Burger King’s deal, improving GDP and a slowing housing market led the news 1. Burger King to gobble Tim Hortons Burger King Worldwide Inc. BKW, +2.33% and Tim Hortons Inc. THI, +0.14% announced a merger deal on Tuesday. Burger King will acquire the Canadian coffee-and-quick-meal chain for roughly $11 billion in stock, and the combined company will be headquartered in Canada. That means Burger King will avoid the much higher U.S. corporate income tax rate. Catey Hill discussed whether “pulling a Burger King” by moving to Canada might help individual U.S. citizens lower their taxes. Looking beyond the tax component of the Burger King Deal, other large restaurant chains with softening sales might also consider diversifying their businesses and move away from the usual corporate practice of selling off “non-core” subsidiaries. McDonald’s Corp. MCD, -0.45% is a prime example. There have been rumors that the world’s largest restaurant chain is considering making a bid for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. CMG, +0.12% after having sold off its majority stake in that fast-growing company in 2006. Here’s a list of the 10 restaurant stocks among the S&P 1500 that are showing the strongest sales growth. Chipotle and Tim Hortons top the list, but there are other potential takeout candidates that could help an acquirer boost its own numbers.2. A more balanced debate on tax avoidance Are you outraged that Burger King plans relocate its headquarters to Canada, in order to enjoy a much lower corporate income tax rate? Many other U.S. companies have made similar moves, because the United States has one of the highest corporate income-tax rates in the world. If this type of move angers you, read Rex Nutting’s who’s better at dodging taxes — Wall Street or Main Street?3. GDP growth revised The Department of Commerce made a revision of its estimate for gross domestic product growth during the second quarter to an annual rate of 4.2% from the initial estimate of 4.0%. This follows a GDP decline during the first quarter, caused by one of the most severe winters in decades. A 4.2% growth rate is a solid one, and if it continues, the Federal Reserve may well move up its plans to raise the short-term federal funds rate, which has been locked in a range of zero to 0.25% since late 2008. The Fed is winding down its bond-buying program, which was meant to hold down long-term rates, and could reverse course next year by trimming its bloated balance sheet through bond sales, which would be expected to push long-term rates up significantly. Howard Gold discussed Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s challenge in timing policy changes in order to fight inflation, while describing the policy failures and high inflation of the 1970s.4. Bond-bubble warning When interest rates decline, bond prices go up, and vice versa. This is why you must carefully consider your financial objectives before making investments. The market value of a bond moves in the opposite direction of interest rates, because the value must adjust so that the yield to a purchaser would match the prevailing market rate for that maturity. With short-term rates at record-low levels and long-term rates also quite low, bond prices are very high. This has led to numerous bond-bubble warnings, in the face of a widely expected rise in interest rates, beginning in 2015. If you pay a premium for a bond — that is, a market price that is higher than the face value or redemption value of the bond — you need to make sure it is worth paying the premium by taking into account how long it will be before the bond matures. The same will hold true for preferred stocks that feature call dates or maturity dates. You may also be able to purchase bonds at discounts to face value, if interest rates are higher than they were when the bonds were issued. Assuming you haven’t paid a huge premium, and that your objective all along has been current income, a sharp decline in bond prices will affect you only if you sell your bonds. Otherwise, you will continue to receive the interest payments that should have been your objective all along, and receive the entire face value for your bonds when they mature. If you are holding shares of a bond mutual fund, the situation can be quite different. You will watch the fund’s share price or net asset value steadily decline when rates rise, with no guarantee that the price will ever climb back up to its current peak. Jeff Reeves discussed some alternatives to bond fund investments, including master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts.5. Big banks hope for higher rates While some bond and bond fund investors fear rising interest rates, the nation’s largest banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM, +0.49% Bank of America Corp. BAC, +0.50% and Citigroup Inc. C, +0.51% are all sitting pretty with asset-sensitive balance sheets. This means their loans and investments reprice faster than their deposits and borrowings. That will widen net interest margins and make them billions in additional net interest income. All three banks are expected by analysts to post significantly improved earnings over the next four years, which would support significantly higher stock prices, based on current price-to-earnings multiples.6. Russia escalates Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met to discuss the continued fighting between Ukraine forces and Russian-speaking rebels in the eastern part of the country on Tuesday, but the talks apparently got nowhere. European and U.S. markets declined on Thursday, after Ukraine accused Russia of an invasion. Putin demanded that Ukraine cease its military operations on Friday. Meanwhile, European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger was planning to negotiate a deal with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak to try to make sure Russian natural gas would continue to flow through pipelines in Ukraine to Western European countries that rely on the gas for winter heating.7. Housing recovery slows For the first time since early 2008, all of the cities included in the S&P/Case-Shiller’s 20-city composite index showed year-over-year price gains at a slower pace than a year earlier, indicating a normalization of the housing market after years of recovery. Here’s a city-by-city look at the home-price trends. Where some see a settling market, others see a problem, including Keith Jurow, a real estate analyst who called the housing recovery “an illusion.”S&P 500 rises above 2,000 The S&P 500 SPX, +0.33% Index closed above 2,000 for the first time Tuesday. Of course, this arbitrary number itself means nothing, but it underscores a six-year bull market and gives rise to more of the usual warnings of an overvalued market. It is normal, even in a long-term bull market, for there to be very large pullbacks from time to time, so eventually the naysayers will be correct. But Sam Eisenstadt, who, according to Mark Hulbert “has more successfully called the stock market in recent years than almost every other market timer I can think of,” believes the S&P 500 could top 2,150. That would only be an 8% increase from the current level. So what is an investor to do? If you are a day trader, be very careful. But then that always holds true for day traders, doesn’t it? If you are a long-term investor and the market drops, say, 20%, and you still believe in the long-term prospects of the companies whose stocks you hold, the pullback will be a buying opportunity. If you are making regular contributions to a retirement account, you may eventually celebrate a big market drop, because during that period, you will be paying lower prices with your contributions. Vanguard analyst Chris Phillips discussed the related topic of passive investing in mutual funds with Victor Reklaitis.Sept. 9 is the big day for Apple Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.24% said it would hold a major event on Sept., 9, at which CEO Tim Cook is expected to roll out the iPhone 6, as well as a larger iPad, and possibly a wearable device. An iPhone is among several items not to buy over Labor Day weekend, because electronics retailers typically offer discounts to previous models and other manufacturers’ smartphones, following Apple’s new-product announcements.Retirement Robert Powell interviewed Russel Olson and Douglas Phillips, who recently proposed that the United States throw out the “broken” system of self-funded retirement accounts and replace 401(k) and similar accounts with a single private defined-contribution plan. According to the authors, the new plan would set a level playing field, enabling the federal government to require employers that withhold income taxes also to withhold retirement contributions. This would be quite a radical change and if it gained in popularity, there would be a tremendous battle in Washington. But it’s not impossible for a major change like this to take place, as we saw with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.MarketWatch rounded up the 10 most important news events of the past week. We focused on market-related issues, but we’ve included other subjects of interest to readers.http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-biggest-market-moving-events-this-week-2014-08-30?page=2