Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares fall because of rumors that iPad production is low. (Reuters)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) to buy back shares. (Reuters)

The SEC may charge S&P because of ratings of mortgage-backed securities. (Reuters)

Nokia Siemens will move into the router business. (Reuters)

Asian firms that launched mobile operating systems will have little success against Apple and Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android. (Reuters)

The inspector general of the FHFA said Freddie Mac could have recouped billions of dollars in claims over default mortgages. (WSJ)

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) shares fall as the company takes $160 million from a credit facility, which raises issues about its cash balance. (WSJ)

U.S. officials will review whether Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) paid bribes to get business in Europe. (WSJ)

The Air Line Pilots Association sues United Continental (NYSE: UAL) over work rules. (WSJ)

Utica Shale in Ohio may be one of the next large shale oil fields. (WSJ)

UAW negotiations with Ford (NYSE: F) accelerate. (WSJ)

Lenovo and Compal to jointly launch a tablet PC. (WSJ)

The ECB cuts its purchase of sovereign bonds issued in the region. (WSJ)

The OECD and the International Labour Office say unemployment is a large risk to recovery in the developed world. (WSJ)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) reaches a deal to distribute Fox premium content. (WSJ)

Problems at Nokia (NYSE: NOK) hurt its suppliers. (WSJ)

A third of natural gas found in North Dakota is wasted as production companies cannot use it. (NYT)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) may cut a large number of jobs. (NYT)

Martha Stewart rejoins the board of Martha Steward Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO). (NYT)

China suspends some military ties with the U.S. as it objects to American sales of arms to Taiwan. (FT)

Google+ gains subscribers quickly. (Bloomberg)

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) has more cash than Apple. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Bill Gates of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (NASDAQ: BRK) and Larry Ellison of Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) top the list. They are followed by two members of the Koch family, who own one of the largest private companies in America. Three of Sam Walton’s children are among the top 10. And, the eighth richest person on the list, Sheldon Adelson, runs casinos.

The only financier among the top 10 people on the Forbes list is George Soros. At least it took him decades of work to create his wealth, even if he did little to add jobs to the American economy.

Relative newcomers to the list also have started companies with large employee bases. This includes Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Micheal Dell of Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. Each either founded or runs a tech company. They are part of the services sector that has created jobs and continues to do so as the U.S. manufacturing base keeps eroding.

The rich are different from you and me. They create significant numbers of jobs.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The Swiss franc hits a record against the euro. (Reuters)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) sued by AIG (NYSE: AIG) for “massive fraud” in sales of mortgage-backed paper. Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) may also face legal action. (Reuters)

Hackers hit Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL). (Reuters)

The ITC may consider Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) accusations against HTC. (Reuters)

A fire in London may hurt delivery of some Sony (NYSE: SNE) products. (Reuters)

HSBC (NYSE: HBC) may sell its U.S. credit card business. (Reuters)

A strike by unions against Verizon (NYSE: VZ) escalates into harsh words. (WSJ)

The ECB purchase of Italy and Spanish bonds push their yields down further. (WSJ)

Companies which rely on U.S. contracts may need to tighten expenses. (WSJ)

Tokyo Electric Power lost $7.4 billion in the last quarter. (WSJ)

Transatlantic Holdings may sell to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) if the Buffett firm offers a higher price. (WSJ)

The price of corn is now higher than wheat, an unusual circumstance. (WSJ)

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) posts an unexpected loss. (WSJ)

Oil futures hit their highest level in 9 months. (WSJ)

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) will sell some natural gas rights in Indonesia because of human rights issues there. (WSJ)

Treasury yields drop after the S&P downgrade of the U.S. to AA+. (WSJ)

Worries about sovereign debt move to France. (WSJ)

MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM) results improve as Las Vegas posted a modest recovery. (WSJ)

Hedge funds have aggressively sold company equities and debt. (WSJ)

Freddie Mac posts a $2.1 billion loss during the second quarter, an improvement from last year. (WSJ)

The stock market drop could kill consumer confidence. (NYT)

BookStats says e-book sales have helped revive the industry. (NYT)

The committee at S&P that decides sovereign rate grades is know for lack of transparency. (NYT)

Oil price may bring down gasoline and improve consumer confidence. (NYT)

Emerging markets hurt as investors flee risk. (FT)

The Federal Reserve may start a new stimulus package. (FT)

German exports fall, another sign of slowdown. (Bloomberg)

Global bonds add $132 billion in assets as stocks fall. (Bloomberg)

The value of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is so low that the portal business is worth next to nothing when the firm’s Asia assets are backed out. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

3.55 PM Bank of America releases statement which supports management and says the firm will not need to raise money. Shares in the bank make a brief reversal higher and then sell down again. Bank of America down 19% near the close.

3.46 PM DJIA dropped by 600 again. CNBC reports some major hedge funds have lost double digits. Panic appears to have moved to major institutions. S&P below 1,125 barrier.

3.33 PM Big oil stocks are now being hit by the sell-off in crude. WTI closes off over 6% to $81.60. Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) down 5.1%. BP (NYSE BP) off 6%

3.20 PM The great irony of the day is that the 10-year Treasuries are yielding 2.36% –the lowest level since May 2009. The downgrade of US paper to AA+ does not seem to harm it as the market’s major safe haven

3.07 PM S&P will not downgrade debt in several major companies. These include Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), and ADP

2.53 PM High dividend, iron-clad-balance companies are among the few not caught in the downdraft. AT&T (NYSE: T) off only 3% and yields 5.9%. McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) down 2.7% with yield of 2.9%–both stock still near year-long highs

2.36 PM DJIA plunges 600 points and threatens 10,500, now close to a 20% correction since the July peak, which would officially make this a bear market. S&P even worse now, off 5%. Normally strong tech sector pulled under with Microsoft down 4% and Cisco off 5%.

2.28 PM A panic over possible mortgage-backed securities sales fraud against Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) by AIG (NYSE: AIG) drives the bank’s shares lower by 20%. Citigroup (NYSE: C) which also may be party to a legal was down 17%.

2.15 PM The slaughter in Europe ends as the Dax drops 5.2% at the close and the FTSE ends off 2.6%. As in the US, banks take the brunt of the drop as concerns about mortgage and sovereign debt pull down the industry. Royal Bank of Scotland fell 6.2%, and Deutsche Bank sold down nearly as much. The ECB decision to buy bonds from Italy and Spain helped the lower yields but equities were unaffected.

1.45 PM GM (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) hit 52 week lows. Traders believe that a new recession will cut car sales and that a spike in Treasury rates will raise the cost of auto loans.

1.09 PM Obama says that the US will always be a Triple-A rated nations and investors should treat it as such. “We didn’t need a rating agency to tell us we need a balanced, long-term approach to deficit reduction. My hope is that Friday’s news will give us a renewed sense of urgency,” Obama said at a hastily called press conference. A continued sell-off indicated the markets were unimpressed.

12.38 PM Moody’s indicated that it did not agree with the S&P downgrade of US paper to AA+, at least for now. “If the process for further deficit reduction that is included in the Budget Control Act produces results that are not really credible, that combined with the economic performance could potentially cause an early move on the rating,” Moody’s analyst Steven Hess told Reuters

12.15 PM S&P could not resist another downgrade as it dropped its outlook on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYS: BRK) to “negative” from “stable.” Berkshire and several other large insurers pay rates tied to Treasuries.

12.03 PM Gold breaks above $1,720 as money faces to safe havens. The metal is up 4.3% for the day.

The Nikkei falls another 2% on news of a U.S. downgrade. (Reuters)

Yields on Italian and Spanish bonds fall as the ECB agrees to buy their sovereign paper. (Reuters)

The Administration and S&P are in a battle over the credibility of the credit agency’s write down. (WSJ)

Some markets have entered a bear market–down 20%. (WSJ)

Geithner will stay on as treasury secretary. (WSJ)

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) will try to buy Transatlantic Holdings (NYSE: TRH). (WSJ)

U.S. regulators have sent subpoenas to firms that do high-frequency trading. (WSJ)

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) faces a strike of 45,000 union workers concerned about the telecom’s faltering landline business. (WSJ)

Japan’s current account surplus falls. (WSJ)

Nissan will cut exports. (WSJ)

The Corporate Executive Board says most employees who leave a company would not recommend it as a place to work. (WSJ)

Citigroup (NYSE: C) suffers data theft in Japan. (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve has run low on options to help the economy. (WSJ)

More companies try to raise cash as the bond markets become volatile. (WSJ)

Mortgage rates may rise. (WSJ)

China’s reliance on exports will be hurt by an ongoing rise in its U.S.-based currency reserves. (WSJ)

Geithner says the EU needs to increase the size of its bailout fund. (WSJ)

Recruiters have made more use of Facebook. (WSJ)

Corn prices will hurt food producer margins. (WSJ)

Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) sues DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) over its marketing of NFL programs. (WSJ)

The S&P downgrade will hurt the price of oil and copper. (WSJ)

A downgrade of U.S. paper by a second credit rating agency could be more damaging than the first. (WSJ)

A new debt reduction panel formed by Congress will be under more pressure because of the U.S. downgrade (NYT)

AIG (NYSE: AIG) will sue Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) over the value of bonds the bank sold the insurance company. (NYT)

Moody’s again warns the U.S. on the state of its deficits. (NYT)

A second recession in the U.S. could be worse than the first because little is left to cut in expenses and because the economy would dip from an already troubled position. (NYT)

China revenue has helped Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) sales to surge. (FT)

Gold rises above $1,700 for the first time. (Bloomberg)

Buffett bought large amounts of equities before the market fell. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Asia markets were down 0.5% to 0.7%. The major European indices were down even less in most cases. The U.S. markets may have a similarly muted reaction today.

Investors have only a few reasons not to sell down equities in the face of a potential government default, which is only eight days away. One is that Wall St. does not want to dump shares in a plunging market only to find that a last minute compromise brings stocks right back to where they are now. A panic sale is often one done at a large loss.

Another reason is that investors could believe a default is only a default on paper. The government may be effectively closed for a few days as it was when a similar political battle took place in 1995. Congress and the White House realized then that weeks of debate would indeed cause long term economic damage. Once that was clear, a compromise was reached quickly. But Clinton and Congress were right. The world did not collapse when they could not meet the deadline.

Politicians and investors alike may also have decided that a downgrade of U.S. debt by Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch will not mean much. Debt issued by the U.S. will still be considered among the safest in the world. The interest rates that the American government pays will stay very low. The fear of a sharp rise in what the Treasury will have to offer on U.S. paper will barely go up at all. Investors, in essence, will reject the idea that American sovereign debt is any more or less risky than before. There is certainly precedent, even if it is among corporate debt. Wall St. did not care one bit when Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) was downgraded from Aaa. Buffett was still Buffett and the bond markets supported the overall strength of his businesses over credit agency opinions.

The reaction to the debt cap debate may not roil the markets at all. August 2 may not effect the value of equities much. Investors may look at a brief default as a small bump in the economic road. The dire warnings will not have meant a thing.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The SEC may begin to examine trades may by Warren Buffett aid David Sokol (NYT)

Gregory Abel may now be a candidate to take Buffett’s job (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said pay of executives and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were too high. (Reuters)

Shares in many Asian countries reached 3-year highs. (Reuters)

Brent crude rose to $117 ahead of US jobs data. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) filed an EU complaint against Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) over the search company’s dominance in the region. (Reuters)

Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) will shutter its e-commerce business. (Reuters)

Ally filed for an IPO as the Treasury readied to sell its shares. (Reuters)

Subprime mortgage-backed bonds have had a renaissance. (WSJ)

Earnings of US companies may be slightly hurt by the Japan disaster but it create challenges for the quarters ahead. (WSJ)

Ireland’s banks did poorly in stress tests and need nearly $34 billion in new capital. (WSJ)

New data shows that the Federal Reserve provided financial firms billions of dollars during the credit crisis. (WSJ)

Republicans may take less than the $61 billion they hoped for as a budget compromise nears. (WSJ)

Financiers believe that the pace of IPOs will accelerate. (WSJ)

Japan may give Tepco  bailout funds. (WSJ)

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) took some networks off of its live TV software app after pressure from the companies. (WSJ)

Spain may nationalize some of its savings banks. (WSJ)

Portugal missed its 2010 budget goals. (WSJ)

The Minneapolis Fed president said the agency may need to raise rates if inflation sets in. (WSJ)

U.S. cattle futures settled at all-time highs.

Experts says farmers will plant more corn this seasons as prices rise. (WSJ)

The Tokyo quake has left large numbers of people without jobs. (WSJ)

Portugal’s new elections will occur in early June. (WSJ)

Euro-zone inflation rose as fuel prices spiked. (WSJ)

G-20 nations are expected to continue a heated debate on the role of currencies in the global economy. (WSJ)

Live Nation has bid for the Warner label. (WSJ)

The EU may appeal a case against Boeing (NYSE: BA) which claims the airline company got improper support from the US government. (WSJ)

Chip makers in Japan have slowed production enough to harm shipments of consumer electronics devices later in the year. (WSJ)

American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) and JAL will begin a joint service across the Pacific. (WSJ)

Religious groups are pressing Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) on drug hikes. (WSJ)

India opened investment rules which restrict foreign companies .(WSJ)

The DJIA had is best advance in 12 years. (WSJ)

Banks may be shy about borrowing from the Fed after its disclosed lending details from the financial crisis period. (WSJ)

Large financial firms may support new proxy rules that allow investors to vote on management pay packages. (WSJ)

Cattle futures hit new high.s (WSJ)

Many jobs do not pay enough to support worker daily living needs. (WSJ)

Geithner says a strict Chinese currency policy hurts the Asian nation. (WSJ)

Grain prices rose and supply dropped. (FT)

Ally Financial could raise $5 billion. (FT)

Foreign banks used the Fed’s facility regularly during the financial crisis. (Bloomberg)

China’s PMI showed a rapid rise in industrial activity (Bloomberg)

Acer will focus on competing with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and HTC (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

A great deal has been made of the fact that Sokol might take over as head of Berkshire one day. He was one of a list of “Buffett replacements” that the press identifies from time to time.

Investment manager Todd Combs joined Berkshire last year and become a new candidate to run the company, at least in the eyes of the press. China investor Li Lu has been tagged as a candidate. And, Berkshire has a number of large operating companies with stellar CEOs. The head of Burlington Northern, Matthew K. Rose, a railroad Berkshire bought recently, is also described as being worthy of consideration.

Berkshire’s board also has at least one member who could become CEO–Steve Burke, the COO of Comcast and head of the NBCU unit the cable company controls.

Buffett has revealed very little about who might replace him or whether the new management might be a group–a sort of Office of the CEO.

The most important aspect of any debate over who might take Buffett’s job is that Berkshire is a very different company than it was three years ago. It owns more operating companies. Buffett’s prowess as an investor has become less important to the company’s fortunes, and no one could be expected to duplicate his investments returns which date back to the 1960s.

There are more people to replace Buffett than most observers of Berkshire will admit. And, the old man could live another 20 years.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Geithner said inflexible currencies are the world’s biggest monetary problem (Reuters)

Brent rose to $116 and will have its largest quarterly gain in two years (Reuters)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has added a new social network aspect to compete with Facebook (Reuters)

China said that companies related to Google broke tax laws (Reuters)

AU Optronics may supply the screens for new Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 2 tablets. (Reuters)

A judge threw out pension fund suits against Freddie Mac (Reuters)

David Sokol quit as a top manager of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK) after he bought shares in takeover target Lubrizol. (WSJ)

Congress is close to agreement on budget spending which would keep the government running (WSJ)

Regulators are looking into sales of complex bond instruments sold to individual investors (WSJ)

The McNeil unit of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) will be restructured after a number of recalls (WSJ)

Ireland tried to turn back an oncoming crisis over finances of some of its banks (WSJ)

Google settled with the FTC over its Buzz product (WSJ)

The US government cannot balance its budget without cuts in Medicaid (WSJ)

Political problems in the Ivory Coast could drive up cocoa costs (WSJ)

Wind energy is still dogged by claims it is less efficient than oil and depends on government support (WSJ)

Whirlpool said that Samsung and LG had dumped products into the US (WSJ)

The head of AT&T (NYSE: T) said the company would have to sell some operations to close its T-Mobile deal (WSJ)

Advertisers are working with browser companies to accept “do not track” technology (WSJ)

The Federal Reserve is selling once toxic assets it took on from AIG (NYSE: AIG) despite the insurers offer to buy them back (WSJ)

Banks are not taking federal funds available for loans to small businesses (WSJ)

Shares in Apollo Global fell after its IPO (WSJ)

The Inspector General for TARP fought with some members of Congress over “too big to fail” notions (WSJ)

Paulson has put together a bankruptcy exit plan for Lehman Bros. (WSJ)

G20 debate over the primacy of the dollar, yen, and yuan will continue for an extended period (WSJ)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has joined a group that has attacked the “monopoly” of Google search (WSJ)

The bailout of Ireland’s banks could end up costing $100 billion (NYT)

Treasury said it would eventually make money on bank bailouts (NYT)

Auto dealers are concerned parts shortages from Japan will hurt inventories (NYT)

Foreclosure method talks between state attorneys general and banks have slowed (NYT)

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) said new bank regulations could severely damage financial firm prospects (FT)

US M&A activity rose over 80% in the first quarter (FT)

The US and France said they were open to a greater role of the yuan in currency trading. (Bloomberg)

Equity investors in TEPCO may lose all of their money (Bloomberg)

Bank of Japan may open an emergency lending facility (Bloomberg)

Bill Gross of PIMCO attacked the value of Treasuries (Bloomberg)

The Federal Reserve will name the banks that took emergency funds during the credit crisis (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre