September 25, 2014 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

When I arrived home last night, the new CD that I had ordered a couple of days on Amazon was waiting.   I immediately opened it, flipped it into the CD player and we sat down to listen and were mesmerized by it.  Highly recommended – I am referring to Barbra Streisand’s latest, entitled Partners.  She sings duets with vocalists ranging from her son, Jason Gould to Elvis Presley.  Some of the highlights are a duet with Billy Joel where they perform A New York State of Mind, one with Lionel Ritchie  – an amazing rendition of The Way We Were, also ones with Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Josh Groban and BabyFace, to name a few.  It debuted at the top spot on this week’s Billboard 200 album chart and it is easy to understand why.  We love it!

The writer William Faulkner was born on this day in 1897.

The past is not dead.  In fact, it’s not even past. –William Faulkner.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Saint Peter’s square is silhouetted during a sunset in Rome. Tony Gentile/Reuters

A field of pumpkins are seen next to palm trees along the coastline in Encinitas, California. Mike Blake/Reuters

Market Closes for September 25^th, 2014    

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Eric Lam

     Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell a fifth day, the longest streak in more than a year, as banks slumped and raw-materials producers retreated with metals prices.

     National Bank of Canada lost 1.7 percent to pace declines among financial stocks. Raging River Exploration Inc. and Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. slumped more than 4 percent as energy producers extended a five-month low. OceanaGold Corp. dropped 3.8 percent as gold fell to an eight-month low.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 1 percent to 14,966.18 at 10:27 a.m. in Toronto, the lowest level since June. The benchmark equity gauge has lost 3.2 percent during its five- day slide, the longest since June 2013.

     Nine of the 10 main industries in the S&P/TSX dropped today on trading volume 28 percent above the 30-day average.

     Advantage Oil & Gas sank 4.1 percent to C$5.59 and Raging River lost 4.7 percent to C$9.19 as the S&P/TSX Energy Index slumped 1.6 percent for a fifth day of declines, headed for the lowest close since April 7.

     OceanaGold tumbled 3.8 percent to C$2.29 as raw-materials stocks plunged 0.8 percent as a group.

     Gold for December delivery fell as the dollar climbed to a four-year high against 10 major currencies.

     Teck Resources Ltd. slumped 2.6 percent to C$21.42 and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 1.3 percent to C$21.86 as copper and aluminum paced declines among industrial metals.

     BlackBerry Ltd. retreated 2.8 percent to C$11.28. The company yesterday unveiled its Passport smartphone with a unique square screen, aimed at professionals.

     Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. jumped 2.8 percent to C$141.17, the highest since June. The drugmaker has rallied 11 percent in the past two days after announcing its third-quarter earnings results were expected to beat consensus forecasts for revenue.

US

By Joseph Ciolli and Oliver Renick

     Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks sank, with the Nasdaq 100 plunging the most since April, as Apple Inc. sank on complaints related to its new smartphone and amid signs of worsening conflict in Russia and the Middle East.

     Apple plunged 3.8 percent to lead the selloff in technology shares. Biogen Idec Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. lost at least 3.3 percent as investors sold some of the bull market’s biggest winners. Allegheny Technologies Inc. sank 4.8 percent as industrial metals slid. The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks sank 1.6 percent to close at a four-month low.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell the most since July, sliding 1.6 percent to 1,965.99 at 4 p.m. in New York. All but 14 of the index’s components retreated, the broadest slump since Feb. 3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 264.26 points, or 1.5 percent, to 16,945.80. The Nasdaq 100 dropped 2.1 percent. About 6.4 billion changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 13 percent above the three-month average.

     “We could have a pull back of 5 percent anytime if you have a confluence of factors that impact investor psychology or geopolitical factors that seem to get out of control,” Marshall Front, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Front Barnett Associates LLC, said by phone. “Stocks are no longer undervalued. There are rumors the Russian parliament authorized confiscation of foreign investments, Apple is weighing on the tech sector, and the durable goods top line number was very weak.”

     Equities opened lower as data on equipment orders and jobless claims bolstered speculation the economy is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to raise rates sooner than estimated. Stocks extended losses on a report that Russian lawmakers drafted legislation that would allow the government to seize foreign assets. U.S. and Arab airstrikes targeted oil refineries in the east of Syria.

     Today’s decline in the S&P 500 sent the benchmark gauge below its average price for the past 50 days for the first time since August. The index is down 1.9 percent in September, headed for its worst month since January.

     Investors sold some of the market’s best performers, with the companies with the 10 biggest losses in the Nasdaq 100 Index having risen an average of 64 percent last year. An index compiled by Wells Fargo of companies with the biggest hedge fund ownership declined 1.7 percent.

     The small-cap Russell 2000 has plunged 8.1 percent from a high on July 3, while the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index has lost 5.1 percent since Sept. 8.

     U.S. data today showed applications for unemployment benefits increased less than forecast last week, while orders for business equipment climbed more than forecast in August. Demand for all durable goods slumped a record 18.2 percent.

     The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 percent yesterday, its biggest gain since Aug. 18, to rebound from a 1.4 percent slide over three days after closing Sept. 18 at an all-time high.

     The gauge has not had a four consecutive declines this year as it continues a bull market that nearly tripled its level since March 2009. It is down 2.2 percent this week.

     “There’s a broad-based fear that things could turn negative — the market has been short-term skittish,” Tom Sudyka, president of Lawson Kroeker Investment Management in Omaha, Nebraska, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees about $500 million. “Every time we get near or at a record, there’s always a pause to see if it’s a reasonable valuation.”

     The S&P 500 trades at 17.8 times the reported earnings of its companies, near the highest level since 2010. The Nasdaq 100 has a price-earnings ratio of 23.6. It topped 24 this month for the first time since 2010.                      

      The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge known as the VIX, increased 18 percent to 15.64 today, the most since July. The index slid 11 percent yesterday after surging 24 percent over the prior three days.

     Eight of the 10 main S&P 500 groups retreated at least 1 percent today, with technology shares sinking 2.3 percent to pace losses. Materials producers plunged 1.5 percent. No stock in the benchmark gauge climbed more than 0.7 percent.

     Apple’s 3.8 percent slide was the biggest since Sept. 3 and left the shares at a six-week low. The company pulled a new mobile-software update after the program caused some people to lose cellular service yesterday. Scores of consumers also criticized the new 6 Plus iPhone and how it can bend. Apple said the bending is “extremely rare.”

     Biogen Idec dropped 3.7 percent and Illumina Inc. slid 2.8 percent to pace declines in the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100. The two had rallied at least 90 percent in 2013.

     Allegheny Technologies sank 4.8 percent for the biggest drop in the equities benchmark. The metals miner led losses among material producers as commodities declined after the dollar touched a four-year high.
 

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Autumn

The autumn comes, a maiden fair

In slenderness and grace,

With nodding rice-stems in her hair

And lilies in her face.

In flowers of grasses she is clad;

And as she  moves along, birds greet her with their cooing glad

Like bracelets’ tinkling song.

Kalidasa

As ever,

Carolann

The surest test of discipline is its absence.

                    -Clara Barton, 1821-1912

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

Senior Vice-President &

Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7