The final trading week of the quarter began on Monday, September 26^th with most corporate and economic data being put to the sidelines as most investor eyes were firmly focused on the evening’s Clinton vs Trump U.S. Presidential debate.

And a nervous market got more so as the share price of Deutsche Bank (DB-N) fell by 7^% to US$11.85 after the German government stated it would not offer any assistance to the troubled German bank.

Meanwhile the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index dropped by another 0.2-point last week to a 5-month low of 56.5. – the economic gauge’s 5th-straght monthly drop.

Grande West Transportation (BUS-V) shares’ rose by over 11.5^% to $0.67 after the company announced a new order from BC Transit for the company’s unique Vicinity buses.

The price of Otis Gold (OOO-V) shares’ fell by over 15^% to $0.31 when the mineral explorer’s latest drill hole gold assays from their Kilgore gold project in Idaho failed to impress the market.

For all of the mostly negative press it has received from the Canadian media – Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B-T) people must have felt pretty good in seeing their CSeries jetliner receive an EDP International award as the first jetliner to achieve the Environmental Product declaration as an environmentally superior aircraft.

Tuesday, September 27^th began with investors trying to weigh the market ramifications, if any,  of the previous evening’s Clinton vs Trump U.S. Presidential debate.

The share price of B2Gold (BTO-T), OceanaGold (OGC-T) and some 20 others with operations in the Philippines dropped in tandem after that Pacific country’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recommended the suspension of their operations due to environmental and social concerns.

The shareholders’ of Endochoice Holdngs (GI-N) were pleased to see their investment soar up by over 88^% to US$7.95 after the medical device company agreed to a US$210-million all cash takeover by Boston Scientific (BSX-N).

Wednesday, September 28^th had BlackBerry Inc. (BB-T) succumb to the inevitable and announced that in house production of their smartphones was no longer feasible and they were farming out the production of their once industry standard devices.

Petroleum stocks caught a surge of interest after a surprise announcement by OPEC that the cartel will try and cap its crude oil production at 32.5-million barrels-a-day, the first such production agreement since 2008.

Tempur Sealy International (TPX-N) shares’ fell by over 22% to US$57.78 after the mattress maker lowered its sales guidance for the rest of 2016.

M&A continues in the mining sector on Thursday, September 29^th with Kirkland Lake Gold (KLG-T) announcing it was taking over Newmarket Gold (NMI-T) in an all-stock deal of some $1-billion to form an entity that will produce over 500,000 ounces of gold a year.

The price of SNC-Lavalin Group (SNC-T) shares’ fell by 7^% to $3.84 following the engineering giant’s lowering of its outlook for the rest of 2016.

Meanwhile, ConAgra Foods (CAG-N) shares’ rose by over 7^% to uS$46.26 after the foodstuff giant swung to 1^st-quarter profit from a quarterly loss in the same quarter one year ago.

Friday, September 30^th began with Statistics Canada reporting the country’s gross domestic production (GDP) rose by a better than expected 0.5^% in July and that along with June’s 0.6% gain represented the best 2-month gain in GDP in nearly 5-years.

The Liberals are making good on its election promise to spend more that it took in as the Canadian federal government reported a $2.8-million deficit over the first 4-months of the current fiscal 2016-17 year.

Baker Hughes reported that the American active oil rig count rose in the past quarter to 416 rigs – up from the record low of 316 rigs in May but still far lower than the record 1,609 that were active in October, 2014.

And some 4-plus years after it was first proposed, Canada’s Federal Government finally approved, albeit with many conditions, Petronas’ large Pacific North West Liquid natural gas project in British Columbia.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP.UN-T) at $41.94, Kingsway Financial Services (KFS-T) at $7.67 and ZCL Composites (ZCL-T) at $11.15 all established new TSX 52-week trading highs while Energy Fuels (EFR-T) at $1.99, Granite Oil (GXO-T) at $5.21 and Vecima Networks (VCM-T) at $8.78 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials gained 0.26^% to 18,308, with the S&P 500 Index up by 0.14^% to 2,168 and the NASDAQ Exchange ahead by 0.11^% to 5,312. To the World Cup of Hockey champions’ north, the TSX Composite Index rose by 0.19^% to 14,726 while the TSX Venture Exchange fell by 1.36^% to an even 800.

With commodities – gold bullion lost 1.56^% to US$1,321, while copper gained 0.45^% to US$2.21, with crude oil up by 7.82^% to US$47.96 as natural gas dropped by 2.99^% to US$2.92. Overall, the CRB Spot Commodity Index eased by 0.25% to end the week at 402.

The Canadian dollar improved by 0.23^% against its American cousin to finish the week at US$0.7617.

And the closely watched CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose by 0.97-point to end the week at a little more nervous level of 13.26.

And Finally – With figures that reveal the fragility of modern personal finances – A resent MNP LLP survey found that 56% of Canadians would be facing a negative cash flow situation if they took on just another $200-a-month in debt.