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U.S. stock market report 0834 EST 03Nov2009-BofA-ML upgrades AvalonBay to "neutral" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch on Tuesday upgraded AvalonBay Communities Inc to "neutral" from "underperform," expecting the company to recover faster than other markets when the market picks up.

Nearly 60 percent of the apartment builder's revenue exposure is to markets like New York City metro, DC and Boston and these markets will likely recover faster due to job growth, it said.

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The stock closed Monday at $68.84.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 0824 EST 03Nov2009-Berkshire board approve split of class B stock ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The board of directors of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Tuesday approved a 50-for-1 split of its class B common stock.

The investment company's class A shares will not be split.

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On very light volume of 30 shares, the class B stock rose 3.2 percent to $3,370.98 in premarket trading.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 0758 EST 03Nov2009-J&J to cut 6-7 pct of work force ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Johnson & Johnson Inc on Tuesday said it would cut about 6 percent to 7 percent of its global work force, as it restructures and seeks cost savings.

About 7,000 to 8,000 positions will be cut.

J&J expects the move to generate pre-tax cost savings of $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion in 2011.

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The stock, a Dow component, closed Monday at $59.49.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 0754 EST 03Nov2009-Rail firms jump on Berkshire-BNI news ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shares of rail companies rallied in premarket trading on Tuesday, after Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $100 per share in cash and stock.

Burlington shares surged 29 percent to $97.78. Among the company's peers, Union Pacific gained 8.1 percent to $59.50, CSX Corp was up 8.5 percent to $46.50 and the iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average ETF climbed 5 percent to $67.50.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 0729 EST 03Nov2009-UBS results weigh on major U.S. bank stocks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major U.S. banks including Bank of America, JP MorganChase, Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup were trading lower in premarket trading on Tuesday, after poor results from their European peer sent shares in Europe to a new one-month low.

Before the bell, bank of America was down 1.6 percent at $14.40, JP MorganChase was down 1 percent at $42.17 and Wells Fargo lost 1.1 percent to $27.30. Citigroup fell 2.3 percent to $3.90.

UBS slumped 9 percent after the Swiss lender posted a higher-than-expected accounting charge and withdrawals at all its key divisions pushed it into another quarterly loss. It said it did not expect an immediate recovery of client inflows.

Reuters Messaging: angela.moon.reuters.com@reuters.net Keywords: MARKETS STOCKSNEWS

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