September 28, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
TODAY IN HISTORY

1542, Cabrillo, discovery of California.
1934, Brigitte Bardot was born.
1973, Gwynneth Paltrow was born.

On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.
Go to article »

Also on this day…
In 1941, the Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams collects six hits in a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics to boost his batting average to .406 and become the first player since 1930 to hit .400. No player has finished a season hitting .400 since.

Interesting Story published today:
Lost City of Alexander the Great Unearthed in Kurdish Iraq
By Tia Ghose, Senior Writer | September 28, 2017
A lost city that was overrun by Alexander the Great on his conquest of Persia has finally been unearthed in the Kurdish region of Iraq, decades after it was first seen on spy satellite imagery.
The site, called Qalatga Darband, was directly on the route that Alexander the Great took as he pursued the Persian ruler Darius III in 331 B.C. before their epic battle at Gaugamela. The site bears signs of Greco-Roman influence, including wine presses and smashed statues that may have once depicted the gods Persephone and Adonis.
“It’s early days, but we think it would have been a bustling city on a road from Iraq to Iran. You can imagine people supplying wine to soldiers passing through,” lead archaeologist John MacGinnis, from the British Museum, told The Times. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]
Surprising spy data
In the 1960s, American spy satellite imagery, from the Corona satellite program, revealed the existence of an ancient site, near the rocky Darband-i Rania pass in the Zagros Mountains in Iraq. But that data was classified. When it was finally made public, archaeologists from the British Museum pored over the data. Later drone footage of the area revealed several large limestone blocks, as well as hints of larger buildings lying buried beneath the ground. However, by the time the archaeologists knew of the site’s existence, political instability made it difficult to explore the region, they said.
Only in recent years has the area become safe enough for archaeologists from the British Museum to take a closer look. When they did, they found a huge trove of ancient artifacts. The ceramics found at the site suggest that at least one area of Qalatga Darband was founded during the second and first centuries B.C. by the Seleucids, or the Hellenistic people who ruled after Alexander the Great, according to a statement. Later, the Seleucids were overthrown and followed by the Parthians, who may have built extra fortification walls to protect against the Romans who were encroaching during that period.
The site contains a large fort, as well as several structures that are likely wine presses. In addition, two buildings employ terra-cotta roof tiles, which are characteristic of Greco-Roman architecture of the time, the researchers noted in a statement.
On the southern end of the site, archaeologists found a large stone mound, beneath which was a giant temple-like structure. The building contained smashed statues that looked like Greek gods. One, of a naked man, was likely to be Adonis, while another seated female figure was probably the goddess Persephone, the reluctant bride of Hades, ruler of the underworld, according to the statement.
Nearby in the Darband-I Rania mountain pass, archaeologists have also uncovered evidence of an even older settlement. That fortress likely dates to the Assyrian period, between the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. The fort had 20-foot-thick (6 meters) walls and was likely a way for the Assyrians to control the flow of people through the pass. At the same site, archaeologists uncovered a grave with a coin that dates to the Parthian period, the researchers said.
The grave bore the inscription “King of kings, beneficent, the just, the manifest, friend of the Greeks, this is the king who fought against the Roman army led by Crassus at Carrhae in 54/53 BC.”
That inscription suggests the grave belongs to King Orodes II of Parthia, who ruled between 57 B.C. and 38 B.C., and may have referred to a period when the Romans attempted to conquer the Parthian Empire. The Parthians deflected that attack with horse-riding archers who shot arrows down on the Roman troops, according to the statement
Originally published on Live Science.

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A fly covered in dew drops with the flowers reflecting in the water drops. A fly coated in dewdrops looks like it has a flower crown on its head as the water reflects a brightly coloured bud. The macro photographs show flies and damselfies resting on daises and wild plants covered in early morning dew.  Photographer Alberto Panizza then carefully places a flower close by to create the reflections in the water and give the illusion the insects are wearing flower crowns. The 42-year-old walks around ponds and the riverbanks of the Po river, near his home, in Parma, Italy, looking for insects he can potentially photograph.
CREDIT: ALBERTO GHIZZA PANIZZA/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

General view of Burj Khalifa during a heavy fog in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
CREDIT:  TOM DULAT/GETTY IMAGES

“Pumpkins Screaming About Love Beyond Inifinity” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is displayed in her museum during the press preview in Tokyo. The Yayoi Kusama Museum will open to the public in Tokyo from October 1, 2017.
CREDIT: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP

A half-moon shines behind a ferris wheel at the Theresienwise fairgrounds of the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany. The world’s largest beer festival Oktoberfest take place until October 3, 2017.
CREDIT: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for September 28^th, 2017

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Number of the Day
100%
Publicly held federal debt, now 77% of GDP, is on track to hit 91% in a decade as aging baby boomers draw on Social Security and Medicare. A $1.5 trillion tax cut would push that to 100%, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a watchdog group.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks eked out a small gain and closed at the highest since mid-May, helped by strong earnings at BlackBerry Ltd. and rising copper prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 9 points or 0.1 percent to 15,618.25. Technology saw the largest gains, up 0.8 percent as BlackBerry jumped 13 percent, the most since April. The company reported record software revenue, reassuring investors that its pivot away from hardware is succeeding.
Materials stocks gained 0.4 percent as copper prices surged 2.4 percent, the most this month. Signs of a stronger economy in the U.S. and China boosted the metal. Hudbay Minerals Inc. gained 5.9 percent.
In other moves:
Stocks
* DHX Media Ltd. tumbled 16 percent, the most since 2009. The company’s quarterly results missed the lowest estimates and at least two analysts downgraded the stock
* Superior Plus Corp. gained 6.1 percent. The stock was upgraded to buy at Canaccord Genuity after closing its acquisition of Canwest Propane
* Bombardier Inc. rose 5.2 percent, rebounding from Wednesday’s 7.5 percent decline. The company says it can still win orders for its C Series jetliner this year despite losing a ruling in a trade battle with Boeing Co.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at an $11.30 discount to WTI, unchanged this week
* Aeco natural gas traded at a $2.73 discount to Henry Hub
* Gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,285.50 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.4 percent to C$1.2432 per U.S. dollar, the biggest gain in two and a half weeks
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell one basis point to 2.13 percent
US
By Eric J. Weiner
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose to record levels and headed for an eighth straight quarterly gain, while the dollar slipped as investors assessed the implications of Donald Trump’s tax proposal. Oil slid back after bouncing into bull market territory earlier in the session.
The S&P 500 Index inched up to all-time high and has increased about 3.5 percent over the last three months. The small cap Russell 2000 Index added to its advance after jumping nearly 2 percent on Wednesday following the tax-cut plan announcement. The gauge is up more than 5 percent for the quarter.
Trump’s tax plan is expected to be a boon for businesses and the wealthy, with specific cuts aimed at them. However, it’s difficult to determine precisely what the benefits would amount to since there are few details so far. This puts investors in a quandary, trying to guess which parts of the package the administration is prioritizing. And that’s before the fighting begins in Congress over passing it as a bill.
“U.S. tax policy is key right now but we don’t have a lot of details,” said Mark McCormick, North American head of foreign-exchange strategy at Toronto-Dominion Bank. “The key is we don’t know the trade-off, we don’t know who wins and we don’t know who loses.”
Bloomberg’s dollar spot index headed for a third straight quarterly drop, pushing its loss in 2017 above 8 percent. Gold traded near the lowest since August, on track for the worst month of the year. Oil fell below $51 a barrel, and yields on 10-year Treasuries were flat.
German and French debt was lower. The euro posted its first rise in four days as a regional economic confidence index climbed to a decade-high, giving European Central Bank policy makers more positive signals as they decide on the future of their bond-buying program. But the policy outlook for the world’s biggest economies isn’t the only thing on investors’ minds: end-of-quarter volatility may be near and major markets, including China, will shut next week for a holiday.

          What to watch out for the rest of this week:
* Japan August industrial production and retail sales are due Friday as is South Korea’s current account balance for August.
* The euro-area inflation rate may have accelerated a touch to 1.6 percent in September from 1.5 percent but the core will probably remain at 1.2 percent. The data is out on Friday.

      And here are the main moves in markets:

                               Stocks
* The S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to a record 2,510.07. The small cap Russell 2000 climbed 0.3 percent bringing its increase for the week to more than 2.5 percent, while the Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.1 percent.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent.
* Germany’s DAX Index jumped 0.4 percent to the highest since June.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.2 percent.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2 percent.
* The euro advanced 0.3 percent to $1.1783, the biggest gain in a week.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries were unchanged at 2.3103 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to 0.479 percent.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 1.375 percent.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1 percent to $51.59 a barrel, reversing course after touching the highest level since April earlier in the session.
* Gold added 0.3 percent to $1,286.54 an ounce.
* Copper advanced 1.6 percent to $2.9775 a pound.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

We know now that toleration is not sufficient toward another religion; we must accept it.
Thus it is not a question of subtraction, it is a question of addition.
The truth is the result of all these different sides added together.
Each religion represents one side, the fullness being the addition of all these.
Swami Vivekananda

As ever,

Carolann

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
                                 -Joseph Chilton Pearce, 1926-2016

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
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com