Aug 15 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in

the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories

and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A ) took a stake

in Ulta Beauty ( ULTA ) in the second quarter, while buying more

shares of Chubb and Occidental Petroleum ( OXY ). His

company cut its positions in Capital One Financial ( COF ),

T-Mobile and Floor & Decor Holdings ( FND ).

- Mars's nearly $30 billion deal for Kellanova ( K ) would

push the company, known for M & M's and Snickers, into

supermarkets' chips and cracker aisles, handing Mars a larger

share of a growing global snacks business.

- Canadian National Railway ( CNI ) has told customers it

plans to halt intermodal traffic headed into Canada on its lines

from Friday, extending a graduated shutdown of the railroad's

operations after talks with unionized workers stalled.

- Lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret tapped

Hillary Super, chief executive officer of competitor Savage X

Fenty, to be its next CEO succeeding Martin Waters who stepped

down from the role after leading the company for three years.

- Eric Schmidt, ex-CEO and executive chairman at Google

, walked back remarks in which he said his former

company was losing the artificial intelligence race because of

its remote-work policies. "I misspoke about Google and their

work hours," Schmidt said Wednesday in an email to The Wall

Street Journal.

- The U.S. consumer-price index rose 2.9% from a year

earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, the lowest reading

since 2021, sealing the case for the Federal Reserve to cut

interest rates at its meeting next month.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)