Highlights:  BNSF, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad freight

BNSF, Warren Buffett buys Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Reuters: From corn to coal, more than 40 percent of the freight hauled throughout the United States is handled by rail.

The top four carriers are Union Pacific Corp, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, CSX Corp, and Norfolk Southern Corp.

In 2008, No. 2 carrier Burlington Northern, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, transported:

Warren Buffett buying Burlington Northern

♦ 2.5 million carloads of coal, enough coal to generate nearly 12 percent of the nation’s electricity.

♦ More than 23 million tons of wheat

♦ 31 million tonnes of exported agricultural products

♦ 66 million tons of consumer goods, such as clothing, toys and electronics

♦ 475 million small parcels and packages in partnership with parcel delivery companies

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Buffett to buy Burlington Northern in his biggest deal ever

(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc will pay $26 billion to buy out railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp in what the billionaire investor called a bet on the U.S. economy.

The deal, Buffett’s biggest-ever acquisition, marks new interest in a storied but highly cyclical American industry that has tried to reinvent itself by emphasizing its ability to move goods cheaply and efficiently.   Read full story here

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Source Reuters

Highlights:  BNSF, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad purchased by Warren Buffett.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in what he described as an “all-in wager on the economic future of the United States.”

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The purchase, the largest ever for Berkshire, will cost the company $26 billion, or $100 a share in cash and stock, for the 77.4 percent of the railroad it doesn’t already own. Including his previous investment and debt assumption, the deal is valued at $44 billion, Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire said today in a statement. The railroad’s stock closed yesterday at $76.07.

Berkshire has been building a stake in the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad for more than two years as Buffett looked for what he called an “elephant”-sized acquisition in which he could deploy his company’s cash hoard, which was more than $24 billion at the end of June. Trains stand to become more competitive against trucks with fuel prices high, he has said. Read full story here

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Story Highlights: Manufacturing in the U.S. expanded in October at the fastest pace in more than three years, a sign that factories will be the main drivers of the economic recovery in coming months.

Bloomberg:  Factories in the U.S. probably grew at a faster pace, while the number of people signing contracts to buy houses showed no improvement, signaling a shift to manufacturing as the driver of the expansion, economists said before reports today.

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose to 53 in October, the highest level in three years, according to the median forecast of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Another report may show pending home sales in September were unchanged, the first time since January they didn’t increase. Read full story here

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Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Rise 6.1% Amid Tax-Credit Deadline The number of contracts to buy previously owned homes in the U.S. rose in September for an eighth straight month as Americans rushed to meet a deadline for a home-buyer tax credit.

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Oct. 14-Bloomberg.com has reported:   Bruce Wasserstein, whose more than 30 years of dealmaking earned him wealth, the envy of his peers and ultimately the top job at Lazard Ltd., has died. He was 61.

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Wasserstein was hospitalized on Oct. 11 with an irregular heartbeat. Lazard said in a statement that the exact cause of death hasn’t yet been determined. Steven J. Golub, vice chairman of the firm, was named interim chief executive officer, effective immediately, the statement said.

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A onetime corporate lawyer, Wasserstein rose to the top of the ranks of merger advisers during the 1980s and won a well- publicized battle with Michel David-Weill to take Lazard Freres & Co. public. He became chairman and chief executive officer in May 2005.

“He made more from investment banking than any man on the planet,” said William Cohan, author of the 2007 book “The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co.” Read full story here

Bruce Piedmont Wasserstein (born December 25, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York died October 14, 2009.  Wasserstein  was an American investment banker and businessman. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan,   Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School, and was the Chairman and CEO of Lazard.

Wasserstein & Co. – Senior Management Team

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Morris Wasserstein, a wealthy textile executive, and his wife, Lola Schleifer, Wasserstein is one of five children. He had two late sisters: pioneering businesswoman Sandra Meyer and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, whose daughter he is now raising. His maternal grandfather was Simon Schleifer , a prominent Polish Jewish playwright who moved to Paterson, New Jersey and became a Hebrew school principal.

Wasserstein helped broker more than a thousand transactions worth $250 billion since the 1980s. Starting his career as a Cravath, Swaine & Moore attorney, he later rose to co-head of First Boston Corps dominant merger and acquisition practice.  Read more here

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Dow industrials closed above 10,000 Wednesday, ending at the key psychological milestone for the first time in more than a year, following upbeat profit reports from Intel and JPMorgan Chase.

CNNMoney.com Market Report

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 145 points or 1.5%, according to early tallies, finishing at its highest point since Oct. 3, 2008, when it closed at 10,325.38.

The S&P 500 (SPX) index rose 19 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 32 points, or 1.5%.  Read full story here

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE MILESTONES DJIA from 1896, Record

U.S. Stocks Rally as Dow Hits 10000 for First Time in Year

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