March 30, 2012 Newsletter

Hello All,

Tangents:

Two Cambridge graduates, Ed Moyse and Ross Harper, have come up with a unique way to pay off their student debt: selling their faces. Through their website, www.buymyface.co.uk, the former students sell advertising space on their faces. Companies can “buy” a day, and the two will then paint the company logo on their faces and go about their daily lives. Daily fees originally started at £1, but businesses are now paying up to £400 (approximately $630) due to an increase in popularity and demand. The two have been running this business for 182 days out of a total planned 366 — and they have already raised just over £33,000 (approximately $52,246). What a great example of viral marketing!

photos of the day

March 30, 2012

Children from the area of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture perform a Soma region traditional dance during a visit to the Belem presidential palace in Lisbon, Portugal.
Armando Franca/AP

Sculptures entitled Blue Men, by Ofra Zimbalista, are seen on the wall of a building on Borough High Street in south London.
Toby Melville/Reuters

Market Closes for March 30, 2012:

North American Markets

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Joseph Ciolli

March 30 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, paring a monthly decline, as commodity producers gained after gold advanced on a weaker dollar and oil rebounded from the year’s biggest drop.

Goldcorp, the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal by market value, increased 1.5 percent. China Gold International Resources Corp. jumped 3.4 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country’s second-largest energy company by market value, rose 1.9 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rebounded 52.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,392.18 in Toronto. It fell 2 percent this month after gains of 4.2 percent in January and 1.5 percent in February.

“Everybody’s hoping for a correction, so if there’s a dip, people are buying,” Sebastian van Berkom, a money manager at Van Berkom & Associates in Montreal, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$1.7 billion ($1.7 billion).

“A lot of investors missed the train when it was leaving the station. Every time there’s a check back in the market, they get back in because they have too much cash.  We’re climbing a wall of worry.”

The benchmark equity gauge fell this month as materials and energy shares slipped on signs of slower growth in China and rising crude stockpiles. The index rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter.

Materials companies increased today, driven by metals stocks. Gold completed a quarterly advance, climbing as the U.S. dollar dropped after European finance ministers agreed to increase rescue funds for indebted nations.

Goldcorp gained 1.5 percent to C$44.96. China Gold International Resources increased 3.4 percent to C$4.92.

Copper shares increased on signs of economic expansion in the U.S. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer was at 62.2 in March. Readings greater than 50 signal growth. The metal is set for its biggest quarterly gain since 2010.

Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, gained 2.6 percent to C$35.61. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia, increased 0.8 percent to C$15.69.

Energy stocks in the S&P/TSX increased as oil rose after reports showed that U.S. consumer sentiment and spending gained and euro-area finance ministers agreed to boost rescue funds.

Crude oil for May delivery advanced 0.2 percent, for a 4.2 percent gain in the quarter.

Canadian Natural Resources rose 1.9 percent to C$33.06.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd., which operates in Albania, increased 3.5 percent to C$4.12.

US

By Rita Nazareth

March 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, extending the biggest first-quarter advance since 1998 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as stronger-than-forecast growth in consumer sentiment and spending bolstered optimism in the economy.

Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Dow Chemical Co. advanced more than 1.2 percent to pace gains in commodity producers. Walt Disney Co. (DIS), the largest U.S. entertainment company by market value, climbed 1.8 percent after Lazard Ltd. raised its recommendation for the shares. Apple Inc. (AAPL), which has surged 48 percent in the first three months of 2012, retreated 1.7 percent today.

The S&P 500 rose 3.1 percent in March (SPX), rallying for a fourth straight month. The Dow added 2 percent since the end of February, posting a sixth month of gains. Both capped the longest stretches of monthly rallies since 2009.

Over the last 100 years, the Dow advanced 1.3 percent on average in April (INDU) and gained 57 percent of the time, according to data compiled by Bespoke Investment Group. The index rose an average 2.1 percent in April over the last 50 years and 2.9 percent in the past 20 years, the data showed, marking the best month for the Dow in both time frames.

Stocks rose today as Americans increased their spending by the most in seven months, Commerce Department data showed. Another report showed that the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final index of consumer sentiment climbed to 76.2, the highest since February 2011, from 75.3 last month. European (SXXP) governments capped fresh rescue lending at 500 billion euros ($666 billion), after a Germany-led coalition opposed a further expansion of the firewall.

Nine out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 rose today as energy, health-care and consumer-staple companies had the biggest gains. Twenty-seven out of 30 companies in the Dow advanced. Commodity shares gained as the S&P GSCI index of raw materials added 0.7 percent. Halliburton, the world’s largest provider of hydraulic-fracturing services, rose 1.3 percent to $33.19. Dow Chemical, the biggest U.S. chemical maker, increased 1.4 percent to $34.64.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) climbed 3 percent to $31.17. The 4.8 percent drop in the oil and gas company’s shares yesterday after the occurrence of a flash fire at the Williams Partners LP- operated Lathrop compressor station in Pennsylvania was “overblown,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a note. Disney added 1.8 percent, the biggest advance in the Dow, to $43.78 after Lazard raised its recommendation for the shares to buy from neutral. Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) jumped 7.1 percent to $14.70. The maker of BlackBerry smartphones said it plans to refocus on the business market and review strategic options after struggling to compete against Android devices and Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Vivus Inc. (VVUS) gained 5.1 percent to $22.36 and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNA) rose 1.2 percent to $3.08. The biopharmaceutical companies, which are competing to win U.S. regulatory approval for weight-loss treatments, probably won’t be affected by an advisory panel’s recommendation for heart-risk studies, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said.

Financial shares, which had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 among 10 groups this quarter, swung between gains and losses today before closing 0.5 percent high. The KBW Bank Index rose 0.3 percent today, after falling as much as 0.8 percent earlier.

Technology shares, which comprise 21 percent of the S&P 500, had the only decline among 10 industries today. The group had the second-biggest advance in the S&P 500 this quarter, surging 21 percent.

Apple, the most valuable technology (S5INFT) company, lost 1.7 percent to $599.55. An audit of Foxconn Technology Group, the biggest maker of Apple devices, found “serious and pressing” violations of Chinese labor laws, prompting the company to pledge to cut working hours and give employees more oversight.

The S&P 500 ended the first quarter 3.4 percent above the 1,362 mean year-end projection of strategists surveyed by Bloomberg. The index slumped 0.9 percent over the previous three days on concern this year’s rally has outpaced prospects for economic growth.

“The best of 2012 is probably behind us,” Alan Brown, chief investment officer at Schroders Plc, said in a telephone interview from London. His firm oversees $291 billion. “We’ve had a very substantial rally. I’m not sure where the fresh round of good news comes from that we haven’t already discounted in today’s prices. I’m rather more cautious at the present time.”

Profit margins are poised to start falling in the U.S. as they have worldwide, according to Pierre Lapointe, Brockhouse & Cooper Inc.’s global macro strategist. Shrinking margins may weigh on earnings in the next few quarters and hurt stocks, the report said.

S&P 500 margins have narrowed by 0.2 percentage point this year, to 13.8 percent. The comparable declines for companies in the European (SXXP) and Japanese benchmarks are 2 points and 0.9 point, respectively.“Corporate America can no longer rely on cost-cutting,” Lapointe wrote in a report with colleagues Alex Bellefleur and Frances Donald. “The only way to grow the bottom line will be to grow the top line” by increasing sales, the Montreal-based strategist wrote.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Kind regards,

Nadia Aziz

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8X 3Y7