BC-US--Money & Markets Digest, US

Money & Markets modules for Saturday, Oct. 4

All graphics are sent by 6 p.m. EDT

WEEK AHEAD

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday reports its latest data on consumer borrowing, and the Commerce Department on Thursday will give an update on wholesale inventory and sales data.

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

Getting drilled

Shares of Transocean and other offshore-drilling companies were among the market's worst performers on Friday, continuing a months-long trend.

CENTERPIECE

Hard fall for hard assets

Commodity prices sank last quarter, again. That hurts anyone who invested in crude oil, gold or wheat, but it also helps keep inflation low.

STORY STOCKS

Medtronic (MDT)

Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO)

Penske Automotive Group (PAG)

Chesapeake Energy (CHK)

Mylan (MYL)

Fortinet (FTNT)

Jack in the Box (JACK)

Hain Celestial Group (HAIN)

FUND FOCUS

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth (FBGRX)

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth was a top-performer in the large-cap growth fund category in 2012 and 2013, and is in the top 10 percent so far this year.

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MONEY & MARKETS EXTRA

For the week ending Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014

CENTERPIECE

The dominating dollar

Expectations of possible interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve sent the dollar's value jumping last quarter against currencies from around the world. The U.S. Dollar index, which measures the value of the dollar against the euro, British pound and other currencies, had its biggest one-quarter gain in six years.

MARKET PULSE

The eye-popping totals for last quarter's initial public offerings aren't that impressive after subtracting just one company; merger-and-acquisition activity in the first nine months of this year already tops full-year totals for every year since 2007; the fourth quarter is usually the best quarter for stocks.

INSIDER Q&A

Portable payments

EBay said it will spin off its PayPal unit next year from its e-commerce marketplace arm, the latest shake-up in the mobile payments arena. Competition is fierce, with Amazon, Google, Square and others competing against PayPal. Denee Carrington, senior analyst at Forrester Research, weighs in on what PayPal's independence means for the industry.

$1,000 DERBY

If you invested $1,000 at the start of this year, how much would you have now? An answer to that question for various types of stocks, bonds and commodities.

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