Kass: 10 Rumors on Wall Street

This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on Aug. 4 at 8:09 a.m. EDT.

1. Another large spate of job cutbacks could be announced by Citigroup (C).

2. Apple (AAPL) will allegedly announce a problem with its batteries, one that is so serious that the company is considering a massive product recall. Additionally, it is rumored that AT&T (T) will be awarded another year to be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S. and that Apple will be refreshing its notebook line in time for the back-to-school season.

3. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) could be in the process of making a transformative acquisition in the wobbly financial sector. Several large banks, which are targeting Middle Eastern and Chinese Sovereign Funds, are queuing up for capital raises -- some of which could be announced as early as this week.

4. Two homebuilding takeovers will allegedly be announced in the next several weeks, the acquired companies will likely be two merchant builders that are on "death's doorstep." The buyers are the better capitalized homebuilders.

5. Microsoft (MSFT) is over Yahoo! (YHOO) - but has an appetite for Opera, the Norwegian browser vendor, as well as a number of other small to medium-sized deals. In other rumored technology deals: IBM (IBM) is eyeing Citrix (CTXS), and Cisco (CSCO) might be looking at EMC (EMC).

6. Goldman Sachs (GS) is considering a bank acquisition, but the target isn't Wachovia (WB). Lehman Brothers (LEH) is in serious talks to spin off a portion of Neuberger Berman.

7. The backlog of M&A deals has expanded in recent weeks -- particularly of a strategic kind.

8. Nvidia (NVDA) is allegedly going to drop its chipset business to focus on graphics processing units.

9. Virginia representative Eric Cantor is now on the short list to be Senator McCain's running mate. Senator Obama's top pick is allegedly another Virginian, Governor Tim Kaine.

10. Two major hedge funds will be closing their doors at year-end.

Doug Kass writes daily for RealMoney Silver, a premium bundle service from TheStreet.com. For a free trial to RealMoney Silver and exclusive access to Mr. Kass' daily trading diary, please click here.

At the time of publication, Kass and/or his funds were long Berkshire Hathaway and short Apple and Wachovia, although holdings can change at any time.

Doug Kass is founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management, Inc., and the general partner and investment manager of Seabreeze Partners Short LP and Seabreeze Partners Short Offshore Fund, Ltd.