Last Updated: August 11, 2008: 4:20 PM ET---The major U.S. equity indices posted moderate gains Monday, after falling off their midday high, as crude pared its losses. Financials rebounded from early losses of almost 1%, to close in the green. The sector is up more than 30% from its low, which was reached on Tuesday, July 15th. In commodity news, intensified fighting between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia had appeared to be an obstacle for the present decline in crude prices, however, crude still turned lower as investors may see overall declines in demand due to slowing economic growth as a more influential factor. Furthermore, Iran's call for renewed nuclear talks may have also played a role in curving supply fears stemming from the Georgia/Russia conflict. Light sweet crude closed down $1.88 to settle at $113.30 a barrel on the NYMEX. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Waste Management (NYSE:WMI) is prepared to sweeten their unsolicited all-cash bid for Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) to $6.73 billion, a 10% increase from its previous offer. Shares of the companies closed higher, up 0.3% to $36.11, and 0.6% to $35.05, respectively. In other deal news, UPS (NYSE:UPS) has begun efforts to acquire Holland's TNT. Shares of UPS closed down 0.3% to $65.51. According to a Bloomberg report, GATX (NYSE:GMT), which closed up 1.1% to $46.94, made a $3 billion offer for a rail services unit of General Electric (NYSE:GE). Shares of General Electric closed up 1.1% to $29.95. Shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) closed up 2.1% to $35.30 after the company announced it had reached a three-year agreement on wages and health care benefits with two unions that represent approximately 65,000 employees, enabling the company to avoid a potential strike. Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) rallied 9.4% to $88.09 after a number of analysts released reports saying the online retailer may net a larger-than-expected profit from its e-book reader, the kindle. Citi analyst, Mark Mahaney, forecasted sales of the product could potentially double his previous estimates. Mahaney rates Amazon.com as a "buy" with a target price of $97. Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) reported its second-quarter profit dropped 7.6%, earning $2.88 billion, or $1,859 per class A share, down from $3.12 billion, or $2,018 during the year-ago period. However, operating profit fell 10% to $2.27 billion, or $1,465 per share, topping estimates of an expected profit of $1,370 per share. Berkshire Hathaway A shares closed up 1.8% to $117,800.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 48 points to 11,782, the S&P 500 closed up 9 points to 1,305 and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 26 points to 2,440.

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