July 30, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: HAPPY MONDAY!

From today’s NY Times:

“We rise from the perusal of ‘Wuthering Heights’ as if we had come fresh from a pest-house,” a critic wrote when the book was published in 1847. 

Other reviewers deemed it “coarse” or “repulsive.” 

A farmhouse, pictured circa 1940, near Haworth in Yorkshire, England, which is thought to have inspired the setting for “Wuthering Heights.”
Val Doone/Getty Images 

Its author, Emily Brontë, born 200 years ago today in Thornton, England, died of tuberculosis at 30, a year after publishing her tale of quasi-incestuous love between the savage (yet irresistibly compelling) Heathcliff and the selfish (but beautiful) Catherine. She would never see her novel, published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, become the template for a thousand future romance stories. 

Today there are some 60 translations and multiple film versions of “Wuthering Heights,” including in Japanese and Spanish (directed by Luis Buñuel). 

Emily, the middle of three literary Brontë sisters (Charlotte wrote “Jane Eyre,” Anne wrote “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”), rarely left home and had few friends. Naïve, stubborn and prickly, she gravitated to animals and the Yorkshire moors, where “Wuthering Heights” is set. She was also a poet. 

And in the estimation of Virginia Woolf, she was a genius on a par with Jane Austen, writing without fear of what the male-dominated literary world might think. 

“I have never seen her parallel in anything,” Charlotte Brontë said after Emily died in 1848. “Stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her nature stood alone.” 

Nancy Wartik wrote today’s Back Story, New York Times, July 30, 2018

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Britain’s Geraint Thomas, left, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey and Britain’s Christopher Froome
toast with Champagne during the 21st and last stage of the 105th edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Houilles and Paris Champs-Elysees. Credit: Marco Berorello/AP

Skydivers are seen plummeting towards the Pyramids in Egypt in amazing footage captured by Bruno Brokken from Spain. Credit: Bruno Brokken/Caters News Agency

Gale force winds and large waves batter the coast in Porthleven, Cornwall. Credit: Mike Thomas
Market Closes for July 30^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian equities were dragged lower for a second day by a rout in technology stocks, which accounted for two of the top three index movers, even though tech is a tiny part of the total benchmark.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 48 points or 0.3 percent to 16,345.47, the lowest close in more than three weeks. The tech sector tumbled 3.8 percent for the biggest two-day decline since 2013. Shopify Inc., which is scheduled to report earnings Tuesday morning, lost 8.4 percent, the most since October.
     Energy shares were the biggest gainers, adding 0.5 percent as crude prices jumped the most in more than a month. Paramount Resources Ltd. rose 3.6 percent and Precision Drilling Corp. gained 2.6 percent.
     In other moves:
                            Stocks
* West Fraser Timber Co. fell 3.6 percent to close at the lowest since December and Canfor Corp. fell 5.6 percent, the most in two years. BMO Capital Markets said the second quarter may be “as good as it gets” for lumber stocks
* Canada Goose Holdings Inc. slid 6.6 percent. The company’s equity lockup period expires in a week
* WSP Global Inc. gained 1.2 percent. The engineering firm is buying Berger Group Holdings Inc. for $400 million
                            Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $29.00 discount to WTI, the widest gap since February
* Gold fell 0.1 percent to $1,221.30 an ounce, the lowest in a year
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to C$1.3033 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield was little changed at 2.30 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — The biggest technology shares led a retreat in stocks as investors showed signs of exhaustion with the sector. Government bonds declined and oil rallied.
     The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 1.4 percent as the gauge posted its biggest three-day loss since March. The FANG cohort of tech megacaps tumbled almost 3 percent, led by Netflix Inc., leaving the group down more than 9 percent since Facebook Inc.’s disappointing earnings results last week.
     “The Nasdaq is tired,” Steven Quirk, the executive vice president of trading at TD Ameritrade, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “There needs to be some more breadth to the rally.”
     The euro strengthened and the dollar dropped. U.S. oil futures climbed past $70 a barrel for the first time in more than a week as a weaker greenback boosted the appeal of commodities and concerns over supply disruptions persisted.
     Concern that tech shares have become overvalued are hanging over the market as bellwether Apple Inc. prepares to report earnings Tuesday. Equity strategists are telling clients to allocate more defensively, with Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson saying the sector is showing signs of “exhaustion” after months of outperformance.
     Investors are also prepping for central bank policy decisions, with traders focused on whether the BOJ will fine tune its policy and look for any indications the Federal Reserve is shying away from two more interest-rate hikes before the end of this year. Meanwhile, the Bank of England is widely expected to increase borrowing costs.
     Elsewhere, emerging-market stocks slipped after a four-day winning streak. Turkey’s lira fell as the country’s president showed little regard for potential U.S. sanctions.
     Here are some key events coming up this week:
* The U.S. Treasury is set to release its funding program for the next three months on Aug. 1.
* Earnings season continues with Berkshire Hathaway, Barclays, Tesla, Toyota, BMW, and Rio Tinto among companies reporting results.
* Central banks in the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Brazil and India all meet this week. The BOJ may tweak its yield-curve control policy and cut its CPI forecasts, while the Bank of England is expected to hike even amid Brexit gloom. The Fed is seen standing pat, as is Brazil’s central bank. The RBI will probably raise its benchmark.
* U.S. personal spending and income data for June — coming Tuesday — may be steady. Then it’s the jobs report on Friday, which is predicted to show a healthy labor market, with 193,000 new jobs, and an unemployment rate slipping back to 3.9 percent.
* China’s PMIs probably edged down in July, analysts say, buffeted by a deleveraging agenda and a trade war.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                            Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index slipped 0.6 percent at the close of trading in New York; the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.4 percent while the Dow dipped 0.6 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index dropped 0.2 percent.
                            Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2 percent.
* The euro rose 0.4 percent to $1.1705.
* The British pound gained 0.2 percent to $1.3131.
* The Turkish lira fell 0.7 percent.
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 2.98 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose four basis points to 0.44 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped six basis points to 1.34 percent, the highest in almost seven weeks.
* Japan’s 10-year yield decreased less than one basis point to 0.091 percent.
                            Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index increased 0.6 percent to the highest in three weeks.
* West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 1.9 percent to $69.98 a barrel.
* Copper fell 0.3 percent to $2.7925 a pound.
* Gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,221.46 an ounce.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Lu Wang, Christopher Anstey, Eddie van der Walt and Samuel Potter. 

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade
they know they shall never sit in. -Greek Proverb.                              

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

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