A major acquisition is coming to light this morning, as Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) has announced that it is acquiring Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI). The deal calls for BRK to dish out $100 per share in cash and stock for the 77.4% of BNI shares that BRK doesn't already own. The deal will cost BRK $44 billion.

The acquisition gives us a glimpse into the mind of the Oracle of Omaha, BRK's CEO Warren Buffett. He feels that the "country's future prosperity depends on it having an efficient and well-maintained rail system." Buffett is betting that railroads are going to do well, which would stem from prosperity in the American economy.

Today was one of those days where commodities and the dollar went all over. Gold still rose, yet oil fell on a very mixed inventory report. The markets started out with some strength, but the major indexes were mixed at the end of the day.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,725.80 -5.45 (-0.06%)
S&P 500 1,057.56 +2.84 (0.27%)
Nasdaq 2,110.33 +6.76 (0.32%)

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Most observers have been shocked by how long Ken Lewis was able to hold onto his job as CEO of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) as long as he was.

But not Rochdale Securities analyst Dick Bove, who told CNBC that "The guy has been phenomenally good... to push him out now because of a witch hunt is totally inappropriate."

Are we talking about the same Ken Lewis? Let's go through a quick list of Lewis' phenomenal accomplishments:

Yesterday my 2009 portfolio closed up 201% for the year. It has been an interesting journey, and while it is rather self congratulatory to discuss it, there are lessons to be learned.

Before I review some of the reasons I was able to do this I want to make it clear that I do not think this can be easily repeated; I look at the portfolio every day thinking this is too good to be true, and we all know what that usually means.

The bulls just keep running. So much so that even the bears have started wearing horns and fake hooves so that they fit in a little better. A tame CPI figure on consumer inflation helped things steady and then a less-bad homebuilder survey allowed the run to continue higher. Oil prices ramped up on lower crude inventories as well. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,790.35 +106.94 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,068.76 +16.13 (1.53%)
Nasdaq 2,133.15 +30.51 (1.45%)

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Some of the venom spewed at General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) every time I write about it, is getting kind of old. I understand the criticism of Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO who takes the blame for everything that is wrong with the company and the economy.

I too have felt that he might have done more. In particular, while I argued Monday that most of the companies divisions were well integrated, or at least related, I am not sure that entertainment has to be a part of the mix, and the company is on the record to jettison the appliance division already.

In considering the plight of the GE shareholder, myself included, what exactly is it that investors would like Immelt to do?

In early May, I wrote about why I thought Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) would outperform four other, more popular stocks. I compared it to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B).

It was May 11 that I last followed-up on my series of posts, and since then, for about half that period WMB indeed outperformed all four stocks. Since then, however, it has fallen back to second place, behind AAPL.

You can learn a lot from your elders and when it comes to investing, you best listen very attentively. I often refer to 'my pal Warren' in my posts and I credit Mr. Buffett's investment advice and parables over the years for much of my gains in 2009.

There is another mentor, though, one I have not referred to often but that I have gleaned some wisdom from in terms of value investing and courage, and that is 'my pal Sir John.' While Buffett has been very straight forward in his position that you should buy on fear and this was the year to do that, it was Templeton that preached buying far and wide and diversifying broadly into out-of-favor companies. As he did when he started out.

Another earnings report, another blowout quarter for Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG), the maker of the da Vinci robotic surgical system. Intuitive Surgical reported last Wednesday and the stock jumped Thursday and Friday on the news while analysts were busy revising their projections for future earnings and upgrading their recommendations and price projections (see: Chasing Value: The amazing Intuitive Surgical).

I have been one of Intuitive's biggest cheerleaders for years and like everyone else was encouraged to find the company still growing successfully on all fronts. Given my favorable opinion of the company, and the stock, I took a look at where it stood after the run-up (closing Friday at $222.53) to see whether there might be any value left, or if the frenetic buying had exhausted the possibility.

Summertime....and the livin' ain't easy. The economy's in worse shape than the administration thought, even after pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into it. More people are losing their jobs. Unemployment's at 8.5% and according to many economists will go higher, maybe above 10% before the layoffs stop. Gas at the pump has gone above $3 again, even with the price of oil starting to show some weakness. Home prices are still going down and foreclosures continue to rise. Defaults on consumer credit is at all-time highs. When will it ever end?

Don't know. No one does. But that isn't a reason to stop investing, to quit preparing your portfolio for the next big upward move that will surely come. You doubt that? Just look at a price chart for the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the last 100 years. It's full of periods where the line is going down, only to be followed by large increases on the upside. Unless the whole capitalist system is gone forever, history will repeat. There will be an upward swing to this market, and it's more likely sooner rather than later.

This morning Warren Buffett was interviewed and said he would be in favor of the federal government passing legislation for a second stimulus bill -- increasing the money supply again by gargantuan proportions.

While "my pal" Warren got plenty of ink (and pixels) for his comments it left me wanting more. Buffett has the most to gain, and the most to lose -- and at the same time he cannot really lose.

Since Buffett has so many billions of dollars and controls billions more, and influences still more in the hundreds of billions, he clearly has been and continues to be negatively affected by our economic firestorm more than almost any other individual could be.

Long-term growth stock expert Alexander Green sees long-term upside potential for conservative investors willing to invest along side of Warren Buffett.

Here, the investment director of The Oxford Club reviews Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B), a holding in his model portfolio.

"The market surprised investors with the magnitude of its drop over the last year and a half. Then it surprised them again with a furious rally that began in early March.

"What lies just ahead? No one knows for sure, of course. But we do know several investments that are attractively priced at current levels, such as Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), a conservative choice, run by investment great Warren Buffett.

If you have been waiting and hoping for a pullback of any size, the moves here are probably starting to make as much sense as using the notion that you should buy just because a company is keeping the same dividend it has always had. The markets screamed higher again today on the heels of some very solid housing data and that has the bulls firmly in charge again. In turn, market bears are becoming about as popular today as management of troubled banks. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,410.81 +198.40 (2.42%)
S&P 500 907.24 +29.72 (3.39%)
Nasdaq 1,763.56 +44.36 (2.58%)

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It is not possible to follow all stocks or companies with equal intensity, focus, or depth of knowledge. One that I have followed for over ten years is Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG).

I originally bought in at the very bottom, about $7.70 and last year sold about 20% of our position for $192. The stock had reached an all time high about 18 months ago just shy of $360, so my timing was far from ideal, but I was influenced by other factors. In this case a real estate transaction.

Over the past six months I have been buying more shares and have more than doubled our position. I believe that ISRG remains a growth stock, but for quite some time it has been value priced. However, I cannot tell you what exactly is the right price -- that is a big question.

"Stocks, by just about every long-term valuation measure, are undervalued," says John Reese, who continues to recommend putting money to work in undervalued stocks.

In his Validea newsletter, he selects "undervalued" issues by using screens based on the investment strategies of leading investors such as Peter Lynch, Ben Graham and Warren Buffett. Here's a a look at four current buys in the oil sector.

Reese explains, "If you think you can predict investors' emotional states, or how an unprecedented economic crisis will play out, then go ahead and wait for the bottom. I suffer no such delusions, however.

"Rather than playing the risky game of bottom-calling -- which more often than not leads to investors missing the big initial push of a new bull run -- I'll continue to put money into undervalued stocks.