May 17, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

May 17, 1642 – City of Montreal – founded – Governor Montmagny escorts Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance to Montréal Island with Mme de La Peltrie, Charlotte Barré and other colonists and officially hands over the island to La Société Notre-Dame; they land on the site the following day, May 18, to found a settlement they call Ville Marie de Montréal. Montréal, Québec

1844: Rubber band patented.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Gallery assistants hold a Rembrandt painting called “Portrait of a Young Man” at Hermitage Amsterdam, Netherlands. Credit: Francois Lenoir/Reuters

Christies employee Louise Simpson looks at Red Figure (2009) by Tony Cragg, one of the exhibits at Sculpture in the Park, St. Jame’s Park, London. Credit: Jeff Gilbert for The Telegraph

People play golf as an ash plume rises in the distance from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. The U.S. Geological Survery said a recent lowering of the lava lake at the volcano’s Halemaumau crater ‘has raised the potential for explosive eruptions’ at the volcano. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

A 1965 Jaguar E-Type once raced by Sir Stirling Moss is expected to sell for up to £130,000 when it goes under the hammer at RAC Woodcote Park, Surrey on June 5^th. Credit: H&H Classics
Market Closes for May 17^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
$~On this day in 1792, the ancestor of the New York Stock Exchange was born as 24 brokers gathered under a tree and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.
Number of the Day
11
The number of records this year for the Russell 2000 index, including Wednesday’s fresh high. The small-cap benchmark has been climbingeven as multinational firms have lagged.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks continued to grind towards a record high, rising for a 10th straight day as Western Canada Select crude prices hit the highest level since 2014.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 35 points or 0.2 percent to 16,143.55, less than 300 points from its high. Energy shares added 1.3 percent, the most in a month, with Spartan Energy Corp. up 6.6 percent and Vermilion Energy Inc. rising 6 percent.
     Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. fell 2.7 percent, retracing all of Wednesday’s 2 percent gain. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has alternatives if the company decides not to build its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
     In other moves:
                         Stocks
* ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. rose 11 percent to the highest since 2002 after earnings beat the highest analyst estimate
* Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. gained 5.3 percent, the most since 2015, as Enbridge Inc. offered to buy all its outstanding securities
* Canadian National Railway Co. added 1 percent to the highest in 11 months. Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock two notches on a rebound in service and volume growth
                          Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $13.25 discount to WTI
* Gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,289.40 an ounce, the lowest since December
                           FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.1 percent to C$1.2801 per U.S.dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 2.52 percent, the highest since 2014
US
By Jeremy Herron and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks ended a back-and-forth session lower, Treasuries fell and the dollar advanced as investors looked past trade comments by President Donald Trump amid a fresh batch of solid economic data.
     The S&P 500 Index fell to session lows after Trump raised doubts about the outcome of talks between his trade representatives and China’s negotiator. Stocks battled back to erase those losses before fading into the close. Energy producers rallied on merger activity, while Cisco Systems Inc.’s weak earnings took down technology shares. The surging dollar bolstered domestically focused small caps to a fresh record. Data on manufacturing and employment that showed economic strength lifted Treasury yields to 3.11 percent.
     Recent evidence that the world’s largest economy will continue to pick up steam is currently just a consolation prize for investors, who are having to adjust to the highest U.S. bond yields in years as well as second-guess issues stretching from peace on the Korean peninsula to Italian populists forming a government. Looming over it all are trade talks between the U.S. and China, the outcome of which could cement the global growth story — or derail it.
     In Europe, the common currency euro was slightly weaker and Italian bonds dropped as party leaders sealed an agreement to form a populist government. The pound jumped but then pared gains amid conflicting reports over Britain’s future in the EU customs union. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced. Earlier in Asia equities rose in Japan and fell in Australia and Korea.
     Elsewhere, the Turkish lira deepened its losses, while emerging-market stocks slipped.
     These are some key events to watch this week:
* Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks on monetary policy at an ECB conference in Frankfurt on Thursday.
* Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is expected in Washington for more trade talks.
     And these are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent at 4 p.m. in New York.
* Cisco fell 3.6 percent and Walmart lost 2.4 percent.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index lost 0.4 percent, while the Russell 2000 Index climbed 0.2 percent to a record.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.7 percent to the highest in 15 weeks.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 1 percent to the lowest in more than a week.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.2 percent to the lowest in a week.
                         Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 percent to the highest in 20 weeks.
* The euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.1795.
* The Japanese yen decreased 0.3 percent to 110.77 per dollar.
* The Turkish lira sank 1 percent to 4.4595 per dollar.
                          Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries edged higher to 3.11 percent, the highest in about seven years.
* Germany’s 10-year yield gained three basis points to 0.64 percent.
* Italy’s 10-year yield was flat at 2.111 percent.
                          Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2 percent to $71.34 a barrel.
* Gold dipped 0.1 percent to $1,289.88 an ounce, the weakest in 20 weeks.
* Brent crude was flat at 79.24 a barrel after topping $80 a barrel for the first time in four years.
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Sheldon Reback and Samuel Potter.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Anything too stupid to be said is sung.
                     –Voltaire, 1694-1778

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

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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www.carolannsteinhoff.com