May 3, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On this day in 1952, Lt. Col. Joseph Fletcher walked to the exact geographic location of the North Pole, likely the first person in history to do so.

-From today’s New York Times:
The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam opened as a museum 58 years ago today.
Nowadays, more than 1.2 million visitors flock to the museum every year, but in the 1950s, the canal house was on the verge of demolition.

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, where she and her family hid during the Holocaust.
Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times

The building was saved by the Anne Frank Foundation, founded in 1957 to preserve the place where Anne had written her diary.

Anne lived in the annex of the canal house with her parents, sister and four others from July 1942 until August 1944, when they were arrested during a Nazi raid. (It’s still unclear who betrayed the family, but an F.B.I. agent reopened the case in 2017.)

The museum faces a practical challenge: The tiny, cramped attic can accommodate only so many people at once. It’s under renovation, and preparing to educate a new generation about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.

Otto Frank — Anne’s father and the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust — attended the opening in 1960, saying he hoped that the museum would be a place where Anne’s ideals “find their realization.”

Claire Moses wrote today’s Back Story.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Competitors ride their bikes during Stage 4 of the 13^th edition of the Titan Desert 2018 mountain biking race between Boumalne Dades and Merzouga in Morocco. The Titan Desert 2018 is 600 kilometre mountain bike race completed over six days, snaking between Boumalne Dades, at the foot-slopes of the High Atlas summits, and Erfoud, an oasis town in the Sahara Desert. Credit: The Telegraph

Performers give a powered parachutes air show on the opening ceremony of an air sports carnival held in Hengshui City, China. Credit: The Telegraph

Men look at the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran caves in the Judean Desert and dated around 120 BC, during a visit to the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of hundreds of biblical texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek discovered 45 years ago in the Qumran Caves near the Dead Sea. Credit: The Telegraph
Market Closes for May 3^rd, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed amid a barrage of earnings, with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and BCE Inc. creating pressure to the downside, offset by strength in Waste Connections Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 6 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 15,621.47. Telecom shares were the biggest decliners, losing 0.9 percent as BCE fell 1.7 percent on weaker- than-expected unit revenue growth. The energy index slid 0.6 percent, with Canadian Natural Resources down 2.2 percent.
     Waste Connections gained 4.3 percent, the most since January 2016 amid broadly strong results in the sector. Manulife rose 1.4 percent, bucking a decline in financials, on improving Asian results.
     In other moves:
                         Stocks
* Norbord Inc. lost 6.2 percent, the most since September, after first-quarter results missed estimates
* Shopify Inc. gained 7.8 percent, the most since Valentine’s Day. The stock fell 6.3 percent over the previous two days amid slowing growth metrics
* Gildan Activewear Inc. added 4 percent, the most since 2016, following an upgrade to buy at TD Securities
                        Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $15.90 discount to WTI
* Gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,312.70 an ounce, the first gain this week
                        FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to C$1.2851 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 3 basis points to 2.33 percent after Canada’s trade deficit unexpectedly widened to a record in March
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Janine Wolf
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied back from a four-week low, with major averages bouncing off of key technical levels, but still ended down for the second straight day.
     The S&P 500 recovered more than 1 percent from session lows, buoyed by tech shares. The rebound came after the gauge slumped through its 200-day moving average, a level that has provided downside support five times since February. The rally was hampered by falling Treasury yields, which weighed on financial firms.
     Investors are still digesting the Federal Reserve’s latest decision and await Friday’s monthly jobs report for clues on the strength of the world’s largest economy.
     “What we’re faced with here is a continuation of a strong economy, strong earnings and inflation creep that’s spooking the market on the fixed income side overall the last several months,” Chad Morganlander, a portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors, said by phone. “Now, that to me is the thematic that’s going to play out not only today but going into the jobs number.”
     Materials shares gained as trade talks between the U.S. and China got underway Thursday, but both sides dialed back expectations. Beijing won’t agree to preconditions that include abandoning its advanced manufacturing program and agreeing to cut the trade gap by a fixed amount, a Chinese official said. American delegates said earlier that a breakthrough is unlikely, and they might leave early if unsatisfied. Talks are expected to resume on Friday.
     Investors are also weighing the meaning of the latest Fed gathering. The U.S. central bank kept rates on hold as expected on Wednesday, admitting inflation is near target without suggesting any need to accelerate its gradual hiking path.
     More data points are rolling in: The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March by the most in two years, while last week’s unemployment filings were below estimates and productivity gains remained lukewarm in the first quarter. Growth in U.S. service industries cooled in April to a four-month low and hiring eased, adding to signs the economy is off to a softer start this quarter, an Institute for Supply Management survey showed Thursday.
     European equities retreated following their rally a day earlier. In Asia, Hong Kong stocks underperformed just as Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. filed for what’s expected to be the world’s biggest IPO since 2014.
     West Texas oil gained as traders weighed a rise in stockpiles against concern about U.S. sanctions on Iran. Gold advanced.
     Some key events coming up during the remainder of this week:
* The European Commission will present its spring economic forecasts, including growth, inflation, debt and deficit projections.
* Payroll gains in the U.S. probably picked up in April, with the unemployment rate forecast to drop to 4 percent, according to surveys of economists before the data reports due Friday.
* Earnings season continues, with Alibaba and HSBC Holdings Plc on Friday.
* Reserve Bank of Australia releases its quarterly update of growth and inflation forecasts on Friday.
* Berkshire Hathaway holds its annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday.
     And these are the main moves in markets:
                          Stocks
* S&P 500 Index fell 0.2 percent as of 4:02 p.m. New York time, to the lowest in more than a week.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.7 percent, the largest drop in a week.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index declined 0.5 percent, the first retreat in more than a week.
* Germany’s DAX Index sank 0.9 percent.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.9 percent to its lowest in a week.
                          Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.3 percent.
* The euro climbed 0.3 percent to $1.1983.
* The British pound declined less than 0.05 percent to $1.357.
* The Japanese yen jumped 0.6 percent to 109.20 per dollar, the largest climb in almost six weeks.
                          Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased two basis points to 2.95 percent, the lowest in almost two weeks.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell five basis points to 0.53 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 1.39 percent.
                          Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.8 percent to $68.46 a barrel.
* Gold jumped 0.5 percent to $1,311.78 an ounce.
* LME copper advanced 0.1 percent to $6,827 a metric ton.
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Adam Haigh and Samuel Potter. 

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Don’t knock the weather.  If it didn’t change once in a while, nine
out of ten people couldn’t start a conversation.
                                               -Kin Hubbard, 1868-1930

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
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com