U.S. stocks wobbled Tuesday and ended the day mixed even as automakers reported improved auto sales and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway said it would buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.  Traders were reluctant to place big bets as they awaited the outcome of a two-day FOMC meeting which got underway Tuesday and Friday's monthly jobs report.  Although expectations are the Fed would keep interest rates in the 0-0.25% range, Wall Street has been speculating if there would be a change of tone in the policy statement. 

On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average closed down 17.53 points, or 0.18%, to 9,771.91.  The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 2.53 points, or 0.24%, to 1,045.41 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 8.12 points, or 0.40%, to 2,057.32.  On the NYSE, volume slowed to 1.38 billion shares.  

The news of a sale of 200 tons of gold to India sent

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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) said on Tuesday that it is acquiring Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNI) for $44 billion. This is the biggest acquisition ever for Berkshire Hathaway. With this acquisition, Berkshire Hathaway is adding the railroad transportation business to its already diverse range of businesses including retail sales, insurance and financials, newspaper publishing, manufacturing, business services and several regional electric and gas utilities. Berkshire Hathaway, which already owns 22.0% stake in Burlington Northern, has offered $100 per share in cash and stock for the remaining portion of the holding. The transaction which is contingent on approval by two-thirds of Burlington’s outstanding shareholders is expected to close by first quarter of 2010. Burlington Northern will continue operating from its Fort Worth, TX headquarters. Berkshire Hathaway also announced that its Class B common share (BRK.B) will be split off into 50 ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 29, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), MeadWestvaco Corporation (MWV), International Paper Company (IP) and Weyerhaeuser Company (WY).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s AnalystBlog:

Norfolk Southern Heads North

Norfolk Southern Corp.’s (NSC) third-quarter earnings per share stood at 81 cents, compared to a profit of $1.30 in the year-ago period. The fall in earnings was due to lower volume on the back of subdued demand for shipped

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Rydex Inverse S&P 500 Strategy Inv (RYURX) was incepted in January 1994. The investment seeks to provide investment results that inversely correlate to daily performance of the S&P 500 Index.

The fund normally invests in financial instruments with economic characteristics that should perform opposite to those of its underlying index. It is non-diversified.

Unit holders have to make a minimum initial investment of $2,500 to enter this Zacks#1 Rank (“Strong Buy") fund. It has outstripped the total returns of its benchmark index in the last 1-, 3- and 5-year periods.

Rydex Transportation Inv (RYPIX) seeks capital appreciation by investing in companies engaged in providing transportation services or those engaged in design, manufacture, distribution, or sale of transportation equipment.

The fund invests in securities that are traded in the United States, as well as in futures and options contracts. It has an expense ratio of 1.38%.

The fund’s key

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Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=bni"BNI/a) reported yesterday. They are my favorite of the railroads, and they delivered a pretty good quarter considering what they were dealing with. Here's some of the stats (a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2340516920090723?rpc=44"via Reuters/a):br /br /blockquoteNo. 2 U.S. railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp on Thursday reported a better-than-expected net profit, with lower fuel expenses and aggressive cost controls offseting a 26 percent decline in revenue as the recession continued tobr /hurt freight volumes.br /br /The railroad said volumes at economically sensitive business units, which it did not specify, have begun to stabilize. BNSF hauls a variety of commodities such as coal, grain, lumber, construction materials, automobiles and consumer goods.br /br /The Ft Worth, Texas-based company reported second-quarter net income of $404 million or $1.18 a share, compared with $350 million or $1.00 a share a year earlier. The company's earnings for the same ...

Highlights include Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC), Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) and Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU). One way to keep track of economic activity is to look at just how much stuff is moving around. In this case, the data from Railfax shown below is not very reassuring. Total rail traffic last week was down 24.4% from a week ago, and the decline is very broad-based across all of the major types of goods carried on the rails. The best way to look at the data is to compare the top line of each grouping (the "Vs. 2008" line). Note that the total traffic quarter to date is down 22.5% from a year ago, which is substantially worse than the 18.1% decline year to date. ...