March 14, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On March 14, 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.
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On March 14^th, 1826, Sir Walter Scott wrote in his Journal:

Also read again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen’s very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice.  That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with.  The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me.   What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sleet falls on cherry tree blossoms on Capitol Hill in Washington early Tuesday. A late-season storm is dumping a messy mix of snow, sleet, and rain on the mid-Atlantic, complicating travel, knocking out power and closing schools and government offices in the region. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

A man walks in front of a video projection in the exhibition ‘Monet 2 Klimt’ in Dresden Germany, on Tuesday. During the exhibition, paintings of Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Gustav Klimt will be projected in a multimedia show. Sebastian Kahnert/dpa/AP

A couple walk through St. James’s Park in London on Tuesday. Toby Melville/Reuters

A horse and buggy drive through a winter snowstorm on Tuesday in Salisbury, Pa. Matt Slocum/AP
Market Closes for March 14^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1907, the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 8.3% to 76.23 as the Panic of 1907 begins to take hold.
Number of the Day
$4 billion
William Ackman’s Pershing Square sold its stake in struggling drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals, taking a roughly $4 billion loss.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell to their lowest since December as a double-digit decline at Valeant Pharmaceuticals weighed on healthcare stocks and oil prices fell for the seventh day in a row.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 1.1% to 15,379.61, its lowest close since Dec. 30, as health-care stocks fell 4.6 percent. Valeant plunged 10 percent after activist investor Bill Ackman, who once bet big on a turnaround at the drugmaker, sold his entire stake in the company. Short interest in Valeant peaked at the highest level in six years.
     Materials stocks fell 2.4 percent as several gold producers, including Iamgold, New Gold and B2Gold lost more than 6 percent. The energy index fell 1.6 percent as West Texas Intermediate fell for the seventh consecutive day to close at $47.72.
     In other moves:
* Alimentation Couche-Tard fell 4.8 percent after third-quarter profit missed estimates on lower U.S. fuel margins
* MEG Energy, Baytex Energy and NuVista Energy lost more than 6 percent
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks declined ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision tomorrow as lower oil prices weighed on energy companies.
     The S&P 500 Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,365.45 at 4 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 44 points to 20,837.37. The S&P 500 closed little changed on Monday, after last week ending a streak of six consecutive weekly gains.
* 10 of 11 sectors in S&P 500 down, with consumer discretionary stocks up less than 0.1%
* Russell 2000 Index down 0.6%
* Energy shares weighed on market, down 1.1% to lowest level since Nov. 4; oil down 0.9% for seventh straight decline — longest losing streak since Jan.
* Volume: 6.2 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, about 9% below 2017 average
* VIX up 1 point to 12.3 for biggest single-day advance in a month
* Snap down for fourth straight session to $20.58
* With the earnings season largely done, about three-quarters of S&P 500 members beat profit estimates, and about half have exceeded sales forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
* Central bank updates from Japan, the U.K., Switzerland and Indonesia are also due this week — all are expected to stand pat with policy decisions
* Major winter storm hitting U.S. East Coast early Tuesday has lost “blizzard” warning status
* ECONOMY:
** Feb. NFIB Small Business Optimism remains near highest since 2004 but falls to 105.3; Est. 105.6
** U.S. producer prices rose more than forecast in February, while costs increased from a year earlier by the most since March 2012
* EARNINGS:
** After-market Tuesday: Keane Group (FRAC)
** Pre-market Wednesday: none
* In Europe, stocks declined and the CAC 40 index of French companies dropped as French presidential candidate Francois Fillon was charged with misuse of public funds

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Perceive the souls through the soul and you will become the Supreme soul…
There are two sides of the consciousness: the soul and the Supreme Soul…
one the seed and the other, entirety.  You must have seen how small the seed of the banyan tree is.
You must also have seen how expansive the tree is.
It is difficult to even imagine that such a small seed can become so big.
The soul is the seed of a banyan tree and the Supreme Soul its development.
Acharya Mahaprajna

As ever,

Carolann 

Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
                                             -Isaac Newton, 1643-1727

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
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