Fed saw no-hike decision in September as ‘close call’ + MORE Oct 12th

Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (14,618.97, up 69.37 points):
ECN Capital Corp. (TSX:ECN). Financial Services. Down seven cents, or 2.22 per cent, to $3.09 on 6.8-million shares.
Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX:YRI). Miner. Up 13 cents, or 2.70 per cent, to $4.95 on 6.2-million shares.
Jaguar Mining Inc. (TSX:JAG). Miner. Up five cents, or 7.14 per cent, to 75 cents on 6.1-million shares.
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN). Miner. Up 17 cents, or 7.80 per cent, to $2.35 on 5.7-million shares.
B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Up 18 cents, or 6.14 per cent, to $3.11 on 5.6-million shares.
Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B). Miner. Up 47 cents, or 1.94 per cent, to $24.74 on 5.5-million shares.
Companies reporting major news:
WSP Global Inc. Engineering and construction. Up 55 cents, or 1.35 per cent, to $41.28 on 127,170 shares. Montreal-based WSP Global Inc. is buying a U.K.-based engineering consulting firm with expertise in public transportation and infrastructure, including intelligent systems for managing road traffic…

“What kind of returns can I expect?”
Whenever I discuss investing with a reader or new client, that question almost always comes up. After all, anyone setting out to build a retirement portfolio needs to have some expectation for long-term performance. These days, most people seem to think 6% or 7% annually (before inflation) is a reasonable target for a traditional mix of stock and bond index funds. Some shoot for even more. Earlier this year, the McKinsey Global Institute reported that many pension fund managers in the U.S. assume they’ll earn 8% annually on a balanced portfolio.
If you have a short memory, you might be forgiven for such optimism. A simple Couch Potato portfolio of 40% bonds and 60% equities (split evenly between Canadian, U.S. and international stocks) did, in fact, return between 6% and 7% annually over the last 10- and 20-year periods. And shorter-term returns have been close to 10% a year over the last three years.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Corp. (CSX) on Wednesday reported third-quarter net income of $455 million.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based company said it had profit of 48 cents per share.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 45 cents per share.
The freight railroad posted revenue of $2.71 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.69 billion.
CSX shares have risen 16 per cent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has increased almost 5 per cent. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $30.18, a climb of slightly more than 6 per cent in the last 12 months.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CSX at http://www.zacks.com/ap/CSX
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Keywords: CSX, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings
The post CSX tops Street 3Q forecasts appeared first on Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve officials last month kept a key interest rate unchanged but saw the decision as a “close call.” Many believed that the case for a rate hike had strengthened in recent months.
Minutes of the Sept. 20-21 meeting released Wednesday showed Fed officials were inching closer to hiking rates for the first time since last December. But they decided to hold off, given that inflation was still running below their 2 per cent target and there was little sign of rising wage pressures.
The minutes said that some officials believed it would be appropriate to raise rates “relatively soon” if the labour market kept improving.
Analysts said they believed the minutes provided further evidence that the Fed will keep rates unchanged at the next meeting in November but will be ready to raise rates in December.
“The meeting minutes make plain that the case for a rate hike was a close call and it looks like the only way (Federal Reserve Chair Janet) Yellen could hold down the get-going voices of the hawks was to promise them a rate hike later this year,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York…

NEW YORK, N.Y. – U.S. stocks finished slightly higher on Wednesday as investors picked stocks that pay big dividends, like real estate and phone companies. Energy companies fell with the price of oil and health care stocks continued to slide.
On Wednesday:
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 15.54 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 18,144.20.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 2.45 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 2,139.18.
The Nasdaq composite lost 7.77 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5,239.02.
For the week:
The Dow is down 96.29 points, or 0.5 per cent.
The S&P 500 is down 14.56 points, or 0.7 per cent.
The Nasdaq is down 53.39 points, or 1 per cent.
For the year:
The Dow is up 719.17 points, or 4.1 per cent.
The S&P 500 is up 95.24 points, or 4.7 per cent.
The Nasdaq is up 231.61 points, or 4.6 per cent.
The post How the Dow Jones industrial average fared on Wednesday appeared first on Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News.