September 14, 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: HAPPY FRIDAY!

DEPENDING ON THE WIND

1.
A score of years ago I felled a hundred pines to build a house. 

Two stories, seven rooms in all.

                                            I built my love a home.

                                                                              Our
daughter was in orbit in the womb.

                                                  Mountains spun off like the arm
of a galaxy into the emptiness our windows framed.

                                                                          “What a
view!” our friends exclaimed, and “Sunsets to die for every single
night!” 

2.
Vertigo of solitude, distillate of loneliness for blood, my wife
untrue, my daughter flown, I, like a widower or worse, move
among the rooms I made.
                                    Where once I was not alone, now each
closed door is panic, and spaces grow immense with memory, like
shadows at dusk: abandonment’s avatar, grief’s cynosure.
                                                                                  Gone
that arrangement of allegiances called family we never really know
before it ends.
                      Like love itself, it isn’t true till then.
                                                                        I have no
family now but remembrances of tiny joys, tinier dramas we used
to call our life, like pollen over everything: brightly colored
clothespins on the line, a cross-shaped coral earring whose match is
lost, books of fairy tales we read aloud at night.
                                                                   I must be dumb as a
gunnysack of hammers.
                                 Wind still blows through open windows
like it always used to do.
                                 What did I love that made me believe it
would last?

                                                                  -James Galvin

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lighting designers Motoko Ishii and Akari-Lisa Ishii present a two-day special light show on the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the Japanese cultural season and 160 years of diplomatic relations between France and Japan in Paris, France. Credit: Charles Platiau/Reuters

A woman looks at books piled up at the entrance of Municipal Library of Prague in Prague, Czech Republic. Credit: David Cerny/Reuters

A paddle-boarder enjoys the calm sea just before sunset on a beautiful end to the day at Heacham, Norfolk. Credit: Paul Marriott
Market Closes for September 14^th, 2018

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Tatiana Darie
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were little changed, closing in the green for only the second time out of the past 11 sessions. The late rally wasn’t enough to pull shares higher for a week, with equities down 0.5 percent. On the trade front, no talks in Washington are expected before Monday, according to an official familiar with the plans. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters earlier that a new Nafta deal should include Canada.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose less than 0.1 percent, with health care leading gains as pot stocks recovered from a plunge on Thursday. Consumer staples and materials declined as gold prices extended losses for a second session.
                            Stocks
* AltaGas Ltd fell for a third day, dropping 2.7 percent, after plans to spin off its Canadian assets via an IPO; Scotiabank analyst Robert Hope said that the IPO route is generally subject to execution risk and, shares may take a “wait-and-see approach” before reflecting the expected proceeds
* Aphria Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp. rebounded from a selloff on Thursday, rising 13 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, even as immigration experts told Bloomberg that U.S. border guards have broad powers to question Canadians on their current and past drug use and could declare users inadmissible to the U.S.
* Newstrike Brands Ltd rallied 5.2 percent after Bloomberg BNN reported that it has approached at least four companies about a potential sale.
                            Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $36 discount to WTI
* Gold fell 0.8 percent to $1,198.40 an ounce
                            FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.3 percent C$1.30327 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield gained 1.8 basis points to 2.346%
US
By Sarah Ponczek
     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks posted a late rally to close mostly higher for a fifth consecutive day, led by gains in the financial and energy sectors. The dollar strengthened after U.S. 10-year note yields briefly climbed past 3 percent.
     The S&P 500 and Dow finished just in the green after slumping midday, when Bloomberg News reported that President Donald Trump instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion more in Chinese products. Financial markets were whipsawed this week by conflicting reports on the status of trade relations between the world’s two largest economies. The Nasdaq closer lower, though up for the week.   
     “When the headlines hit, the knee-jerk reaction in the market is to either sell off or gain immediately,” Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial Inc, said by phone. “The president has had a couple of tweets suggesting he’s in no hurry to craft an agreement, but despite this, talks are apparently going to resume. And the question will be whether or not that leads to more negotiations.”
     The push for additional tariffs is despite the U.S. Treasury secretary’s attempt to restart talks with Beijing to resolve the trade war, according to four people familiar with the matter.
     Stocks also finished higher in Europe and Asia amid optimism for U.S.-China trade talks and action by Turkey and Russia to support their currencies that helped foster a positive mood. Miners and carmakers led the advance in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, following a rally in most Asian benchmarks as they extended their rebound from the worst run of losses in 16 years. Oil posted its third straight weekly advance as traders keep watch on Hurricane Florence.
     From cooling U.S. inflation to central-bank meetings in Europe, the U.K. Turkey and Russia, it was a busy week for investors. American retail sales figures for August showed households took a breather from spending, though the data was still indicative of a strong job market and more after-tax pay.
     These are the main moves in markets:
                            Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent to 2,904.97 as of 4:05 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained less than 0.1 percent to 26,154.67 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 8,010.04.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4 percent.
* The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index edged 0.6 percent higher.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index jumped 1 percent.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1 percent.
                            Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.3 percent, the first gain in three days.
* The euro weakened 0.5 percent to $1.1632.
* The British pound fell 0.3 percent to $1.3065.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.1 percent to 112.01 per dollar.
                            Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased two basis points to 2.99 percent, while the two-year note yield climbed two basis points to 2.77 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to 0.45 percent.
                            Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 05 percent to $68.93 a barrel.
* Gold dropped 0.6 percent to $1,194.14 an ounce to finish the week lower.
–With assistance from Robert Brand. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Be magnificent! 

As ever,

Carolann

Through the unknown, we’ll find the new.
         -Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867

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