June 18, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Some other interesting stuff…

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled “Gentlemen   Only- Ladies Forbidden” thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
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The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and    Wilma Flintstone.
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Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.
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Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
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Coca-Cola was originally green.
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It is impossible to lick your elbow.
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The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work:
Alaska
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The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%  (now get this…)
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
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The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $ 16,400
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The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour:
61,000
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Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
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The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
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The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
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Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades – King David
Hearts – Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds – Julius Caesar
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111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

And…On this day in 1812, the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain began.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

This image provided by the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging in June 2015 shows pathways of signals in the brain from the Connectome Scanner dataset. The fibers are color-coded by direction: red is left-right, green is front-back and blue is up-down. Laboratory of Neuro Imaging/AP

Race goers arrive on Ladies Day at Royal Ascot, just south of London, Britain, Thursday. Toby Melville/Reuters

Market Closes for June 18^th, 2015

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

There’s a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars. –John Kenneth Galbraith

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rebounded from a three-month low as gold producers rallied after the price of the metal jumped the most in five weeks.

     Torex Gold Resources Inc. climbed 5.6 percent as gold rose above $1,200 an ounce after the Federal Reserve signaled interest-rate hikes will be gradual. Trilogy Energy Corp. and Birchcliff Energy Ltd. lost at least 3.3 percent to pace declines among energy companies. Bombardier Inc. increased 2.5 percent to rebound from two days of losses.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 37.66 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,770.64 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The gauge has advanced 0.9 percent this year, among the worst- performers in developed markets in the world.

     Eight of 10 industries in the benchmark index advanced on trading volume 6.5 percent below the 30-day average. BlackBerry Ltd. led technology shares lower, while TransCanada Corp. lost 0.4 percent and Suncor Energy Inc. slipped 1.3 percent as energy producers declined.

     Bombardier paced gains in industrial shares, rebounding 2.5 percent after a two-day slide of 8 percent. The aircraft manufacturer signed a five-year heavy maintenance pact with Mesa Air Group Inc. after being shut out of order at the Paris Air Show on the second day of the event.

     Goldcorp Inc. increased 1.8 percent and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. gained 3 percent as gold increased. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped to a one-month low after the Fed on Wednesday cut its longer-term projections for U.S. borrowing costs.

     Investors are also watching developments in Europe. Euro- area leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Monday to discuss Greece after finance ministers failed to reach an agreement today.

     Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said it’s “unthinkable” Greece will receive any financial aid before June 30, when its bailout agreement expires and the country has to pay about 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) to the International Monetary Fund.

US

By Jennifer Kaplan and Annelise Alexander

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied, with the Nasdaq Composite Index closing at a record, as the Federal Reserve signaled it will continue to support the economy even as growth picks up.

     Health-care and consumer shares in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained more than 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index jumped to an all-time high. Harley-Davidson Inc. climbed 4.2 percent amid positive analyst comments and an upgrade. Oracle Corp. fell 4.8 percent as quarterly revenue and profit missed analysts’ forecasts.

     The Nasdaq climbed 1.3 percent to 5,132.95 at 4 p.m. in New York, topping its record in May. The S&P 500 Index added 1 percent to 2,121.24, rising for a third straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 180.10 points, or 1 percent, to 18,115.84. The Russell 2000 Index advanced 1.3 percent to an all-time high. About 6.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 8.3 percent above the three-month average.

     “It’s a pretty rosy scenario here,” said Tom Mangan, who helps oversee about $6.4 billion as money manager at James Investment Research in Xenia, Ohio. “The market has discounted a lot of bad things and in fact there are some really good things happening. As long as the Fed is dragging their feet in terms of going back to what might be called a normal level of liquidity, then they are providing momentum for the economy.”

     Three rounds of Fed bond purchases and borrowing costs near zero have propelled the S&P 500 up by more than 200 percent during the six-year bull market. The index is down 0.5 percent from an all-time high reached in May.

     While the median forecast of Fed policy makers published Wednesday still calls for two interest-rate increases by year- end, more officials say just one would be enough in 2015. Still more advocate a go-slow approach to further tightening in 2016. Yellen yesterday stressed that the Fed has no set course for raising rates, and will continue to evaluate incoming data to decide when to move.

     Equity futures earlier extended gains after a report showed the cost of living in the U.S. excluding food and fuel rose less than forecast in May, a sign inflation may take time to meet the Fed’s goal. The so-called core measure increased 0.1 percent, the smallest gain this year. The overall consumer-price index advanced 0.4 percent, as fuel costs rebounded.                        

     A separate report showed fewer Americans than forecast filed for unemployment benefits last week, a sign labor market momentum continues to strengthen. Another gauge indicated manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region rose more than forecast this month.

     Euro-area finance ministers failed to reach a deal on Greece after meetings in Luxembourg, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said. Euro-area leaders will hold an emergency summit Monday in Brussels with Greece set to reach the end of its bailout agreement without receiving more aid.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 9 percent Thursday to 13.19. The gauge, known as the VIX, dropped for a third day on its way to the first weekly decline in three weeks. All 10 of the S&P 500’s main industries rallied, with health-care companies and utilities rising the most.

     Amgen Inc., Celgene Inc and Biogen Inc. each gained more than 2.7 percent to pace the health-care rally. The Nasdaq Biotech Index jumped 2.9 percent, the most since Jan. 16, to a record. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. soared 12 percent to an all-time high after the company said its experimental drug for dwarfism helped children in a mid-stage trial. Johnson & Johnson rose 1.7 percent, the most in six weeks.

     Consumer staples companies climbed for a third day amid the dollar’s slump. Altria Group Inc., Philip Morris International Inc. and Kraft Foods Group Inc. all increased more than 1.5 percent. The weaker U.S. currency makes their products more competitive abroad, and can help boost revenue when overseas sales are converted back into dollars.

     “We’re likely to see a bit of rotation on the equity market,” said Robert Sinche, a strategist at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. “Equities that were sold because of their foreign exposure may begin to reverse a little bit as we see signs of the dollar’s upward momentum breaking.”

     Harley-Davidson Inc. added 4.2 percent, the most since October, to reach a two-month high. Shares rose 3.6 percent Wednesday as the company boosted its stock-buyback plan. UBS AG today raised its rating on the shares to buy from neutral.

     Ralph Lauren Corp. rose 3.6 percent, its biggest gain since November, after Credit Suisse reiterated its outperform rating, saying the company’s progress on its restructuring initiatives is “encouraging.” Amazon.com Inc. increased 2.7 percent to an eight-week high.

     General Motors Co. increased 1.1 percent, the most in three weeks. Fitch raised the automaker’s credit rating to investment grade.

     Semiconductors climbed for a fourth day to lead the technology group. Microchip Technology Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. added more than 1.7 percent, while Intel Corp. increased 1.4 percent.

     Among other tech shares, Juniper Networks Inc. rose 1.7 percent after Wedbush Securities Inc. raised the shares to outperform from neutral. Microsoft Corp. advanced 1.6 percent, up for a third day after going 21 sessions without back-to-back gains.

     Energy shares in the benchmark had the smallest advance amid mixed trading. Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum Corp. added more than 1.2 percent, while Ensco Plc, Noble Corp. and Transocean Ltd. lost at least 2.9 percent. Oil States International Inc. fell 5.5 percent, the most since January, after trimming its second-quarter sales forecasts, citing a downturn in its well site services segment.

     Jabil Circuit Inc. lost 7.4 percent, the most in 18 months, as its fiscal fourth-quarter forecast trailed analysts’ estimates.

     Rite Aid Corp. dropped 3.6 percent after the drugstore chain said earnings for the fiscal year would be lower than an earlier forecast, reflecting the results of an acquisition.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Death is extraordinarily like life,

when we know how to live.

You cannot live without dying.

You cannot live if you do not die

psychologically every minute.

Krishnamurti

As ever,

Carolann

There is one art of which every man should be a master: the art of reflection. 

If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a man at all?

                                                     –Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

Senior Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7