Market Updates: Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Target (NYSE: TGT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRKA)

Internet giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) increased its Web search market-share last month, while Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) lost share at a hair-raising pace. Bing, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) new service and the third player in the group, also registered gains. Overall, Google’s web search share climbed to 65.4% in October, up from 64.9% in September. Microsoft rose to 9.9% from 9.4%, while Yahoo fell to 18% from 18.8%. Last month saw the fifth consecutive share increase for Microsoft. But Google’s share increased to the highest level ComScore has ever registered for the company. -Daily Finance

Discounter Target (NYSE: TGT) reported an 18% profit rise, beating estimates. Pacific Sunwear of California (NASDAQ: PSUN) dropped 22% after it expects a current quarter loss greater than the street had anticipated as same-store sales drop by a low-twenties percentage. Its Q3 loss came in at $10.9 million. In other news, Dow component Exxon Mobil (XOM) which was upgraded by Barclays Capital to overweight, edged up 0.3%. -MarketWatch

A plan for reducing America’s long- term federal budget deficits will be a key component of President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union address in January, according to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. “It is foremost on his mind and the mind of the economic team,” Emanuel stated on deficit reduction in comments yesterday at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council conference in Washington D.C. The deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 hit a record $1.4 trillion, or roughly 10 percent of the gross domestic product, amid falling tax revenue from the recession, a bailout of the banking and auto industries, and the $787 billion economic stimulus package that the President pushed through Congress in February. Projections of federal budget deficits as high as 4 percent of GDP in 2019 from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget have added to political and market concerns about the nation’s finances. -Bloomberg

Warren Buffett nearly doubled his holdings of Wal-Mart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) in the third quarter, according to filings, in one of several changes the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRKA) chief executive made in the company’s investment portfolio. The total value of Berkshire’s equity holdings rose more than 15%, to $56.6 billion at Sept. 30. Mr. Buffett increased his holdings of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, to 37.8 million shares on Sept. 30 from 19.9 million shares. –The Wall Street Journal