October 31, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Samhain: Wiccan New Year
HALLOWE’EN

1938 The day after his “War of the Worlds” broadcast had panicked radio listeners, Orson Welles expressed “deep regret” but also bewilderment that anyone had thought the show was real.
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These are healthy ways to spend your extra hour of Daylight Saving Time
Come on, Daylight Saving Time is like a national holiday for sleeping in. -CNN

For more than 3,000 years, archaeologists believed, Arab treasuries were filled with profits from pearls of the Persian Gulf.

Cleopatra of Egypt, vying with the Roman Mark Antony over who could provide the most expensive dinner in history, is said to have dissolved a nearly priceless pearl in vinegar and drunk it

But now we know Gulf pearl-diving goes back even further. A pearl uncovered near Abu Dhabi in 2017 was carbon-dated back 8,000 years. It’s faintly pink, and it’s being shown in an exhibition that opened this week at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

An 8,000-year-old pearl, unearthed off the coast of Abu Dhabi in 2017.   Abu Dhabi Department of Culture, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By the 1800s, the small supply of pearls, large demand and astronomical prices led to a search for ways to cultivate them in live oysters.

Today’s cultured-pearl formulas were patented by three Japanese men around 1900. These new pearls hit the market in the 1920s, shrinking prices — and decimating the market for natural ones from the Gulf.

Don’t cry for Arab treasuries, though. The 1920s was also roughly when their oil money started coming in. -New York Times.
The Apple Watch Series 5 in titanium is surprisingly revolutionary.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A meteor streaks across the sky as gusty winds create an ember cast on valley oak tree burned by the Kincade fire, California.
CREDIT: KENT PORTER/THE PRESS DEMOCRAT VIA AP

Visitors at the pumpkin house at Brookhill Farm in Thursford, Norfolk, which is over 5 metres tall, 4 metres wide and built from nearly 1000 pumpkins that are grown in the farm.
CREDIT: JOE GIDDENS/PA WIRE

Visitors view the illuminated Jack O’Lanterns at the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze held at Croton-on-Hudson, U.S. More than 7,000 illuminated Jack O’Lanterns, all designed and hand-carved by artisans, are on display during the show, which is expected to attract more than 180,000 visitors this year.
CREDIT: XINHUA/ BARCROFT MEDIA

Market Closes for October 31^st, 2019  

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1933, in one of Wall Street’s nastiest Halloween surprises, Albert H. Wiggin, former president of the Chase National Bank, testified that his personal investment companies had borrowed money from Chase to short-sell $8 million worth of Chase’s own stock as it crumbled in the Crash of 1929. The revelation inspired Congress to add a provision to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 banning corporate officers from short-selling their own shares
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell for the first time inthree sessions,  dropping in tandem with the U.S. market. The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.1% at 16,483.16 in Toronto. About two stocks fell for each one that gained. Five of the index’s 11 main industry groups ended the session lower, led by energy stocks. WTI crude futures fell 1.6% in New York. Meanwhile, gold posted the biggest gain in four weeks on signs of further deterioration in global manufacturing and renewed concerns over the prospects for a trade deal between China and the U.S. Canada’s beleaguered energy sector suffered another morale blow as Encana Corp. — one of its marquee companies that was born out of the 19th-century railway boom — announced plans to move its headquarters to the U.S. and drop the link to Canadafrom its name.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $19 discount to WTI
* Spot gold rose 1.1% to 1,512.20 an ounce, the biggest gain in four weeks
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.3170 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 3.7 basis points to 1.413%
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 0.5%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Sept. 20
* This month, the index fell 1.1%
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and fell 1.1% in the past 30 days
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -21.5821| -0.8| 5/26
Financials | -16.1892| -0.3| 11/15
Information Technology | -6.6253| -0.8| 4/5
Industrials | -2.0306| -0.1| 20/12
Health Care | -1.1811| -0.5| 1/9
Communication Services | 0.1234| 0.0| 5/2
Consumer Discretionary | 0.1956| 0.0| 8/8
Consumer Staples | 1.9916| 0.3| 9/1
Real Estate | 2.0196| 0.3| 18/5
Utilities | 6.5975| 0.9| 16/0
Materials | 18.4207| 1.0| 33/15
US
By Vildana Hajric and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell as weak manufacturing data and renewed concern on trade rattled markets adjusting to the Federal Reserve’s signal that it’s done easing. Treasuries, goldand the yen rose. The S&P 500 declined after a regional manufacturing gauge missed estimates and jobless claims rose more than forecast. The index was under pressure following a Bloomberg report that Chinese officials have warned they won’t budge on the thorniest trade issues. Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., two of the four biggest U.S. companies, rose after earnings,preventing steeper losses in the major averages.
In other stock moves:
* Kraft Heinz surged after it beat expectations.
* Wayfair plunged after its forecast missed.
* Hanesbrandes sank on weak earnings.
* Twilio tumbled when its sales outlook fell short of predictions.
* Twitter eased following a decision to drop political ads.
* Facebook rose as much as 5.2% and Apple added as much as 2.4%.
* 10 of 11 S&P 500 sectors slumped.

Treasuries extended a rally that began Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut rates and signaled it won’t consider raising them until inflation picks up. The 10-year yield slipped below 1.75%, as the bond market remains unconvinced the central bank is done easing, pricing ianother cut by July. Data showed the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge matched the slowest pace since 2016, while U.S. consumer spendingtrailed forecasts. While the Fed’s signal that it won’t rush to raise rates buoyed risk assets Wednesday, the weak economic data and fresh trade uncertainty reminded investors the central bank also has no intention of easing further after three straight cuts. “There was a lot of complacency building in around trade over the last several weeks and China is reasserting a posture saying we’re not anywhere close to done,” Michael Purves, chief executive officer at Tallbacken Capital Advisors LLC, said by phone. “That’s why the market is off today and Treasuries are rallying. It’s not about some reinterpretation of what Powell said and did yesterday. If Powell is less inclined to underwrite the trade war, then sure that’s a potential risk factor.”
Here are some key events coming up this week:
* Earnings include: Exxon Mobil and Macquarie Group on Friday.
* Friday brings the monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index decreased 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%.
* The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.1%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.5% to 396.75, the lowest in more than a week on the biggest drop in more than two weeks.
* Germany’s DAX Index decreased 0.3% to 12,866.79, the lowest in
more than a week on the largest dip in more than three weeks.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1% to 1,196.19, thelowest in more than a week.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.8% to 107.98per dollar. The euro was flat at $1.1152.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries sank eight basis points to 1.52%, the lowest in more than three weeks on the largest tumble in four weeks.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries sank eight basis points to 1.69%, the lowest in three weeks on the biggest tumble in 11 weeks.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased five basis points to -0.41%, the lowest in two weeks on the largest tumble in more than five weeks.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude declined 1.8% to $54.10 a barrel, the lowest in more than a week on the biggest drop in more than two weeks.
* Gold strengthened 1.1% to $1,512.20 an ounce, the highest in more than five weeks on the largest jump in more than four weeks.
–With assistance from Katherine Greifeld.
Have a great evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

No man ever listened himself out of a job.
                -Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933

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