NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wall Street firms are in a quandary about getting involved with a planned public offering of Russian aluminum producer UC RUSAL because its founder has been barred from getting a U.S. visa on account of allegations that he is connected to organized crime, the Wall Street Journal...

Some of the biggest banks may face mandatory downsizing in an attempt to avoid "too big to fail" scenarios.

Some big Wall Street banks are girding against the swine flu, but a flap over how the firms got the vaccine will make them miserable, writes David Weidner.

On Tuesday, the ETF Professor told you to take a pass on or short the PowerShares Financial Preferred ETF (NYSE: PGF), which holds preferred shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and MetLife (NYSE: MET).

Given that the Professor was among the first to make this, he was happy to see others echo the sentiment today and in fairness, someone mentioned the PowerShares Preferred ETF (NYSE: PGX) as another preferred-tracking ETF to get rid of.

PGX holds Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) preferreds.

Another preferred ETF to take a look at is the iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (NYSE: PFF) as a short candidate. The Professor has inlcuded the PGX chart, but all three charts look eerily similar.

Despite the fact tha the iShares Dow Jones US Broker-Dealers ETF (NYSE: IAI) is trading up a little bit, the ETF Professor cautions you about a bearish tint IAI's chart, which may be forming a bearish flag pattern after a recent sell-off.

IAI, which holds Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) among others, is seeing heavy trade at well above twice its average daily volume, but the ETF is only up a few pennies as the Professor pens this missive.

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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 gold futures surging $32.10 to $1086.  Treasury prices declined with the 10-year off 16/32 to 101-08/32 and the corresponding yield surging to 3.47% from 3.41% Monday.      

Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI) surged 28% to $97 after the $26 billion offer from Berkshire.  Technology stocks were under pressure following a Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) analyst downgrade of semiconductor companies. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), the world’s biggest computer-chip maker, fell 2.7% to $18.50 and Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:NVLS) declined 5.2% to $19.71.  Shares in basic materials, oil and gas and industrials rose 1.8%, 1.5%, and 1.3%, respectively in yesterday's trade.  Meanwhile, automakers reported October sales numbers mostly higher from a year ago.  General Motors (NYSE:GM) posted its first y/y sales gain, in nearly two years, as its sales rose 5%; Ford (NYSE:F) said its sales rose 3%; Toyota (NYSE:TM) sales, although flat, were ahead of estimates of a 6% decline.  Chrysler sales fell 30%.

Nevertheless, corporate earnings so far have continued to beat Wall Street estimates, with 84% of the S&P500's 358 firms reported so far currently beating Street estimates.  Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is currently trading 55% above its 12-year low hit on March 9. 

Today’s earnings calendar includes quarterly reports from the following: Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), News Corp. (NYSE:NWS), Prudential (NYSE:PRU), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), and Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX).

Zacks Investment Research

Given the slew of positive economic data Monday you might have been forgiven for expecting a decent rebound in risk assets. There was a rebound of sorts in early New York trading, with the Dow up close to 150 points at one stage.[More...]

Deal-making activity heated up with the mega-deal announcement from Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) of its plans to acquire Burlington Northern (BNI) for $100 per share in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion, the largest in Berkshire history Stanley Works (SWK) announced plans to purchase Black & Decker (BDK) in a deal valued ...

• Deal-making activity heated up with the mega-deal announcement from Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) of its plans to acquire Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI) for $100 per share in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion, the largest in Berkshire history

• Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK) announced plans to purchase Black & Decker (NYSE:BDK) in a deal valued at $4.5 billion

• Denbury Resources (NYSE:DNR) announced plans to acquire Encore Acquisition (NYSE:EAC) in a cash and stock deal valued at $3.2 billion

• Ford (NYSE:F) said it is planning to raise $2 billion through the sale of senior convertible notes due 2016, and $1 billion through common shares sold in private deals

• UBS (NYSE:UBS) noted "we do not expect an immediate recovery in client net new monthly flows," as it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss. The third quarter loss of $552.4 million was larger than anticipated

• Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) downgraded US semiconductor shares to "cautious" warning the industry is now in the final stages of the semiconductor cycle. Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) rating was lowered to "equalweight" from "overweight," along with shares of Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR), Linear Tech (NASDAQ:LLTC), Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Maxim (NASDAQ:MXIM)

• During yesterday's session Citigroup's (NYSE:C) analyst slashed its rating on Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) to "sell" from "buy," also downgrading Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) to "sell" from "hold." Meanwhile, the firm upgraded Motorola (NYSE:MOT) shares to "buy" from "hold," noting positive surprises likely from new phone offerings based on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system

• Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM-A) reported fiscal first quarter earnings of 77 cents per share on sales of $14.9 billion.  The company said, "Looking ahead, we see demand improving in some key markets, and we have the assets and acumen to capture value as the global economy resets"

• American Tower (NYSE:AMT) reported inline third quarter earnings of 17 cents a share on revenues of $444.10 million. The firm backed its 2009 guidance

Zacks Investment Research

Companies featured in this segment: Electricite de France SA (EPA:EDF), Constellation Energy Group Incorporated (NYSE:CEG), Centrica plc (OTC:CPYYY), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG), Suncor Energy Incorporated (NYSE:SU), Husky Energy Incorporated (OTC:HUSKF), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited (TYO:7011), Mitsubishi Corporation (OTC:MSBHY) (Tokyo), Kajima Corporation (TYO:1812) (Tokyo), Obayashi Corporation (TYO:1802), Sojitz Corporation (TYO:2768), Invensys plc (OTC:IVNYY), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU), Tyson Foods Incorporated (NYSE:TSN)

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Companies featured in this segment: General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), Vale (NYSE:RIO), BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE:BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (NYSE:RTP), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), American Electric Power Company Incorporated (NYSE:AEP), Fiat SpA (OTC:FIATY), and Technip (PINKSHEETS:TKPPY)

Companies featured in this segment: Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT), Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Vale (NYSE:RIO), Constellation Energy Group Incorporated (NYSE:CEG), ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), China Oriental Group Company Limited (HKG:0581), E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY), Scottish and Southern Energy plc (LSE:SSE), Areva SA (EPA:CEI), GDF Suez SA (EPA:GSZ), Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL), E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY), Ispat Industries Limited (BSE:500305), JSW Steel Limited (BSE:500228), and Steel Authority of India Limited (BSE:500113)