In what appears to be a bet consumers will stick with discount retailers even after the economy rebounds, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increased its Wal-Mart holdings by almost 90 percent during the summer.  It added almost 18 million shares, currently worth almost $1 billion, in the third quarter.   Read More

The Lightning Round is extended in this CNBC.com exclusive feature.   Read More

Alice Schroeder's authorized biography of Warren Buffett is now available in a trade paperback edition.  In an "updated and condensed" version of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Schroeder adds a new 31-page chapter covering events after the hardcover's publication last year.  She candidly describes how Buffett made a "series of characteristic brilliant moves interspersed with some surprising errors" as the financial crisis unfolded. With thanks to Bantam and Random House, here is an excerpt from Schroeder's new material.   Read More

Just minutes after this morning's announcement that Berkshire Hathaway is paying $26 billion to acquire the 77 percent of Burlington Northern Santa Fe it doesn't already own, Warren Buffett spoke live by phone with Becky Quick and Joe Kernen on CNBC's Squawk Box.  This is the complete transcript of their conversation.   Read More

The Dow slipped below the psychologically important 10,000 level on Wednesday after the market took a turn for the worse in the last half-hour of the session. What must you know?   Read More

Will the weak dollar spark new life in this rally? Or is it making gasoline prices too expensive?   Read More

Great earnings from three big banks, but futures haven't moved. What's up? Traders note that good earnings are being sold because stocks have rallied so much going into earnings season (the S&P 500 is up almost 4 percent this month alone).   Read More

This is the week the market will make its big push, as positive earnings surprises will send it higher and carry it through the rest of the year, said Marc Pado, US markets strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.   Read More

US Banker just released its list of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking.  Does having high powered talent translate into shareholder value?  We took a look at the companies that these women work for to see how they perform relative to the industry.   Read More

This is the text of an article on Warren Buffett's response to the financial crisis, published in the New York Times on Tuesday, September 8, 2009.   Read More