September 19, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

The weeks of September and early October have always been among my favourites in the year…. equally alluring charm.  The urgency is over.  It happens almost overnight; the berries ripen, the garden defies attention – too late to introduce extra colours to the borders and too early to put them all to bed for winter.  So I can sit back and enjoy it all, perhaps making some constructive plans but always postponing my activities until later.  Often these days have a stillness that is unique – not a rustle of wind, early morning mists that mask distant trees, red apples hanging on as long as they can, until ready for storing.  This year our quince crop is terrific, every branch hanging low with the weight of the downy but hard fruit.  We will know when they are ready for picking by their strong scent; outside, this is quite pleasant, but a large basketful waiting in the larder makes an almost nauseous smell.  They are like gold; not one must be wasted.  We must cut them, boil them, strain them through muslin and make them into a fine clear amber jelly.  The autumn hedgerows are bountiful, too, bursting with fruit for the picking.  There are sloes for sloe gin, hips, haws, elderberries and crab-apples for jellies, to be carefully labeled and stored for the winter.  The taste of elderberries on their own has no subtlety but mixed with other things they can add a richness of flavor and colour.  Another of my favourite jellies is made from the small grapes of our Strawberry Vine.  Years ago, Vita Sackville-West recommended it and added that one could buy the vine from Clarence Elliott, Joe Elliot’s father.  We have never regretted buying ours; planted with its roots outside and climbing under an open verandah roof, it produces a prolific crop each autumn. –Rosemary Verey, A Countrywoman’s Notes,  Frances Lincoln ed., 2009 [first published in 1989].

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A stag reaches for the leaves of a tree at Study Royal, Near Ripon, North Yorkshire.
CREDIT:  CHARLOTTE GRAHAM

Horses of the Cavalry honorary escort are tested with noise, music and smoke during a training session the day before Prinsjesdag in The Hague, Netherlands. The horses escort the King and Queen of The Netherlands during their coach ride at Prinsjesdag, the opening of the parliamentary year.
CREDIT: PATRICK VAN KATWIJK/GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for September 19^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 2010, the BP oil well that had spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was sealed after several failed efforts.
Number of the Day
$1 trillion
The value of Norway’s sovereign-wealth fund reached $1 trillion on Tuesday, powered by strong growth in stocks and the falling dollar.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks turned positive for the year, surpassing their 2016 closing price for the first time since June in a broad-based rally led by telecom and financial stocks.
     The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 56 points or 0.4 percent to 15,292.97, bringing its year-to-date gain to less than 0.1 percent. All sectors advanced except utilities, which slipped 0.1 percent.
     Telecom stocks gained 0.9 percent, led by a 1.5 percent rise at Rogers Communications Inc. Financial shares added 0.5 percent, while the energy sector rose 0.4 percent despite a 0.9 percent drop in West Texas Intermediate crude prices.
     In other moves:
                              Stocks
* Spin Master Corp. fell 0.9 percent. Toymakers were pressured as Toys “R” Us Inc. filed for bankruptcy, but one analyst said any weakness represents a buying opportunity
* Air Canada lost 1.4 percent. The airline held an investor day and released new targets for 2018 to 2020, including an annual Ebitdar margin of 17 percent to 20 percent
* Concordia International Corp. fell 2.6 percent after the company’s debt was cut to CCC- by S&P
                              Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12 discount to WTI, unchanged from Monday
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $1.84 discount to Henry Hub, the widest in a week
*Gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,314.60
                              FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.1 percent to C$1.2279 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose one basis point to 2.09 percent, the highest since October 2014
US
By Jeremy Herron
     (Bloomberg) — Major U.S equity benchmarks padded all-time highs, the dollar fell and Treasuries edged lower after Donald Trump gave a speech to the United Nations and as the Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting.
     The S&P 500 Index climbed for a third day, though equities remain stuck in one of the tightest ranges in decades. The CBOE Volatility Index slumped toward 10. Europe’s equity benchmark followed many Asian peers lower, while Japanese shares surged after a holiday.
     The pound swung before jumping after a report Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson may resign should Prime Minister Theresa May oppose his Brexit demands. The euro rose for a fourth day, while the dollar slipped against all but one of its G-10 peers. Benchmark WTI crude fell below $50 per barrel.
     Financial markets remained largely calm on Tuesday as Trump’s speech to the UN did little to alter views on the tensions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Attention will turn to Wednesday’s Fed decision, with a focus on details on unwinding part of the central bank’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
     “We are not overly concerned about” the Fed’s quantitative- tightening plans, Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust head of fixed- income strategy Matthew Diczok told Bloomberg TV. “If you model it out, over about the next three years they’ll take out about $1.3 trillion or so. That’s only a third of what they put into the market. So it’s going to be very slow, very gradual, very deliberate and it shouldn’t lead to any near-term fireworks into the market at all.”
     What to watch out for this week:
* Brexit strategy is in focus as Theresa May prepares to outline her revised approach on Friday.
* The Fed’s rate decision is Wednesday.
* The Bank of Japan is predicted to stand pat when it reviews policy Thursday. The BOJ probably won’t reveal when it will unwind stimulus, but could signal determination to keep the yield curve under control.
* Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa are among countries also reviewing monetary policy this week.
* Home construction and sales of previously owned properties are the highlights of the week’s U.S. economic calendar.
* Campaigning continues in Germany, days before the Sept. 24 election. New Zealand goes to the polls on Sept. 23.

      Here are the main moves in markets:

                                 Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.1 percent to 2,506.64 as of 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 percent to 22,370.70, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was virtually unchanged after erasing earlier declines.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 0.3 percent to the highest on record.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index dropped 0.2 percent.
                               Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.1 percent, with the greenback dropping versus all G-10 peers save the Swiss franc.
* The euro climbed 0.4 percent to $1.1997, the strongest in more than a week.
                               Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was slightly higher at 2.2375 percent.
* The bond-market selloff that pushed intermediate and long-term Treasury yields up from 2017 lows reached Sept. 8 is on the brink of making five-year notes a buy, according to technical analysis by Aaron Kohli at BMO Capital Markets.
* Toys ‘‘R’’ Us Inc. succumbed to what it called a “dangerous game of dominoes” that toppled it in a matter of days.
                               Commodities
* Gold futures slipped less than 0.1 percent to settle at $1,310.60 an ounce as of 1:39 p.m. in New York.
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell for the first time in more than a week as traders awaited storage data that may show the longest expansion of U.S. crude inventories in almost half a year.
* WTI futures lost 0.9 percent to settle at $49.48 a barrel.
* Coal will drop and stabilize about 10 percent lower than current levels after tight supply and strong demand from Asian consumers drove prices to near $100 a ton, according to producer New Hope Corp.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As long as individuality survives, that is,
as long as you continue to see others as separate from you,
a feeling of hostility towards them cannot fail to prevail.
Swami Prajnanpad

As ever,

Carolann

The surest test of discipline is its absence.
                      -Clara Barton, 1821-1912

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
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com