Good morning, friends and Fortune readers.
Stocks are set to open Thursday mixed, following Wednesday’s 238-point drop on the Dow — the worst October start in three years. Investors could sit on their hands Thursday as they await the September employment report on Friday morning. Today, we’ve got some cryptic teases coming from tech guru Elon Musk and a big announcement from Warren Buffett. Here’s what you need to know about this morning.
1. Warren Buffett, car guy
Warren Buffett has invested in planes (NetJets), trains (Burlington Northern Santa Fe), and now automobiles: News broke this morning that Buffett’s Berkshire (BRK.A) will buy the fifth-largest owner of U.S. auto dealerships, Van Tuyl Group. Read a story on the deal by Fortune’s Carol Loomis, a long-time friend of Warren Buffett.
2. Elon Musk plays the suspense game
Tesla’s CEO took to Twitter (TWTR) last night to tease two new products — one called the “D,” and another unnamed. Could these be new cars? New charging stations? We’ll find out on Oct. 9.
3. Markets are down ahead of Draghi
There has been a big sell-off in Europe, and the markets in London and Paris are down. The U.S. stock market fell sharply yesterday. This morning, the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at record lows, as expected, but European markets could take another turn depending on what happens when European Central Bank president Mario Draghi takes questions later this morning.
4. An IPO is boxed up, for now
If you’ve been looking forward to buying shares of cloud computing company Box, you’ll have to wait until next year. Bloomberg reports that the company won’t go public until at least 2015, despite having filed last March. Volatile market conditions are the reason for the delay, reports say.
5. Sears selling in Canada
The U.S. retailer is looking to get some cash by selling a bug chunk of its Canadian operations to its shareholders, reports The Wall Street Journal. The move could bring in up to $380 million by early next month.
