June 15, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Carolann is out of the office this afternoon, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Gardener Roswitha Domine stands in a pond of the greenhouse at Berlin’s Botanical Garden to inspect a large leaf of a Victoria water-lily, as last preparations are under way before the greenhouse’s re-opening at the upcoming weekend following extensive reconstruction. Credit: Jens Kalaene/AFP/Getty Images

Participants cycle the Furkapass during the 82^nd Tour of Switzerland 2018. Credit: Tim De Waele/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth arrives at Runcorn Station to carry out engagements in Cheshire accompanied by the Duchess of Sussex. Credit: Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph
Market Closes for June 15^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks couldn’t maintain their winning streak, retreating as President Donald Trump announced tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports, adding to growing fears of a trade war.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 34 points or 0.2 percent to 16,294.69 at 9:55 a.m. in Toronto. Materials stocks fell the most, losing 1.2 percent as both precious and base metals retreated. Teck Resources Ltd. slid 4.9 percent.
     The energy sector lost 0.5 percent as crude prices fell 1.4 percent. OPEC members were set to clash on raising production at a meeting next week.
     In other moves:
                          Stocks
* Canada Goose Holdings Inc. jumped 22 percent to a record high after posting a surprise profit in the fourth quarter
* Paramount Resources Ltd. rose 4.7 percent. The company agreed to sell some oil and gas holdings to Waterous Energy Fund’s Strath Resources
* Maxar Technologies Ltd. fell 1.8 percent after settling a lawsuit.
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $18.00 discount to WTI
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $2.12 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold fell 1.6 percent to $1,287.60 an ounce, the biggest drop in a month
                           FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.5 percent to C$1.3169 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell five basis points to 2.22 percent
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Janine Wolf
     (Bloomberg) — Stocks fell on the final day of a week that included the U.S.-North Korea summit, major central bank meetings and escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
     The S&P 500 Index declined in heavy trading on a quadruple- witching Friday, a quarterly event when futures and options contracts on indexes and individual stocks expire. The U.S. and China spent the day exchanging tariff threats, which drove down tech and industrial stocks, while a drop in the price of oil hit energy shares. Consumer staples and telecoms advanced, offsetting some of the drop, and the index finished with a weekly gain, if only barely.
     Treasury yields dipped and Italian debt led a rally in European bonds, which was triggered a day earlier by the ECB ruling out a rise in interest rates until the second half of 2019. The euro gained after Thursday’s slump and the dollar was steady. West Texas crude slipped in the run-up to next week’s OPEC meeting, where a clash over production limits is brewing.
     With reports suggesting America is already preparing a second list of targeted goods worth as much as $100 billion, China said it doesn’t want a trade war but would have to counter. Stocks in the country fell earlier, and the Shanghai Composite gauge closed at its lowest level since September 2016.
     Emerging markets remain under pressure as worries about an overhaul of Argentina’s central-bank leadership roil the peso. South Korea’s won and Colombia’s peso led declines Friday. Meanwhile, Russia’s ruble pared a decline after the central bank extended a pause in monetary easing and said its shift to looser policy needs to be slower.
     Here are the main market moves:
                         Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index decreased 0.1 percent as of 4:01 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 1 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index sank 1.7 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index decreased 0.7 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 1 percent to the lowest in six months.
                         Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained less than 0.05 percent.
* The euro gained 0.4 percent to $1.1609.
* The British pound gained 0.1 percent to $1.3278.
* The Japanese yen advanced less than 0.05 percent to 110.61 per dollar.
                          Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 2.92 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.40 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to 1.328 percent.
                          Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 3.4 percent to $64.64 a barrel, the biggest drop in over two weeks.
* Gold sank 1.7 percent to $1,280.15 an ounce.
* LME copper sank 2.2 percent to $7,020 per metric ton, the lowest in more than a week.

Have a great weekend!

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Karen

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville

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