June 9, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

This is something we should all read at least once a week!

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood, the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets and wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Given time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport holds up her doctoral certificate during a ceremony at the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany. Syllm-Rapoport wasn’t allowed to defend her doctoral thesis in 1938 under the Nazis because she was part Jewish. Now, 77 years later, she’s completed all the requirements and is becoming Germany’s oldest recipient of a doctorate at age 102. Bodo Marks/AP

A visitor walks at a path lined with small shrine arches, or ‘torii’ gates, at the entrance of a shrine in Tokyo. Eugene Hoshiko/AP

Market Closes for June 9^th, 2015

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Money amplifies our tendency to overreact, to swing from exuberance when things are going well to deep depression when they go wrong. –Niall Ferguson.

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, snapping a three-day decline, as energy producers rebounded with the price of crude amid signs U.S. shale producers will reduce their output.

     Pengrowth Energy Corp. soared 9.7 percent after the stock’s rating was upgraded by analysts at National Bank Financial.  Bankers Petroleum Ltd. and Husky Energy Inc. increased at least 2.4 percent as energy producers advanced the most in the benchmark Canadian equity gauge. Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. jumped 7.6 percent to lead financial-services companies higher.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 74.38 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,817.71 at 4 p.m. in Toronto, rebounding from a March low yesterday. The gauge had tumbled 2.7 percent in the past three days.

     Suncor Energy Inc. increased 2.3 percent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 1.2 percent as energy producers rallied 1.5 percent as a group. Five of 10 industries increased on trading volume 6.6 percent lower than the 30-day average.

     West Texas Intermediate crude surged 3.4 percent to settle at $60.14 a barrel in New York. Output from U.S. shale producers will shrink through July to the lowest level since January, the Energy Information Administration reported Monday.

     First Quantum Minerals Ltd. climbed 5.6 percent and Teck Resources Ltd. added 2.6 percent as copper futures capped the longest rally in five weeks with a third straight gain.

US

By Oliver Renick

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks were little changed, after equities reached a two-month low, as banks rallied amid higher bond yields while airlines weighed on transportation shares and technology companies slipped.

     Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. rose at least 1 percent. Procter & Gamble Co. gained 1.5 percent to lead consumer staples higher. Southwest Airlines Co. slumped amid concern that the domestic travel market is weakening. Technology shares fell for a fourth day, the longest stretch in three months.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose less than 0.1 percent to 2,080.15 at 4 p.m. in New York, and snapped a three-day losing streak. The index is down 2.4 percent since it last closed at a record on May 21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2.51 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,764.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.2 percent.

     “Equities are struggling to maintain their swagger, and it appears we’re transitioning to a wait-and-see mode as investors look forward to the dog days of summer, second-quarter earnings and the Fed raising rates,” said Terry Sandven, who helps oversee $126 billion as chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. “We’re likely to trend sideways based on complacency and uncertainty.”

     Reports on consumer sentiment and retail sales are due this week, both of which are forecast to show an improving economy. Jobs data last week showed the strongest hiring in five months and the biggest wage gains in two years, bolstering bets the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.                     

     Investors are also looking for signs of progress in Greece’s debt talks. The country submitted fresh proposals to its creditors in a bid to unlock bailout funds with just three weeks to go before its financial safety net expires. Greece last week rejected a set of policy measures hammered out by creditor institutions, while creditors rebuffed a separate plan put forward by Greece.

     A gauge of stock volatility has been steadily rising, closing at the highest level in more than two months on Monday. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index had jumped 26 percent through Monday since this year’s low in May, and is trading above its average level for the past 12 months. The gauge, known as the VIX, fell 5.4 percent Tuesday to 14.47.

     Just as U.S. stocks threaten to give up their gains for the year, an indicator measuring how many companies are keeping the stock market aloft fell to its lowest level in eight months. So few shares have been left behind in the bull market that chart analysts view any sign that breadth is breaking down with concern.

     “It’s like we’re all waiting for a catalyst but we don’t really know where to look,” said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Plc in London. “Everyone’s trying to double guess when the Fed’s interest-rate hike will be and mixed data has not really made it too clear. You could buy on dips given the recent selloff, but you can also come up with a bunch of reasons not to invest.”

     Five of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups advanced, led by consumer staples, financial and raw-material companies. Technology and phone companies fell the most. About 5.9 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 7.4 percent below the three-month average.

     Procter & Gamble rallied 1.5 percent, the most since March, to boost consumer staples. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. climbed more than 1 percent.

     The KBW Bank Index added 0.9 percent, with KeyCorp and SunTrust Banks Inc. rising more than 1.3 percent. KeyCorp gained for a third day to its highest since June 2008. Insurers joined banks in advancing with Treasury yields. Lincoln National Corp. and American International Group Inc. gained 0.8 percent.

     Netflix Inc. increased 3.2 percent to an all-time high, amid speculation that the company may announce a stock split at its annual meeting tonight.

     H&R Block Inc., the biggest U.S. tax preparer, rose 2.3 percent as revenue climbed for a third straight year in fiscal 2015 driven by price increases and stronger sales of do-it- yourself tax-preparation products.                        

     A Bloomberg index of U.S. airlines retreated 0.7 percent, after paring an earlier 4.2 percent slide. It was the group’s sixth consecutive drop, the longest losing streak since October.

Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air Group Inc. tumbled more than 3 percent. JetBlue Airways Corp. slid 0.7 percent to a two-month low.

     The Dow Jones Transportation Average briefly fell more than 10 percent Monday from its most recent high, temporarily meeting the common definition of a correction, before trimming its drop.

     Akamai Technologies Inc. fell 2.7 percent, its biggest retreat in more than two months, after Macquarie Securities USA Inc. downgraded the shares to neutral from outperform. Micron Technology Inc. lost 2.8 percent, while Apple Inc. slipped 0.3 percent after erasing an earlier 1.7 percent drop.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Life is an aspiration.  Its mission is to strive after perfection, which is self-fulfillment.

The ideal must not be lowered because of our weaknesses or imperfections.

-Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.

                            -Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886

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