CNBC’s Mary Thompson- Stocks finished mixed ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates Wednesday. The markets did stage a late day rally but not enough for the Dow to arrest earlier losses. Strength in industrial and commodities stocks offset weakness in chip stocks with chip stocks been a dampener on the market for most of the session, this helped offset news of a couple of multibillion dollar deals.

In the end, the Dow closed down 17 points at 9,771, the S&P finished up 2.5 and the Nasdaq rose 8 to 2,057.

Semi-conductor shows drop in after Morgan Stanley cut its outlook on the group setting rise in inventories. This overshadowed news of Warren Buffet’s biggest purchase ever. The famed investor pay in a USD 100 a share for the rest of the rail giant Burlington Northern, he did not really own.

Berkshire called the deal a bet on the US economy for the next ten-twenty and thirty years other rail stocks rallied on the news along with coal stocks. They get a boost because Burlington is one of the biggest transporters of the fuel in the US.

In another sign that M&A is starting to show signs of life, Stanley Works is buying its larger rival Black & Decker for USD 3.5 million, both of those stocks rallying on the news.