hit from the U.S. Attorney General’s decision to rescind a policy that helped states legalize recreational marijuana. Aphria Inc. tumbled 14 percent and Canopy Growth Corp. fell 10 percent.
     In other moves:

                          Stocks
* Brookfield Business Partners LP rose 4.1 percent to a record high after announcing a deal to buy Westinghouse Electric Co. from Toshiba Corp. for $4.6 billion
* Colliers International Group Inc. fell 1.5 percent. The real estate company is buying Finnish company Ovenia Group for an undisclosed amount
* Birchcliff Energy Ltd. fell 6.6 percent and Crew Energy Inc. lost 5 percent as AECO natural gas prices continue to tumble
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $24.90 discount to WTI
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.42 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,321.60 an ounce, the highest since mid-September
                           FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.3 percent to $1.2497 per U.S. dollar, the strongest since October
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose three basis points to 2.08 percent, the highest since October
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Kailey Leinz
     (Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied around the world on signs the global economic expansion that pushed benchmarks to records in 2017 remains intact. The dollar slipped and U.S. Treasuries declined as a private report showed U.S. employment strengthening.
     The Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 25,000 for the first time, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite reached all-time highs. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was not slowed by the storm lashing the East Coast, with volumes about 20 percent above the 30-day average.
     Builders and carmakers led the advance in Europe, with most of the sectors in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index strengthening. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index hit a record after benchmarks in Tokyo closed at their highest in more than a quarter century.
     In the U.S., companies added more workers to payrolls than expected in December, data from the ADP Research Institute showed. The economy probably added 190,000 workers in December, the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Labor Department data due Friday.
     “You saw some very positive numbers coming out of the U.S. payrolls, which continues to show this economic growth story,” said Francis Gannon, co-chief investment officer at Royce Funds. “That’s what the market is running on. It’s this idea that the economy is doing better than people think, and then you’ve got the tax reform on top of it, which is kind of adding fuel to the fire.”
     Core European bonds pared Wednesday’s gains and the euro advanced toward a three-year high as data showed economic activity in the region accelerated to the fastest pace in almost seven years.
     Meanwhile, commodities steadied after a record run of gains with oil trading close to its highest in three years. South Africa’s rand led an advance in emerging-market currencies.    
     Here are highlights of key events investors will be monitoring the rest of the week:
* The U.S. session features St. Louis Fed President James Bullard delivering a keynote address in
Philadelphia
* U.S. December employment data are due on Friday.
* India releases an estimate for 2018 economic growth Friday.

      These are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.4 percent to 2,723.99 as of 4:07 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 percent 25,075.13 and the NASDAQ Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 7,077.915.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.9 percent, the highest in eight weeks on the biggest rise in more than two weeks.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index advanced 0.5 percent to the highest on record.
                         Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate oil for February delivery rose 38 cents to $62.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
* Gold rose 0.7 percent to $1,322.55 an ounce.
                         Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2 percent.
* The euro advanced 0.5 percent to $1.2069, after touching the strongest in about three years.
                         Bonds
* The yield on 2-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 1.96 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.43 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.23 percent.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann 

To be honest, to be kind – to earn a little and to spend a little less,
to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce
when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends,
but these without capitulation – above all, on the same grim condition,
to keep friends with himself – here is a task for all that a man has of
fortitude and delicacy.
                                      -Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894

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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