AbbVie board nixes support of $55 billion Shire takeover; Shire to get $1.64B break-up fee + MORE Oct 20th

International Business Machines Corp. fell seven per cent Monday morning on stock markets after it abandoned a five-year plan to boost its profit.

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“Long-term investors shouldn’t worry about daily or weekly blips in the markets.” How many times have you heard that? It’s true of course, but most investors don’t heed the advice. And to be fair, it’s hard to ignore the financial markets when there’s non-stop commentary in the news and on social media.
Since markets began falling early last month—the S&P/TSX Composite Index shed more than 11% in the six weeks following September 3—some investors are starting to get spooked. As one wrote to me recently: “A word of encouragement would be appreciated for those of us who recently began the Couch Potato plan and are now seeing our ETFs going down.”
Words of encouragement are helpful, but “don’t worry, be happy,” doesn’t cut it. So here are three specific reasons why a falling stock market shouldn’t shake your confidence in a balanced index portfolio.
1. Downturns are ridiculously normal. A reasonable expected rate of return for a global equity portfolio might be about 7% to 8%…

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. – AbbVie is walking away from its proposed $55 billion takeover bid of Shire and has agreed to pay the rival drugmaker a $1.64 billion breakup fee.
The two companies said Monday that they deal was off following the decision last week by AbbVie’s board to withdraw support from the proposed acquisition.
Shire had rejected several unsolicited offers from AbbVie before the companies made the deal in July.
North Chicago-based AbbVie had envisioned buying Shire and reincorporating on the British island of Jersey, where Shire is incorporated.
But AbbVie’s board got cold feet after the U.S. government created new limitations on the tax benefits of incorporating overseas.
The new regulations attempt to stop a range of complicated transactions companies use to lower their U.S. tax bill. One measure tries to stop “hopscotch” loans, in which companies turn their foreign earnings into U.S. loans. Another rule change tightens the application of a law that says the U…

TORONTO – Some of the most active companies traded Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (14,337.77, up 110.09 points):
Niko Resources Ltd. (TSX:NKO). Oil and gas. Down 40 cents, or 54.79 per cent, to 33 cents on 10.5 million.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (TSX:PRE). Oil and gas. Up $1.79, or 11.24 per cent, to $17.72 on 5.3 million shares.
Southern Pacific Resource Corp. (TSX:STP). Oil and gas. Unchanged at 2.5 cents on 4.5 million shares.
BlackBerry Limited (TSX:BB). Communication equipment. Up 93 cents, or 8.69 per cent, to $11.63 on 4.2 million shares.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ). Oil and gas. Down 39 cents, or 1.01 per cent, to $38.26 on 3.8 million shares.
Uranium Participation Corp. (TSX:U). Miner. Down five cents, or one per cent, to $4.96 on 3.7 million shares.
Companies reporting major news:
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP). Transportation. Down $3.34, or 1.48 per cent, to $221.65 on 437,637 shares. The company confirmed that talks with U…

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