The new week began cautiously on Monday, September 14th with investors and traders alike fully aware that this was the week that the U.S. Fed would finally make their long awaited decision on American interest rates.

The Canadian Finance Department announced the federal government ended its fiscal 2014-15 year with an unexpected budget surplus of some $1.9-billion. This, after posting a record $55.6-billion deficit during the Great Recession of 2009-10.

China announced that its economy grew in August at a less than expected annual rate of 6.1%.

Tuesday, September 15th began with Moody’s Investor Services sighting low commodity prices in conjunction with increased spending as reason to lowering Teck Resources’ (TCK.B) credit rating to ‘junk’ status.

WestJet Airlines (WJA-T) announced that next spring  they will begin flying from six Canadian cities directly into London’s Gatwick airport.

Ford Motor Co. (F-N) and Alcoa (AA-N) jointly announced that the auto company would be using more aluminum on its F-150 pick-up trucks as well as on more vehicle types in the coming years.

Equifax reported that the Canadian consumer debt rose by a lesser 2% in the 2nd-quarter to an average of $21,164 per person.

The shares’ of Legumex Walker (LWP-T) rocketed up by over 144% to $2.20 on word that The Scoular Company had agreed to by their Specialty Crop Division in a transaction worth some $174.6-million.

And the share price of Chico’s FAS (CHS-N) rose by over 10% to US$16.66 when the ladies apparel retailer announced it was considering putting itself up for sale.

The gold sector seemed to be attracting big money on Wednesday, September 16th when Pretium Resources (PVG-T) announced they had secured a larger than expected US$540-million financing from Orion Mine Finance Group and Tactical opportunities Fund that would go a long way in the development of the company’s high-grade Brucejack Gold Project in northwest British Columbia.

While on a related note, the World Gold Council reported that total global gold demand fell by 12% in the 2nd quarter from the same period last year to 915-tonnes while total global supply was also down by 5% to 1,033-tonnes.

The share price of Parallel Energy Trust (PLT.UN-T) plunged by over46% to $0.04 on word the entity was seeking an extension of its credit facility that was due to expires at the end of September.

Bloomberg reported that foreigners in July sold a 7-month high $10.1-billion of Canadian securities.

U.S. Fed watch finally came to an end on Thursday, September 17th when the Federal Open market Committee (FOMC) sighted domestic and foreign economic concerns in their decision to leave their key lending rates unchanged a 0.00% – 0.25%.

Statistics Canada reported the country’s factory sales rose by a better than expected 1.7% in July to $52.2-billion.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s lowered Japan’s credit rating by one notch from double-A-minus to A-plus.

Guestlogix Inc. (GXI-T) shares’ fell by over 10.5% to $0.76 on word that company co-founder Brett Proud was immediately resigning as CEO and director of the online travel/lodging

company.

Friday, September 18th saw the markets generally sell down on concerns the U.S Fed’s failure to raise interest rates may have been a signal of stagnating global growth to come.

Statistics Canada reported that a 12.6% drop in gasoline prices from a year ago helped to keep the country’s rise in consumer prices in August to an annualized 1.3%, while core inflation, that excludes gasoline prices, slowed by 0.3% for the same period to an annualized 2.1%.

Shoppers lined up around the block as Nordstrom Inc. (JWN-N) opened its new store in Vanvouver’s Pacific Centre Mall, the high-end fashion retailer’s third Canadian outlet.

Sherritt International (S-T) share’s fell by 6.0% to $0.91 when the miner joined many of its peers by giving in to low commodity prices and suspending its quarterly $0.01 dividend to zero.

Baker Hughes reported that the number of active American petroleum rigs was reduced by six last week to 842 rigs.

Andrew Peller (ADW.A-T) at $18.60, Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T) at $88.65, TSO3 (TOS-T) at $2.15 reached new TSX 52-week trading highs, while Husky Energy (HSE-T) at $20.74, Silver Wheaton (SLW-T) at $14.62 and TransAlta Corp. (TA-T) at $5.58 all touched new      52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials fell by 0.29% to 16,385, with the S&P 500 index off by 0.15% to 1,958 while the NASDAQ Exchange managed a gain of 0.10% to 4,827. In the leaves are turning north, the TSX Composite index rose by 1.38% to 13,647 and the TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.55% to 550.

With commodities, gold bullion gained 3.26% to US$1,139, while copper fell by 3.27% to US$2.37, with crude oil up by 0.16% to US$45.23 and natural gas lost 3.25% to US$2.68. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodities Index eased by 0.73% to finish the week at 404.

The Canadian dollar advanced by 0.34% against its zero interest rated American counterpart to end the week at US$0.7565.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX was marginally lower by 0.92-point to end the week at 22.28.

And Finally – a recent CIBC survey found that two-thirds of Canadian parents were feeling the financial stress of supporting their adult children, while almost half said that supporting their adult children was hampering their ability to save for themselves, and 20% said it was actually delaying their retirement.