Following a few weeks away, The Week returned to a very different market that began on Monday, September 12^th with a very different attitude as investors who had been pushing the indexes to near or record highs were now looking for any reason to sell.

Long time agriculture competitors Agrium Inc. (AGU-T) and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT-T) announced they will merge as equals in an US$38-billion all-stock deal to form the world’s third largest commodities company.

To the surprise of many and none to some – The Royal Bank of Canada (RY-T) and ScotiaBank (BNS-T) announced they would no longer do business with any company associated with the marijuana industry.

HP (HPQ-N) announced they were buying Samsung Electronics’ printer business in an all-cash deal of some US$1.05-billion.

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX-Q) said they were going to grow their global tea business to over         US$3-billion over the next 5-years.

In direct contrast to the U.S. presidential election rhetoric – the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Tuesday, September 13^th that the median American household income rose by 5.2% in 2015 to a better than forecast US$56,500.

Nighthawk Gold (NHK-V) shares’ rose by over 11.5% to $0.58 after the mineral explorer reported encouraging drill hole gold assays from its Indin Lake property in the Northwest Territories.

Anadarko Petroleum (APC-N) announced it was purchasing the Gulf of Mexico petroleum assets from miner Freeport-Mcmoran (FCX-N) in an all-cash deal of some US$2-billion.

General Motors (GM-N) announced their new ‘Bolt’ all-electric car will be available later this year and will able to travel an industry best 238-miles or 283-km on a single charge.

Wednesday, September 14^th began with a blockbuster deal that saw pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG (BAYZF-OTC) announce that it was buying giant seed firm Monsanto Co. (MON-N) for a record US$66-billion.

While on a much smaller scale, the share price of Canexus Corp. (CUS-T) rose by almost 14% to $1.41 on word the chemical company had received an unsolicited takeover bid from Chemtrade Logistics (CHE.UN-T).

Carl Icahn announced his intention to go ‘all in’ on Herbalife Ltd. (HLF-N) as the investment guru applied to the Federal Trade Commission for the right to buy up to 50% of the company.

The price of Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT-Q) soared up by over 26% to US$32.36 on word that the company’s muscular dystrophy drug eteplirsen was close to being approved by the FDA.

Energy Fuels (EFR-T) shares’ plunged by almost 25% to $2.21 on Thursday, September 15^thafter the uranium producer announced a deep discounted US$13-million financing.

Conversely, the price of Orla Mining (OLA-V) soared up by over 66.5% to $1.35 when the company announced it would raise up to $50-million in conjunction with a merger with Pershimco Resources (PRO-V) to further develop Pershimco’s Cerro Quema gold project in Panama.

Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q) – the only company whose every new product is scrutinized as if it will change the world – announced that it had sold its entire initial inventory of the new iPhone 7.

Friday, September 16^th had Statistics Canada report that the country’s manufacturing sales rose in July by a much less than expected 0.1%.

Concordia international (CXR-T) shares’ dropped by another 18.6% to $7.12 after the United Kingdom proposed new legislation to control drug price increases.

While on a similar note – the price of Novavax Inc. (NXAX-Q) plunged by over 84.5% to just US$1.28 after the pharmaceutical company received not one, but two unfavourable clinical trial results.

During the week the price of natural gas rose to a new 16-month high of US$3.03/mmbcf.

Andrew Peller (ADW.A-T) at $32.80, Cynapsus Therapeutics (CTH-T) at $53.20 and Rogers Sugar (RSI-T) at $6.55 all established new TSX 52-week trading highs while Cameco Corp. (CCO-T) at $11.30, Inter Pipeline (IPL.R-T) at 26.53 and Just Energy Group (JE-T) at $6.61 all set new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials gained 0.22% to 18,124, with the S&P 500

Index up by 0.52% to 2,139 and the NASDAQ Exchange ahead by 2.32% to 5,245. In the World Cup of Hockey north, the TSX Composite Index fell by 0.61% to 14,451 and the TSX Venture Exchange was off by 1.60% to 799.

With commodities – gold bullion lost 1.65% to US$1,313, while copper gained 3.35% to US$2.26, as crude oil fell by 4.60% to US$43.77 but natural gas rose by 4.84% to US$3.03. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index fell by 0.99% to end the week at an even level of 400.

The Canadian dollar fell by 1.26% against its American counterpart to finish the week at US$0.7567.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell by 2.1-points to end the week at a much calmer level of 15.40.

And Finally – A country’s evolutionary experience is marked by many events such as how it was formed, its constitution, its conflicts or achievements. The Canadian experience established another milestone last week when Statistics Canada reported that for the first time ever, the level of debt held by Canadians exceeded the level of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) as the level of its citizens total debt rose by another 1.8% the second quarter to 100.5% of GDP.