July 26, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Birthdays:
1943, Mick Jagger
1894, Aldous Huxley
1856, George Bernard Shaw
1875, Carl Jung

And….
On July 26, 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fireflies seeking mates light up in synchronized bursts inside a forest at Santa Clara sanctuary near the town of Nanacamilpa, Tlaxcala state, Mexico. CREDIT: EDGARD GARRIDO/REUTERS.

This stunning photograph shows lightning striking a tree. Weather photographer Christophe Suarez captures the jaw-dropping image near a village called Novalaise, close to Chambary in the French Alps. The picture shows lightning bolt flare yellow as it hits the tree. There are also mysterious points of lightning spreading left and right from the strike, which Christophe says are “most probably corona discharges on a fence”. CREDIT: CHRISTOPHE SUAREZ/COVER IMAGES.

An aerial view of the Datong Panda Power Plan where solar panels are placed to form the pattern of a panda in Datong, Shanxi Province of China. The worlds first panda power plant will officially start operations on 10 August 2017, where it will have a total installed capacity of 100MW upon completion, providing 3.2 billion kWh of green energy in 25 years. This is equivalent to saving 1.056 million tons of standard coal or reducing 2.74 million tons of CO2 emission according to the company. CREDIT: HOW HWEE YOUNG/EPA.

‘Every Which Way’ The British Evacuees Association Memorial after it was unveiled today by HRH The Duke of Gloucester at The National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire. The bronze sculpture by Maurice Blik PPRBS FRSA, is to remember and commemorate the evacuation in WWII which led to the displacement of 3.5 million people, most of whom were children leaving the cities to live in the countryside. Many former evacuees attended the service, including television presenter and Patron of the Association, Michael Aspel OBE, who spent five years living in Chard, Somerset after he was evacuated from London. CREDIT: CHRISTPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES.
Market Closes for July 26th, 2017 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1786, the earliest known U.S. stock and bond tables are published in the Massachusetts Centinel.
Canada
By Natalie Wong
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell as industrial stocks slid to the lowest level in more than two months, outweighing gains in raw-material producers.
     The S&P/TSX composite index fell 0.2 percent to 15,171.39 at the close of trading. Industrials dropped 1.1 percent, the most among 11 industry groups, to the lowest since May 18.
Canadian National Railway Co. lost 2.4 percent, Westjet Airlines Ltd. slipped 2.8 percent and Air Canada decreased 1.6 percent.
     Consumer-staples shares slipped 0.8 percent. Loblaw Cos Ltd. lost 3.8 percent and Metro Inc. fell 1.8 percent as Canadian grocers face a 2018 wage spike on top of a food price war. Weston (George) Ltd. declined to the lowest in four months.
     Materials stocks gained 1.2 percent. Hudbay Minerals Inc.
was the best performer, rising 6.3 percent as copper prices rallied two-year high on the outlook for demand in China. B2Gold Corp rose 3.7 percent, ending a six-day streak of declines.
Yamana Gold Inc. increased 5.2 percent.
     In other moves:
* Celestica Inc. dropped 5.7 percent, the most since Jan. 2016, and was the worst-performing stock on the index after its third quarter revenue guidance midpoint missed the lowest analyst estimate
* Exchange Income Corp. rose 5 percent, cutting a four-day decline of 13 percent, becoming the best-performing industrials stock
* Health care rose 0.3 percent as Canopy Growth Corp. jumped 5.1 percent, the intraday highest since May.
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — Treasuries rose, the dollar fell and U.S.
stocks ended little changed after the Federal Reserve signaled that inflation remains persistently below its target even as the economy picks up steam. Oil surged to an eight-week high.
     The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell to the lowest in more than a year, while the 10-year Treasury yield slipped back below 2.3 percent after the Fed held rates steady and indicated it would start unwinding its balance sheet “relatively soon.” The S&P 500 Index erased gains in the final 15 minutes of trading.
Results from AT&T Inc. to Boeing Co. bolstered other major indexes. Facebook Inc. rose 2 percent in late trading after reporting its earnings. Crude climbed above $48 a barrel as stockpiles shrank.
     The Fed that inflation remains below the central bank’s 2 percent target even as near-term risks to the economic outlook appear “roughly balanced,” fueling speculation the central bank won’t rush to raise rates. Balancing that dovish bent, the start of balance-sheet reduction another milestone as the Fed looks to return policy to a more normalized level.
     The central bank decision overshadowed a raft of corporate earnings, during a season that’s seen more than 80 percent of S&P 500 companies that have delivered earnings beat forecasts. That’s boosted optimism in the global economy and pushing volatility toward record lows.

          Here are some key events coming up:
* Results from Facebook Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Nomura Holdings Inc., BNP Paribas SA and UBS Group AG are among those expected this week.

    Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 gained less than 0.1 percent to end at 2,477.87 as of 4 p.m. in New York, extending its all-time high by less than one point. It rose as much as 0.2 percent earlier in the session, with earnings delivering outsize moves for some stocks.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 21,700 for the first time. Small caps in the Russell 2000 Index slid 0.6 percent.
* Boeing Co. jumped 9.9 percent to a record, while AT&T added 5 percent, the most since 2009.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.5 percent, the biggest gain in a week.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.2 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index climbed 0.3 percent.

     Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.6 percent.
* The yen rose 0.6 percent to 111.247 per dollar after declining 0.7 percent on Tuesday. 

     Commodities
* Gold futures erased losses to trade 0.7 percent higher at $1,266 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 1.8 percent to settle at $48.75 a barrel, the highest since May 30. Government data showed U.S. crude and products stockpiles tumbled last week to their lowest levels since the start of the year.
* Copper gained 1.7 percent to settle at $6.329 a metric ton in London. Read more about copper’s rally here.
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index climbed 0.7 percent. 

     Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell five basis points to 2.29 percent, after surging eight basis points in the previous session.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to 0.56 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 1.233 percent after data showed the U.K. economy expanded 0.3 percent in the second quarter, matching estimates.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Answer for yourselves what your great soldiers and generals would do,
if their wives and daughters and mothers refused to countenance their participation
in militarism in any shape or form.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever, 

Carolann

Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.
                           -Robert A. Heinlein, 1907-1988 

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
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com