JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is one the leading financial services company in the world and competes with Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Citigroup (C) and Deutsche Bank (DB). The company has provided $20 billion bridge loan to AT&T (T) in order to help it in its planned purchase of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit. It is the largest unsecured loan that a bank has ever made to a client.

We have a price estimate of $48.87 on JPMorgan's stock, which is about 7% above the current market price.

While he could have retired many years ago, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.B) Warren Buffett continues to act like he's in his prime. Hey, perhaps at 80 years old, he is in his prime.

This week, Buffett is visiting South Korea. Of course, he likes the growth prospects of the country and has the cash to pull off some deals there.

Interestingly enough, Buffett was planning on visiting Japan but he had to cancel the trip. Yet he did mention that the country is a great place to invest.

EchoStar (SATS) announced an agreement to acquire all of the outstanding equity of Hughes Communications (HUGH) in a transaction valued at approximately $2 billion. EchoStar overall option implied volatility of 29 is near its 26-week average of 31, according to Track Data, suggesting slightly lower price movement.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice announced a definitive merger agreement under which an affiliate of CD&R will acquire EMSC for $64.00 in cash for each share of EMSC Class A common stock and Class B common stock and each LP Exchangeable Unit. Overall option implied volatility of 16 is below its 26-week average of 32, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Coca-Cola (KO) has more than $13 billion in cash.

The top five companies (according to market cap) are:

• Exxon Mobil (XOM): $398.3 billion
• Apple (AAPL): $309.0 billion
• Microsoft (MSFT): $237.5 billion
• General Electric (GE): $215.0 billion
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A): $202.5 billion

From time to time, Avon Products (AVP) becomes the topic of buyout rumors. And yes, this week it happened again. Actually, investors are giving it some credence. In Tuesday morning trading, the shares of Avon were up 5.6% to 35.03. That's only a couple bucks away from its 52-week high.

The buyout buzz comes from a report in the Daily Mail. According to this UK paper, it appears that L'Oreal is looking at a bid that could be as high as $44 per share, or $19 billion.

Early Tuesday morning, Kraft Foods (KFT) announced that it is going to sell its North American pizza business for $3.7 billion. And of course, the natural purchaser of the pizza business is Nestle -- wait a sec ...

What does Nestle want with KFT's frozen pizza business? Well, in case you didn't know it, Nestle already holds the Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine, Buitoni, Hot Pockets, and Lean Pockets brands. The Swiss company will now add DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, Jack's, and Delissio brands to its prepared dishes lineup. This addition is a major coup for Nestle, as its presence in the prepared-food world was already substantial -- and is now downright formidable. I would have to say that this is $3.7 billion well spent by Nestle.

In the buyout corner of the private equity business, "dry powder" continued to grow in 2009. Industry slang for capital available for investment, this measure points to how much activity private equity funds are capable of completing.

From December 2004 through December 2008, according to data from alternative investment research firm Preqin, the amount of funds on the sidelines surged from $178 billion to $501 billion for the buyout sector, nearly tripling. This year, buyout dry powder only increased by $3 billion, to $504.28 billion. While this may feel like little more than a rounding error, it suggests stability in the sector after what has been a trying climate for financial services business of all types.

The fact that there hasn't been any action in a while doesn't mean there isn't room for more. Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Airlines (DAL), says that the airline industry could consolidate further -- not exactly a shock in an industry that is known for universal financial suffering. He notes, "If a transaction were to occur, economics should prevail."

The only concern, of course, is whether the Obama administration would sign off on any future deals. Anderson believes, "I think the case can be made ultimately, but it remains to be seen what this administration's take will be."

Before the market opens tomorrow, telecommunications network specialist Ciena Corp. (CIEN) is due to report its fiscal fourth quarter results, and the stock is trading up nicely ahead of tomorrow's report.

Going into tomorrow's earnings report, analysts are expecting the company to show a lost of 7 cents per share. During the same period last year, the company posted a loss of 10 cents per share.

While the tech sector has held up fairly well during the economic downturn, the dealmaking has lagged. But lately, there has been an uptick activity, such as from companies like Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).

Well, according to Reuters, it also looks like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is setting its sights on mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Up until the credit crisis, private equity firms had it made. They had plenty of leverage to play with and could load up their acquisition targets with it. So, they could realize a fantastic return on equity, mitigate their own risks, and show that they were the studs of the Street.

Then, all that went away. Credit markets dried up, and private equity companies lost their acquisition fuel. The numbers aren't as big as they used to be, but it looks like the private equity market is back in action.

All three of the major indexes finished Tuesday in the red, but there were several big names that moved up to new 52-week highs in Tuesday's trading.

Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG): The drugstore giant had a really good day on Wall Street after posting better than expected earnings in the morning before the market opened. The company posted earnings of 44 cents per share versus analyst estimates of 39 cents. The stock set a new 52-week high of $38.44 and closed the day up 9.2% at $37.35.

Some people join wine-of-the-month clubs. There are plenty of other programs out there, too, where your credit card is hit every month, and your purchase is sent to you directly. If only such programs were available for Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). . . .

The company's CEO, Eric Schmidt, said Wednesday that Google plans to pick up a small company a month as a way to get its acquisition head back in the game. With the worst of the recession behind us, Google believes, this is a great way to get moving.

Since coming on board Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) early this year, Carol Bartz has wasted little time in making changes. Part of the strategy is to get the company more focused.

So, it looks like Yahoo! is in the process of selling its small business unit. All in all, it's a good asset, with web hosting, domain name services, and merchant accounts. The deal may also include the HotJobs division.

As the dollars keep piling up in China, there is a need to put the money to work. So how about oil? No doubt, China needs this vital commodity as its economy continues to grow at a rapid clip. Consider that the country imports roughly 3.6 million barrels of oil a day -- and this will inevitably increase in the coming years.

To gear up for things, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) -- which is the parent company of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) -- secured a $30 billion loan from the Chinese government. Apparently, the interest rate was fairly low (the loan term is five years). And, yes the money will be used to buy up energy assets across the globe.