October 27, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  HAPPY FRIDAY!
On this day in 1904, the New York City subway formally opens. The first line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., traveled 9.1 miles from City Hall in lower Manhattan to 145th Street in Harlem by way of Grand Central and Times Square.
Birthdays:
Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th US President, 1858
Dylan Thomas, poet, 1914
Marlene Dietrich, actor, 1901
Sylvia Plath, poet, 1932

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Italian artist Graziano Cecchini coloured Rome’s famed Trevi Fountain red in protest, his mission being that, Rome has to be more beautiful than now, he said.

Two white storks stand close to each other on their nest on a tree in Zerbolo, Italy.
Market Closes for October 27^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Daily Factoid
$66 billion
The price tag of CVS Health’s offer to buy Aetna.  If a deal is struck, it would rank as the year’s largest.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — After seven weeks of steady gains, Canadian stocks hit a new record high for the first time since February, boosted by a mid-day rally in energy shares.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 62 points or 0.4 percent to 15,953.51, ahead of the last record close of 15,922.37 hit on Feb. 21. The energy sector provided the bulk of the gains, rising 1.9 percent as the price of crude jumped 2.4 percent. Oil prices jumped on indications the situation between Iraq and the Kurds remains fragile.
     The benchmark has added 6.5 percent since its recent low on Sept. 8, outpacing a 4.9 percent increase in the S&P 500 Index and a 3.6 percent gain in the MSCI World Index.
     In other moves:
                            Stocks
* Nevsun Resources Ltd. jumped 13 percent, the most since 2012, after releasing a technical study that most analysts viewed positively
* Precision Drilling Corp. added 9.8 percent on a loss that was narrower than analysts expected
* Celestica Inc. tumbled 9.7 percent. The company’s revenue forecast was below the average analyst estimate
* Cameco Corp. lost 6.3 percent after reporting a surprise loss and lower its uranium production guidance
* Saputo Inc. added 5.7 percent. The dairy producer is buying Australia’s Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. for $1 billion.
                           Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.90 discount to WTI
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.52 discount to Henry Hub, the narrowest since mid-September
* Gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,268.50 an ounce
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to C$1.2824 per U.S. dollar, the first gain in seven trading days
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell five basis points to 1.99 percent, the lowest since early September
US
By Robert Brand and Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — Technology shares surged on stellar profit at Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., sending the Nasdaq 100 to a record on its biggest gain since March of last year.
     The S&P 500 Index also hit a new high, after the U.S. saw its strongest consecutive quarters of growth in gross domestic product in three years. Bonds rose as speculation mounted about the next Federal Reserve chair.
     “The GDP number is pretty much kind of a continuing series of upside surprises in the global economy,” Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds Inc., said by phone. “Growth has been significantly better, perhaps better than what most of us had expected, and it continues to surprise on the upside. That’s not just in the U.S.”
     Recent data have also underscored the strengthening recovery in the euro-area, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. saying European companies are showing profit growth that’s twice the pace of their U.S. counterparts in the third quarter. That’s helping propel the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to its best annual performance since 2013.
     Positive earnings surprises from companies including Volkswagen AG boosted confidence, though miners underperformed as the greenback’s run hit industrial-metal prices. As stocks gained, the euro headed for its worst week since November. The pound dropped as concerns about the Brexit process lingered.
     Spanish stocks continued to lag as Europe’s worst constitutional crisis for decades came to head. Catalan lawmakers Friday voted to set up an independent state. Spain’s prime minister dismissed the regional government, dissolved its parliament and called a regional election for Dec. 21.
     In the U.S., House Republicans unlocked a process to cut taxes by the end of the year. Treasury yields fell on a report that President Donald Trump is leaning toward nominating Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to lead the U.S. central bank, a move that would signal continuity in monetary policy.
     A potential Powell nomination brings “more of a relief that, although the Fed may tighten, they’re not really taking on a hawkish stance,” David James, who helps oversee $6 billion at James Investment Research in Xenia, Ohio, said by phone.
     Oil rose, with West Texas Intermediate crude at about a six-month high and Brent crude climbing past $60 a barrel for the first time since July 2015.
     Earlier, Japan’s stocks rose, sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average through 22,000 for the first time since 1996 and ending their seventh week of gains. Shares also advanced in Hong Kong and Seoul.
     These are some of the remaining events on the slate for the coming week:
* President Donald Trump has said he’ll reveal his choice to lead the Fed by Nov. 3.
* The Fed’s next rate decision is on Nov. 1, with economists expecting the central bank to keep rates at 1.25 percent and to increase them at the December meeting.
* The U.S. October payroll report comes out Nov. 3.
     And here are the main moves in markets:
                           Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.81 percent at 4:05 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq 100 Stock Index added 2.91 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.55 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.25 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index advanced 0.64 percent to the highest on record.
                           Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed less than 0.05 percent. 
* The euro dipped 0.4 percent to $1.16, the weakest in 14 weeks.
* The British pound declined 0.3 percent to $1.3127. 
                           Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell four basis points to 2.42 percent. 
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 0.38 percent. 
* Britain’s 10-year yield dipped four basis points to 1.348 percent.
                           Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.5 percent to $53.97 a barrel, the highest in about six months; Brent crude rose 1.9 percent to $60.40, the highest in about two years.  
* Gold gained 0.5 percent to $1,272.96 an ounce. 
* Copper dipped 2.2 percent to $6,830 a metric ton.
                            Asia
* Japan’s Topix index rose 1 percent at the end of the session in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.2 percent.
* Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.2 percent to complete its first weekly slide in four.
* South Korea’s Kospi index climbed 0.7 percent.
* Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.7 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

I only want people around me who can do the impossible.
                                         -Elizabeth Arden, 1878-1966

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

Tel: 778.430.5808
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