March 27, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

POINTS OF PROGRESS
NORWAY
Surging ahead in  its uptake of electric cars, the country has now welcomed more than 100,000 all-electric vehicles onto its  roads, aiming for 400,000 by 2020. In 2015, about 2 percent of its car fleet was all-electric, double that of its closest competitor, the Netherlands.  Last year, reports emerged of a ban on gas and diesel cars by 2025, but analysts say electric vehicles will likely dominate by then anyway, not least because of the incentives – including tax and road toll exemptions, free parking in the city center, and bus lane access. –Triplepundit, Electrek, The Economist, The New York Times.

HAWAII
Humpback whales will get a helping hand as they retreat from Alaska each winter to the warmer waters off the Hawaiian islands.  Operation Kohola Guardian – a joint effort between the US Coast Guard and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources – seeks to keep them safe by monitoring the multitude of whale-watchers and fishermen and minimizing boat strikes and entanglement in fishing nets.  Some 12,000 whales make the journey each year. –Civil Beat.

AUSTRALIA
The resource-rich nation has seen 25 years without recession, bringing it within a whisker of the record set by the Netherlands between 1982 and 2008.  Though its economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2016, a surprise rise of 1.1 percent in the final quarter hauled the annual growth rate up to 2.4 percent – and prevented the country from slipping into recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. –BBC.

URUGUAY
Investment in the country’s hinterlands is set to explode with the assistance of a $600 million  credit line from the inter-American Development Bank.  Half of that money  is to be used on infrastructure – rural roads – with the aim of boosting agricultural productivity as well as passenger and cargo transit.  The other half is to target the governments of the 18 inland departments, strengthening their fiscal management capabilities and their abilities to develop strategic sectors of the economy. –Inter-American Development Bank, Mercopress.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (l.) receives a hongi, a traditional Maori greeting, from Maori elder Professor Piri Sciascia at Government House in Wellington, New Zealand, on Monday. Mr. Li is on three-day visit to New Zealand for high-level talks at a time that both countries are pushing to expand free trade. Mark Mitchell/NZ Herald/AP

Women wearing cheongsam pose for pictures on a walkway along a cliff during an event in Chongqing Municipality, China, on Sunday.Reuters

A passenger views the white cliffs of Dover, the closest British coastline to mainland Europe, from a cross-channel ferry between Dover in Britain and Calais in France on Monday. Toby Melville/Reuters
Market Closes for March 27^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
NUMBER OF THE DAY
$4.1 billion
America’s trade deficit in advanced “flexible manufacturing” goods with Japan, the European Union and Switzerland last year, according to Commerce Department data. The U.S. is losing the battle to supply the kind of cutting-edge production machinery that is powering the new automated factory floor, from digital machine tools to complex packaging systems and robotic arms. 
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian investors left the hand-wringing over U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies to the Americans, pushing stocks higher despite lower oil prices and ongoing concerns that the so-called Trump rally is faltering.
     The S&P/TSX Composite index gained 64 points or 0.4 percent to 15,506.22 even as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower. Banks, energy and materials stocks gained.
     The price of oil slipped 0.4 percent to $47.79 amid ongoing concerns about a global supply glut, but Canadian energy stocks rose 0.3 percent. NuVista Energy Ltd., Birchcliff Energy Ltd. and Crew Energy Inc. all gained more than 4.5 percent.
     In other moves:
* Pot stock Canopy Growth Corp. jumped 11.1 percent, its biggest gain since November 23, after CBC News reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will introduce legislation to legalize marijuana by July 1, 2018. The health-care index, which includes Canopy, gained 1.6 percent
* The materials index added 1.4 percent as Asanko Gold Inc. and Yamana Gold Inc. both gained more than 4 percent. Gold prices rose 0.6 percent.
US
By Oliver Renick
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell, dropping for a 7th day in 8, after President Trump and House Republicans failed to pass his health-care bill, undermining optimism he can enact his promised growth policies.
* S&P 500 index ends 0.1% lower at 2,342 at 4pm after paring early losses of as much as 0.9%
** Loss last week was the most since the week before the election
* Dow Industrials down 0.2% to 20,545
* Financial and industrial shares down, losing at least 0.4% after paring steep declines in early trading
** Morgan Stanley, Capital One and Charles Schwab among worst performers, down at least 1.5%
* Utility and real-estate shares reversed early gains to end the day as the biggest underperformers; 10-year Treasury yield fell 4bps to 2.37%
* Crude oil down 0.4% amid concern that global stockpiles are swollen, even as producers pledged to consider extending a deal to reduce output; energy stocks down 0.4%
* With the drama over the Republican effort to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act over, Trump said he’s ready to move on to tax reform
** House Speaker Paul Ryan said the failure of the health-care bill has made tax overhaul more difficult
* “The obstacles to tax reform are at least as great as those that blocked the health-care bill,” Tan Kai Xian, an analyst at consultancy GaveKal Research, wrote in a note; “it is now abundantly clear that fiscal and regulatory reforms are going to take a lot longer to accomplish than many investors previously hoped”
* VIX fell to 12.50 after earlier climbing to the highest since November
* Volume 8.4% lower than YTD average
* ECONOMY:
** Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said in interview with Bloomberg News that two rate hikes may be right for U.S. economy
** Dallas Fed March manufacturing survey at 16.9 vs 24.5 in the prior month; estimate 22
* EARNINGS (S&P 500):
** Pre-market Tuesday: Carnival (CCL)
* Stoxx Europe 600 Index down 0.4% with a gauge for the basic resources sector dropping 3.3%
** Mining stocks had been been among the biggest beneficiaries of the Trump rally that began in November

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

Every human benefit, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise.
                                                                               -Edmund Burke, 1729-1797

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

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