Who wants to buy some toxic assets?

It may not sound like the most tempting offer -- but don't be shocked if you hear this same pitch from your financial adviser sometime soon.

New York-based fund giant BlackRock is launching a closed-end mutual fund aimed at allowing ordinary investors to put their money into the kind of toxic mortgage-backed securities that nearly brought down the financial system a few months ago. Shares are expected to go on sale in about a month.

The BlackRock Legacy Securities Public-Private Trust will be sold through brokers and advisers. It will try to buy mortgage-backed securities at distressed prices from banks looking to shore up their battered balance sheets. The fund will invest alongside the U.S. Treasury as part of the Public-Private Investment Partnership, or PPIP, launched earlier this year. BlackRock is among a small group of firms picked to take part in PPIP.

Should you invest?

It's hard to make a compelling case at the moment. But the fund is worth watching. For one, it goes against the herd. Some of the best investments come from assets that everyone else is too scared or uncertain to buy. Financial salvage can be very profitable for the brave.

Some of the banks holding these securities may be eager to sell because they need the money. Other banks already have written down the value of these securities on their books to very little. If they can sell

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) reported a steeper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit as natural gas and crude oil prices slid from a year ago and the global recession hurt demand for fuel.

Exxon shares fell 1.6 percent in early trading.

Exxon, which raked in record profits last year, has seen earnings wither as crude oil prices have fallen by more than half from a year ago. Refiners have also seen margins under pressure as weakness in industrial demand for fuels like diesel has caused a buildup in stockpiles.

"It looks disappointing," said Phil Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research. "They missed on margins and production."

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said second-quarter net income was $3.95 billion, or 81 cents per share, down from $11.68 billion, or $2.22 per share, a year earlier.

Earnings excluding one-time items were $4.09 billion, or 84 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected $1.02 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue fell 46 percent to $74.46 billion.

"Global economic conditions continue to impact the energy industry both in the volatility of commodity prices and reduced demand for products," Rex Tillerson, Exxon's chief executive, said in a statement.

Warren Buffett's bet on a Chinese electric car company is generating sparks.

Bloomberg notes that Berkshire Hathaway's stake of almost 10 percent in BYD has soared in value by about $1 billion since it was first announced last fall.

The purchase was completed today at the September price after the China Securities Regulatory Commission gave its approval for the deal.

When Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings agreed last fall to make its $230 million investment in BYD, the Chinese company was trading just over HK$8 in the Hong Kong market.

Now BYD's stock is over HK$42, an increase of about 400 percent. That means Berkshire's original $230 million investment is now worth about $1.2 billion on paper.

Buffett's willingness to back the company has helped boost the stock price, of course. BYD soared 42 percent in the day after it was announced, but at that point it was still below its high of HK$20 from the previous year.

BYD's all-electric e6 automobile made its Detroit debut last January at that city's auto show, and then got major attention in April when a Fortune magazine cover story highlighted Buffett's investment in the "car of the future."

That story also notes that Buffett doesn't get all the credit for this particular billion-dollar profit. The