January 9, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Jan. 9, 2007, Steven P. Jobs introduced Apple’s long-awaited entry into the cellphone world, the iPhone.
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The Poem:
Terra Incognita
-by Helen Dunmore

And now we come to the unknown land
With its blue coves and inlets where sweet water
Bubbles against the salt.  Its sand
Is ready for footprints.  Give me your hand

Onto the rock where the seaweed clings
And the red anemone throbs in its crevice
Through swash and backwash.  These things
Various as the brain’s comb and the tide’s swing

Or the first touch of untouched terrain
On our footsoles, as the land explores us,
Have  become our fortune.  Let me explain
Which foods are good to eat, and which poison.

From “Inside the Wave” (Bloodaxe Books).  Helen Dunmore, who died last June at age 64, won the 2017 Costa Poetry Award last Tuesday, January 2^nd, 2018, for this collection.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

An unusual view of the plane that’s flying directly into its own shadow route is seen in Illionis, United States. The sun was directly behind the plane and it cast a direct shadow in front of the plane.

Lightening stops play in the first round match between Angelique Kerber of Germany and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during day one of the 2018 Sydney International at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre in Sydney, Australia.

This image, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), shows a galaxy named UGC 6093. As can be easily seen, UGC 6093 is something known as a barred spiral galaxy. It has beautiful arms that swirl outwards from a bar slicing through the galaxy’s centre. It is classified as an active galaxy, which means that it hosts an active galactic nucleus, or AGN: a compact region at a galaxy’s centre within which material is dragged towards a supermassive black hole.  As this black hole devours the surrounding matter it emits intense radiation, causing it to shine brightly.  But UGC 6093 is more exotic still. The galaxy essentially acts as a giant astronomical laser that spews out light at microwave, not visible, wavelengths, this type of object is dubbed a megamaser (maser being the term for a microwave laser). Megamasers such as UGC 6093 can be some 100 million times brighter than masers found in galaxies like the Milky Way. Hubble’s WFC3 observes light spanning a range wavelengths from the near-infrared, through the visible range, to the near-ultraviolet. It has two channels that detect and process different light, allowing astronomers to study a remarkable range of astrophysical phenomena; for example, the UV-visible channel can study galaxies undergoing massive star formation, while the near-infrared channel can study redshifted light from galaxies in the distant Universe. Such multi-band imaging makes Hubble invaluable in studying megamaser galaxies, as it is able to untangle their intriguing complexity.
Market Closes for January 9^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1835, trading in a U.S. stock is halted for the first time on record, as the New York Stock and Exchange Board suspends activity in the Morris Canal and Banking Co. amid widespread manipulation of the shares.
Number of the Day
2.58
The gap between U.S. and German two-year yields reached 2.58 percentage points Tuesday. That spread has only ever
been wider in the summer of 1999.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks eked out a small increase, the first in three trading days, as gains in real estate and consumer staples barely offset a decline in materials shares.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added two points or less than 0.1 percent to 16,319.24. Real estate shares rose 0.7 percent as Pure Industrial REIT jumped 20 percent to a record high. Blackstone Property Partners is buying Pure Industrial for C$2.48 billion.
     The materials index, meanwhile, fell 1 percent as gold prices retreated 0.5 percent. SSR Mining Inc. lost 7 percent following a downgrade at Scotia Capital and Eldorado Gold Corp. fell 6.1 percent.
     In other moves:
                          Stocks
* Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rose 3.8 percent. The company sees seven key products generating $1 billion in annualized revenue over the next five years
* Western Forest Products Inc. added 2 percent. CIBC analysts said lumber activity is “solid considering the winter weather”
* Encana Corp. gained 2.8 percent after saying it increased production from its core assets by about 31 percent in the fourth quarter
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $25.65 discount to WTI, the widest gap this year
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.53 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,313.70 an ounce, the biggest decline in a month
                          FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.4 percent to $1.2467 per U.S. dollar, the biggest drop in more than three weeks
* The yield on the Canada 10-year government bond rose four basis points to 2.2 percent, the highest since 2014
US
By Natasha Doff and Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks added to all-time highs before the start of earnings season, while the dollar got a boost from policy steps in Asia that propelled Treasury yields past 2.50 percent for the first time in nine months.
     The S&P 500 Index rose a sixth straight day to continue its unblemished start to the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a fresh record and the Nasdaq indexes eked out gains. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 2.55 percent after Bank of Japan cut purchases of long-dated bonds and Janus Henderson Group’s Bill Gross declared a bond bear market just ahead of a deluge of sovereign debt sales. China’s yuan dropped after the central bank adjusted its currency-fixing mechanism.
     The torrid start to the year for risk assets continued Tuesday with investors confident that synchronous global growth will boost earnings around the world even as central banks move to withdraw monetary support. Corporate profit reports due this week from banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. will set the tone as traders look for more reasons to chase stocks trading at or near record highs. 
     In Europe, equities climbed a fifth day as unemployment in the region fell to the lowest since early 2009. The pound fell as a reshuffle of senior U.K. government ministers descended into chaos.
     Here are some of the main events to watch for this week:
* U.S. inflation data are forecast to show price pressures remain muted, giving hawks little reason to argue for faster tightening.
* St. Louis Fed bank President James Bullard and head of the New York Fed Bill Dudley are among central bankers scheduled to speak.
* China producer and consumer prices data come Wednesday, while a reading on the country’s money supply is expected in coming days.
* Talks between South Korea and North Korea are set to take place Tuesday.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 advanced 0.1 percent to 2,751.34 as of 4 p.m. in New York. Its sixth straight gain is the longest rally since October.
* The Dow rose 0.4 percent to 25,386 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.4 percent, hitting the highest in more than two years with its fifth consecutive advance.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 0.3 percent, reaching the highest on record with its sixth consecutive advance.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 0.3 percent, the first retreat in more than a week and the largest decrease in two weeks.
                          Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.2 percent to the highest in more than a week.
* The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.1939.
* The British pound declined 0.2 percent to $1.354.
* The Japanese yen jumped 0.5 percent to 112.587per dollar, the first advance in a week and the biggest increase in more than a week.
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries jumped seven basis points to 2.55 percent, the highest since March.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.97 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 0.42 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased one basis point to 1.242 percent.
                          Commodities
* Gold futures fell 0.4 percent to $1,315 an ounce, the weakest in more than a week on the largest decrease in more than a month.
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.9 percent to $62.92 a barrel, the highest in more than two years.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

True strength is delicate.
-Louise Nevelson, 1899-1988

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