Market Updates: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Tyco (NYSE: TYC), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), (NASDAQ: AAPL), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Verizon (NYSE: VZ)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) , Merrill Lynch, Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) are competing to sell shares for state-run companies in India as the government plans the biggest sell-off in at least five years. Barclays Capital plans to double the London-based firm’s investment banking team in India as it vies to sell stock. JPMorgan hopes for a “slew of disinvestment” by state-run companies. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government pledged to cut holdings in its profitable companies to 90 percent, accelerating divestments after a five-year slowdown. The government may raise 256 billion rupees ($5.5 billion) from its publicly traded companies. “The competition for this business is always extremely fierce,” Kevan Watts, country head for Bank of America, stated in an interview. “It is a big opportunity… we are talking to many people in the government about how we can help with the disinvestment process.” -Bloomberg

Tyco (NYSE: TYC) posted a 53 percent drop in quarterly net profit as soft economic conditions sapped demand for its construction and control products. However, the results beat analysts’ forecasts on strength in sales across the company’s segments and lower costs. Shares of Tyco edged higher in trading before the market opened. Tyco stated today that net income dropped to $205 million, or 43 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended on September 25 from $434 million, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations, excluding special items, fell by 20 cents per share to 61 cents, beating the analysts’ average forecast of 54 cents. Revenue fell 16 percent to $4.4 billion, edging past Wall Street estimates of $4.3 billion. –Reuters

The $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob by search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) signals a new stage of the battle for the soul of the mobile Internet between Google and its arch-rival Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). The acquisition gives Google the strongest player in the fast-growing market for placing advertisements on smartphones. And it’s the latest move by Google in an unspoken war that has broken into pitched battle in the past two weeks. On Friday, Google put a Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid smartphone advertisement on its home page for the first time. The Droid, offered exclusively by wireless behemoth Verizon (NYSE: VZ), is powered by Google’s own Android mobile operating system. Early indications suggest the Droid will be the strongest competitor to Apple’s iPhone to date. Real estate on Google’s landing page is a priceless gift from the Google gods, letting Verizon easily reach millions and millions of users who go to Google.com to search.  Click here to read more of this article –Daily Finance

HSBC Holdings Plc stated that third-quarter pretax profit rose as bad loans declined, while Barclays Plc posted a 54 percent drop in earnings. HSBC’s pretax profit was “significantly higher” than a year ago, as provisions at its U.S. consumer finance division declined 43 percent to $2.17 billion, the London-based firm said in a statement today. Barclays’ net income fell to 1.08 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) from 2.33 billion pounds as impairments climbed, the bank said in a separate statement. –Bloomberg

The chief executive of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. disclosed that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is liquidating its stakes in rival railroad companies Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Corp., as Berkshire prepares to close its purchase of Burlington Northern. –The Wall Street Journal

-Jutia Group