July 17, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends, 

Tangents:

THE POEM:
The Rye
By Fiona Sampson

Her we are walking
in the moonlight through fields
of rye we pass through
their pale sea in
the summer night three
of us walking between
the bent heads the feathered
napes of holy rye
where we pass the field
opens the moon silvers
the path ahead of us
three of walking one
will carry on and carry
on long after two
have called their dogs home
one will walk a strait
path through the silver
fields that do not end. 

From “Beyond the Hill”, a collaboration with photographer Jan-Peter Lahall.  Fiona Sampson was poet-in-residence at Ledbury Poetry Festival, June 30-July 9, poetry-festival.co.uk.

On July17, 1918, Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed.
On July 17, 1975, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower linkup of its kind.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY

A wildfire spreads down a hillside near Mariposa, Calif. NOAH BERGER/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
Market Closes for July 17^th, 2017 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day 1995, The Nasdaq Composite Index rises 6.56 points to close at 1005.89, its first finish above the 1000 barrier.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks slipped as a big gain in miners on better-than-expected Chinese growth wasn’t enough to offset declines elsewhere.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell nine points or 0.1 percent to 15,165.36. Materials stocks jumped 1.5 percent as copper rose to the highest in four months and gold posted its biggest two- day gain in almost six weeks. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. added 8.8 percent and Hudbay Minerals Inc. rose 6.6 percent.
     Financials lost 0.3 percent as bond yields slipped, giving up some of their recent rally. Industrials fell 0.6 percent and consumer staples lost 0.7 percent, led by a 1.3 percent decline in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
     In other moves:
* Colliers International Group Inc. tumbled 7.7 percent following a downgrade at Sidoti & Co.
* Dominion Diamond Corp. gained 5.6 percent. The company reached a sweetened $1.2-billion takeover agreement with Washington Cos.
* WestJet Airlines Ltd. lost 3.3 percent and Air Canada fell 2.6 percent. Both stocks were downgraded by analysts at Macquarie, who cited macro risks.
US
By Samuel Potter
     (Bloomberg) — Stocks were little changed Monday as metals climbed on better-than-expected Chinese growth. The pound fell as Brexit negotiations resumed.
     The S&P 500 Index stalled after reaching a record on Friday while the Nasdaq 100 was fractionally higher. The Stoxx Europe
600 Index swung between gains to losses after a report showed stagnating consumer prices in the euro area. Iron ore, zinc and copper benefited from figures showing China’s economy expanded faster than anticipated in the second quarter. The dollar steadied after a five-day losing streak. Treasury yields slipped.
     With U.S. equity markets continuing to flirt with new highs, investor appetite for risk remains robust. Citigroup Inc.’s Global Risk Aversion Macro Index, which measures tolerance across a series of asset classes, is at a three-year low and in line with levels seen before the 2008 financial crisis.
     The strong growth statistics for the world’s second biggest economy followed U.S. inflation data last week that undermined the case for tighter monetary policy and pushed stocks to record levels. European data was largely in line with expectations, leaving investors to weigh three days of gains against the uncertainty of a European Central Bank meeting this week and the ramping up of the earnings season.
          On the radar this week:
* The ECB meets Thursday. Bloomberg Intelligence expects no change then, and no rate hike before 2019. Reuters cited unidentified officials as saying the bank is keen to keep asset purchases open-ended.
* The Bank of Japan is forecast to stand pat at its meeting Thursday.
* Round two of Brexit talks get underway in Brussels.
* Australia’s central bank on Tuesday releases minutes of its July 4 gathering. Government data on the labor market is due Thursday.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
     Stocks
* The S&P 500 closed down a fraction at 2,459.16, after hitting an all-time high on Friday.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped a few points to 21,631.92 following Friday’s record close. The Nasdaq 100 Index gained less than 0.1 percent.
* Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index was essentially flat even as miners climbed 0.9 percent.
     Currencies
* The euro added 0.1 percent to $1.1482, and the pound lost 0.3 percent to $1.3056.
* Bloomberg’s Dollar Spot Index rose less than 0.1 percent.
     Bonds
* The 10-year yield on U.S. Treasuries declined two basis points to 2.31 percent after dropping five basis points last week.
* The yield on German 10-year bunds fell two basis points, while the yield on French benchmark bonds dropped one basis point.
     Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.2 percent to $45.98 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,234.13 an ounce.
* Iron ore added 4.8 percent, copper climbed 1.4 percent and zinc gained 1 percent.
     Asia
* Despite the GDP data the Shanghai Composite Index retreated
1.4 percent amid concerns over the implications of a weekend meeting where President Xi Jinping said the central bank would play a greater role in defending against risks.
* The kiwi fell after the deputy governor of New Zealand’s central bank said a lower currency would help rebalance growth.
* Japanese markets were closed for Marine Day. South Korea’s Kospi Index advanced to an all-time high.
By Adam Haigh
     (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks were poised for a mixed start to trading, while futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index were buoyed by strong subscriber growth figures at Netflix Inc.
     With little headway made in the European and U.S. sessions, equity-index futures across the Asia-Pacific region point to a stalling in the recent rally with Japanese markets reopening after a holiday. The pound held losses as U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis resumed divorce talks with the European Union and investors awaited inflation data. The dollar steadied after a five-day losing streak. Netflix soared more than 10 percent in after-hours U.S. trading as its overseas business grew.
     Global equities remain at an all-time high after more than $10 trillion was added to their value this year and a gauge of investor appetite for risk remains robust. Citigroup Inc.’s Global Risk Aversion Macro Index, which measures tolerance across many asset classes, is at a three-year low and in line with levels seen before the 2008 financial crisis. Earnings season is gathering pace with heavyweights from Johnson & Johnson to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the calendar for Tuesday.
          Here are some key upcoming events:
* All eyes will be on the U.K. Tuesday when the government releases its inflation data for June. The readings will get extra attention following some recent flip-flopping by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on the need to raise interest rates. Within a span of about a week late last month, he went from saying this is not the time to raise rates to saying policy makers may need to begin raising them.
* The European Central Bank meets Thursday. Bloomberg Intelligence expects no change then, and no rate hike before 2019. Reuters cited unidentified officials as saying the bank is keen to keep asset purchases open-ended.
* The Bank of Japan is forecast to stand pat at its meeting Thursday.
* Round two of Brexit talks gets underway in Brussels.
* Australia’s central bank on Tuesday releases minutes of its July 4 gathering. Government data on the labor market is due Thursday.
     Here are the main moves in markets:
* Nasdaq 100 Index futures rose in the final minutes of trading and held gains in early Tuesday trading following the Netflix results. S&P 500 Index futures were flat.
* The S&P slipped less than 0.1 percent to close Monday at 2,459.14. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index was essentially flat even as a gauge of raw-materials firms climbed 0.9 percent.
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1 percent.
* The 10-year yield on U.S. Treasuries declined two basis points to 2.31 percent on Monday after dropping five basis points last week.
* Iron ore on the Dalian exchange surged 4.1 percent.
* WTI crude was little changed at $46.01 per barrel.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.                      

Be magnificent!

I am proud to tell you that I belong to a religion in whose sacred language,
the Sanskrit, the word exclusion is untranslatable.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever, 

Carolann 

To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand.
                         -Jose Ortega Y Gasset, 1883-1955
 

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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