The new trading week began on Monday, September 19^th with investors seemingly caught in the headlights of the markets that were looking ahead to mid-week for the U.S. Fed and Bank of Japan to make their positions known on interest rates.

Technical analysts David Tippin & Ron Meisels commented – “The period of vulnerability and volatility that we previously identified has materialized. A modest market sell-off with continued sectoral rotation is likely. The bull may take its time to work through this period of rest and rehabilitation, but the outcome should be a stronger market later this year”. (For a complete copy of this report please contact ‘rod.blake@canaccord.com’.)

GeneNews Ltd. (GEN-T) shares’ surged up by 41% to $0.28 on word the company had formed a partnership with healthcare services firm NueHealth to market three of their cancer diagnostic tests.

On a similar note – Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT-Q) shares’ soared up by almost 79.5% to US$50.50 after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) accelerated the approval of the company’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug eteplirsen.

Tuesday, September 20^th saw the price of Taseko Mines (TKO-T) rise by over 8% to $0.65 after the copper miner reported a possible new ore zone near their Gibraltar open pit mine in central British Columbia.

Lennar Corp. (LEN-N), America’s second largest home builder reported higher than expected      3rd-quarter revenue and profit.

And Wells Fargo (WFC-N) was taken to task by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee for failing to monitor its employees who opened up over 2-million fake bank accounts in a very misguided sales promotion.

Wednesday, September 21^st was a day for the central bankers to take centre stage as both the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Fed did as expected and reported they would leave their respective key interest rates unchanged but were in a position to further stimulate their economies if needed.

The shareholders’ of G4G Capital (GGC-T) were pleased to see their investment soar up by almost 178% to $0.50 after the company announced it had secured key geological ground in the White Gold district of Canada’s Yukon.

Cash rich Microsoft Corp.  (MSFT-Q) announced that they would not only buy back some US$40-billion of their own stock but also raised their quarterly dividend by 8% to      US$0.39 per share.

Trade Desk (TTD-N) shares’ surged up by almost 66% to US$11.86 on the automated online advertizing company’s first day of trading on the NASDAQ Exchange.

The nice thing about Thursday, September 22^nd was that it was the first post U.S. Fed day. The bad thing about it was that it was also one day closer the next Fed watch in December.

The share price of Colorado Resources (CXO-V) plunged by almost 33% to $0.27 after the mineral explorer disappointed investors with its latest drill hole gold assays from its KSP property in north west British Columbia.

WCI Communities (WCIC-Q) shares’ surged up by almost 38% to US$23.65 on word that fellow homebuilder Lennar Corp. (LEN-N) would be purchasing the Florida based luxury home builder in an cash & stock deal of some US$643-million.

In a somewhat misguided world where low interest rate are supposed to spur economic growth and inflation – Statistics Canada reported on Friday, September 23^rd that the country’s annual inflation rate had eased by another 0.2% in August to just 1.1%.

There’s nothing like a good rumour to drive the price of a stock. Case in point – Twitter Inc. (TWTR-Q) shares’ rose by over 21% to US$22.62 on word that the messaging company may put itself up for sale.

During the Week – The price of natural gas rose to a new 20-month high of US$3.12/mmbcf and the NASDAQ Exchange climb to a new record close of 5,342.

Knight Therapeutics (GUD-T) at $9.82, Norsat International (NII-T) at $10.60 and Shopify Inc. (SH-T) at $59.03 all reached new 52-week trading highs while Caldwell Partners (CWL-T) at $0.95, Euro Sun Mining (ESM-T) at $1.00  and Redline Communications (RDL-T) at $1.35 all sank to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – The Dow Industrials rose by 0.76% to 18,261, with the S&P 500 Index up by 1.22% to 2,165 and the NASDAQ Exchange ahead by 1.16% to 5,306. On the Canadian side, the TSX Composite Index improved by 1.70% to 14,698 and the TSX Composite Index was up by 1.50% to 811.

With Commodities – gold bullion rose by 2.44% to US$1,342, with copper up by 1.85% to US$2.20, while crude oil gained 2.57% to US$44.74 and natural gas was higher by 0.33% to US$3.03. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index rose by 1.0% to end the week at 404.

The Canadian dollar improved by 0.30% against its American counterpart to finish the week at US$0.7569.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell by 3.13-points to finish the week at a much calmer level of 12.24.

And Finally – Those vocal few who feel that they are making great strides in shutting down the Canadian petroleum industry would have been very disappointed with a current           U.S. Energy Information Administration report confirming that Canada’s crude oil shipments to the U.S have now reached a record 3.46-million barrels-a-day.