Top 10 News Items 11/02-11/06: Unemployment Rate Now Over 10%, Fed to Keep Rates 'Exceptionally Low' for 'Extended Period', Buffett Does the Biggest Deal of His Life

November 6, 2009 4:35 PM EST

Here is a list of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:

1. The unemployment rate rose over 10% this week, marking the first time since 1983. Data from the labor department showed that employers cut another 190,000 jobs last month, pushing the rate of unemployment up from Septembers 9.8%. Although economists had been expecting the unemployment rate to drop to just 9.9%, shares rose sharply on Thursday, closing above the heavily-watched 10,000 level.

2. The Fed held its key interest rates at the 0-0.25% range this week. As this had been expected by traders, the real speculation was related to the language used in the FOMC statement: to keep rates "exceptionally low" for an "extended period".

3. Warren Buffett did the largest deal of his life this week, announcing that his Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) would acquire the remaining 77.4% of Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) shares the company does not already own. At $100 per share, the deal is being valued around $44 billion. Shares of BNI surged more than 27% on Tuesday.

4. Ford (NYSE: F) announced a Q3 adj-profit of $0.25 per share this week, topping the Street's $0.13 loss estimate and sending the stock higher by more than 8% on Monday. Later in the week, Ford announced that sales during the month of October rose 3.1%.

5. As investors continue to show concern related to the viability of the dollar as a global currency, gold has surged to all-time highs this week. The commodity traded over the $1,100 level on Friday of this week.

6. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) reported strong Q1 results this week, giving the tech-heavy Nasdaq a boost even as disappointing economic data weighed on the markets. The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.36, 5 cents better than the analyst estimate of $0.31. Revenue for the quarter was $9 billion, which compares to the estimate of $8.74 billion. Cisco also announced that it has added $10 billion to its buyback program. Cisco shares finished this week about 3% higher.

7. As expected, CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) filed a prepackaged bankruptcy planned this week. Approximately 85% of the Company's eligible debt participated in the solicitation, and nearly 90% of those participating supported the prepackaged plan of reorganization. Due to the overwhelming and broad support from its debtholders, the Company is asking the Court for a quick confirmation of the approved prepackaged plan. Under the proposed prepackaged plan of reorganization, all existing common and preferred stock will be cancelled upon emergence.

8. On the M&A front, besides Warren Buffett's massive deal, we also had: IMS Health (NYSE: RX) announce a $22/share bid by TPG and CPP Investment Board and Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) and Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) announce a $4.5 billion merger deal.

9. Shares of CVS (NYSE: CVS) tumbled more than 20% on Thursday as comments related to the prescriptions benefits management business on its Q3 conference call began a wave of selling. CVS had approximately $4.5 billion in contract losses for the 2010 selling season, versus $1.4 billion in wins. CVS now expects PBM operating profits to decline as much as 10% to 12% in 2010, versus prior expectations for growth in low to mid single digits.

10. Retail sales for the month of October seemed to disappoint investors this week. Among some of the notables were: Costco (Nasdaq: COST) saw comps rise 5%, Gap (NYSE: GPS) had a 4% jump, Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN) comps fell 2%, Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) comps were up 3%, Target (NYSE: TGT) had a 0.1% drop in same store sales and JCPenney's (NYSE: JCP) comps fell 4.5%.

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• Warren Buffett
• Federal Open Market Committee
• StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items for the Week
• Bankruptcy

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