November 25, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Noteworthy:

Break Bread With Strangers:  For world travelers yearning for an authentic meal with a local host, check out MealSharing.com to see if there’s a spot at a nearby table for you.  Much like other sharing economy services, the site connects users and hosts so they can break bread together.  For the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday in the US, the site is promoting ThanksSharing Day meals for those still looking for an invitation to dinner or wanting to expand their guest list.

A Hungry World:  Every meal on your plate has likely navigated a host of unseen issues.  National Geographic has curated its recent magazine series exploring the challenges and progress associated with feeding a growing population on its new site, NatGeoFood.com.  the site features videos, photography, and interactive maps and graphics to help raise awareness of the stories behind the food we eat.  A related free app, The Future of Food, is available through iTunes.

Saving The Planet:  Earth has faced mass extinctions five times in its past; evidence of the destruction is recorded in its surface.  Today’s rapid climate change is so extreme scientists say it rivals the chain of events that threatened past habitats.  Smithsonian Channel explores the possible perils and solutions in Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink.  It premieres November 30^th at 8 p.m.

      -from CSM, November 24^th, 2014.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People cross a street in a business district on a rainy day in downtown Tokyo. Thomas Peter/Reuters

A turkey looks around its enclosure at Seven Acres Farm in North Reading, Mass., two days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Paul Pagliozzi is the second generation owner of the farm his father started in 1938. Brian Snyder/Reuters

Market Closes for November 25^th, 2014    

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose, rebounding from the biggest drop in three weeks, as materials producers rallied after gold and silver miners surged.

     Kinross Gold Corp. and Iamgold Corp. jumped at least 5.8 percent as the price of the metal advanced for the second time in three sessions. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. added 4 percent after posting earnings. Hudson’s Bay Co. rallied 8.4 percent to extend an all-time high. Energy shares slumped as U.S. crude fell to a four-year low.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 58.24 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,073.65 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The index is up 11 percent this year after advancing in seven of the past eight sessions.

     Eight of the 10 industries in the index rose today on trading 20 percent above the 30-day average. Materials producers advance 2.5 percent to the most since Oct. 8

     Eldorado Gold Corp. soared 9.4 percent to C$7.90 and Kinross Gold Corp. jumped 11 percent to C$3.50, as all but two of the 24 members of the S&P/TSX Gold Index advanced.

     The gauge added 4.9 percent, snapping a two-day decline as gold for February delivery climbed.

     Couche-Tard, operator of convenience stores in North America and Europe, rose 4 percent to C$39.70 as consumer- staples shares increased 0.6 percent as a group. The company’s same-store merchandise sales increased 3 percent in Canada and 2.8 percent in the U.S.

     Canadian retail sales rose 0.8 percent to C$42.8 billion ($38 billion) in September, faster than a 0.5 percent increase projected by economists, led by big-ticket purchases including cars, furniture and appliances.

     U.S. gross domestic product rose at a 3.9 percent annualized rate, up from an initial estimate of 3.5 percent, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 3.3 percent gain.

     Energy shares in the S&P/TSX dropped 0.5 percent. Lightstream Resources Ltd. lost 5.9 percent to C$3.52 and Raging River Exploration Inc. sank 5.2 percent to C$6.99.

     West Texas Intermediate crude fell to a four-year low after nations supplying a third of the world’s oil failed to pledge output cuts before this week’s OPEC meeting.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was little changed after closing yesterday at a record, as data showing the economy expanded more than previously forecast in the third quarter was offset by a drop in consumer confidence.

     Tiffany & Co. rose 2.5 percent as consumer-discretionary companies in the S&P 500 advanced for a sixth day to extend an all-time high. Energy shares fell the most among 10 groups in the index as crude prices dropped to the lowest since September 2010 ahead of an OPEC meeting.

     The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 2,067.03 at 4 p.m. in New York, following three days of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.96 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,814.94. The Russell 2000 Index of smaller companies dropped 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq 100 Index extended a 14- year high. About 6.1 billion listed shares changed hands in the U.S., 8.3 percent lower than the three-month daily average.

     “Some of the economic numbers like GDP looked good, but I don’t know how sustainable they are,” Stephen Carl, principal and head equity trader at New York-based Williams Capital Group LP, said in a phone interview. “We need more gains and more activity to sustain that. Consumer confidence was off modestly, and that may be a bit of a catalyst to the downside.”

     Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a 3.9 percent annualized rate, up from an initial estimate of 3.5 percent, Commerce Department figures showed. The median forecast of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 3.3 percent gain. After the 4.6 percent increase in the second quarter, it marked the biggest back-to- back advance since late 2003.

     The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 88.7 in November from 94.1 a month earlier. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a gain to 96.                    

     “Sentiment is probably optimistic, but cautious,” Erik Wytenus, a Palm Beach, Florida-based global investment specialist at JPMorgan Private Bank, said by phone. The division oversees $1.052 trillion in client assets. “Part of the reason for that is that stocks have had a powerful run. The thing I’m encouraged about is the strength in the consumer sector.”

     The S&P 500 has rallied 11 percent from its low last month as data signaled the U.S. economy is improving, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged to raise inflation as fast as possible, and China unexpectedly cut interest rates.

     The Russell 2000 climbed 2.5 percent over the previous three sessions, recovering its losses for this month. It has now surged 13 percent from a one-year low reached in October.

     The rally in American equities has pushed stock valuations to the highest since the end of 2009. The S&P 500 trades at 17.2 times the projected earnings of its members, up from a multiple as low as 15.5 last month. Profit for S&P 500 companies may rise 7.6 percent this year, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.

     Hewlett-Packard Co. and Tiffany & Co. were among S&P 500 companies reporting earnings today. Of those members that have already reported, 79 percent have beaten earnings projections while 60 percent have beaten sales estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

     The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of options prices known as the VIX, fell 2.9 percent to 12.25. The benchmark gauge of price swings climbed to a more than two-year high on Oct. 15.                        

     Five of the 10 of the major groups in the S&P 500 increased today. Consumer discretionary companies had the biggest gains, rising 0.2 percent. Energy producers led declines with a 1.6 percent slide as oil prices tumbled.

     Tiffany, the world’s second-largest luxury jewelry retailer, rose 2.5 percent after higher-than-projected sales in the Americas helped make up for a slowdown in Asia last quarter.

     Cable providers also added to gains among consumer discretionary stocks as Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. increased more than 2.2percent.

     Apple, already the world’s largest company by market capitalization, hit a record value. Shares of the iPhone maker rose as much as 1 percent to $119.75, giving it a valuation of more than $700 billion, a milestone that no other U.S. company has reached. The shares erased gains in afternoon trading, slipping 0.9 percent.

     Energy companies 1.6 percent as crude oil slipped 2.2 percent to settle at $74.09 a barrel. Nabors Industries Ltd.fell the most with a 4.9 percent drop, while Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger Ltd. decreased more than 3.2 percent.

     Crude futures slid after a meeting between nations supplying a third of the world’s oil failed to result in a pledge to curb output in the run-up to this week’s OPEC meeting.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Within, everything is connected.

This is because an action in one part produces a similar reaction elsewhere

and thus a response.

Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

Carolann

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.

                    -Mother Teresa, 1910-1997

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7