Investors have been watching Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) Chairman Warren Buffett’s moves for years to see which investments are going to take off next.

The media have dubbed it “the new age of epidemics.” From SARS to cancer, diabetes to the flu, we live in a world of increasingly powerful germs and diseases.

You can’t deny 2007 was the year of living dangerously in financial markets. So far this losing streak has continued through the first quarter—with the notable exception of soaring commodity markets!

The young man sitting next to me applauded so loudly, it must have stung his palms…

U.S. Service Sector Shows Signs of Life; Morgan Stanley to Slash More Jobs; Random House to Turn the Page on Chief Executive; Countrywide Rated “Underperform”, Shares Dive; Sprint Nextel Corp. Considering Spinning Off Nextel; Warren Buffett’s Warning; Principal Financial Slumps; Wal-Mart Widens Drug Plan Scope

Take two leading candy companies, mix in $23 billion, and add in a pinch of investing guru Warren Buffett and what do you get? How about one of the largest candy companies on the planet…

The conglomerate sector was down 8.85% for the first quarter of 2008. That might not seem like an argument in favor of conglomerate investing, but when you consider that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 10.05% for the same period it seems a bit better.

In a field of dead financial institutions, the opportunities are plenty for the hungry value investors. They key, of course, is identifying which provide a tasty meal and which are rotten to the core. It’s a matter of separating the EZ pickin’s from the E. coli.