Market Updates: Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRKA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) are arranging an $8 billion loan for Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRKA) to help finance the takeover of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. The banks are providing a one-year loan with an interest rate 1 percentage point to 2 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate. Three-month Libor, a borrowing benchmark, was set at 0.27 percent yesterday. Buffett is risking Berkshire’s AAA rating at Standard & Poor’s by taking on debt and drawing down cash holdings to finance the $26 billion acquisition of Burlington. JPMorgan has 22 percent of the U.S. market for syndicated loans this year, second only to Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). Wells Fargo, which counts Berkshire as its biggest shareholder, is ranked fourth. -Bloomberg

Commodities will likely attract a record $60 billion in 2009 as investors seek to diversify their assets, Barclays Capital said. Inflows so far this year are almost $55 billion, already more than the previous full-year record of $51 billion set in 2006, the bank said in a report. Total commodity assets under management will probably expand to $230 billion to $240 billion by the end of the year, according to Barclays. -Bloomberg

Rep. Ron Paul, who has sought to audit the Federal Reserve for 26 years, has inched ever so much closer to his goal. A key congressional panel approved legislation introduced by the Texas congressman yesterday that for the first time in the central bank’s 95-year history, would require government audits of Federal Reserve monetary policy, as well as how much the central bank has lent and will lend to specific banks. Fed Chief Ben Bernanke and other key members of the Obama administration, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, had vigorously opposed the move. The measure was approved by the House Financial Services Committee as it considered broad bank regulatory reform legislation, and included a package of other measures weakening the Fed’s power and capping how much it can lend or guarantee. -Marketwatch

The euro and other higher-yielding currencies extended overnight losses this morning as fresh concerns about the global economic recovery prompted investors to seek refuge in the U.S. dollar. The greenback hit intraday highs against its major rivals early in New York after declines for stocks, gold and oil accelerated and demand for growth-sensitive and riskier assets began to evaporate. In recent European trading, the euro dropped as far as $1.48, its lowest level in more than two weeks. –The Wall Street Journal