Stock market news: Opening bell, October 10, 2018

A
woman buys fruits in a street market in Rome,
Italy.
Reuters/Max
Rossi

Here is what you need to know. 

Hurricane Michael is strengthening as it approaches Florida’s
coast. The storm, which is expected to make
landfall in the Florida panhandle on Wednesday, has become a
Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 130 miles per
hour. 

Howard Marks explains why he’s buying in this market, and what it
would take for him to stop. In an exclusive
interview with Business Insider, the co-founder and co-chairman
of the $122 billion Oaktree Capital explains how his overall
investment philosophy and views on market cycles enabled him to
make a legendary trade during the financial crisis, why he’s
continuing to buy in this market, and what will make him stop.

A bipartisan pair of senators want more answers from the company
accused of selling Apple and Amazon data servers compromised by
Chinese spies. Sens. Marco Rubio and Richard
Blumenthal sent a letter to Supermicro, the motherboard supplier
named in a recent bombshell Bloomberg report, whose microchips
were allegedly placed onto equipment by Chinese spies that was
then sold to tech giants like Apple and Amazon.

Softbank is in talks for a majority stake in
WeWork. Softbank is in talks to invest $15
billion to $20 billion in WeWork, with the aim of taking a
majority stake in the co-working space company, the Wall Street
Journal says. Back in August, Softbank invested $4.4 billion,
enough for a 20% stake.  

The Tesla of China soars after Tesla’s largest outside investor
discloses a stake. Shares of the Chinese
electric-car startup Nio soared more tha 22% Tuesday
after Baillie Gifford & Co, Tesla’s largest investor
after Elon Musk, disclosed an 11% stake in the company. Shares
are up another 6.5% ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell. 

Sears could file for bankruptcy as soon as this
week. The struggling retailer has hired M-III
Partners to put together a bankruptcy filing that could come as
soon as this week, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

Tesla just outsold Mercedes-Benz in the US for the first
time. Tesla sold 69,925 vehicles in the US
during the third quarter, topping the 66,542 sold by
Mercedes-Benz.

Bill Ackman discloses a stake in Starbucks. The
activist investor disclosed a stake of 15.2 million shares, worth
about $900 million, while presenting at the Grant’s Fall 2018
Conference in New York, according to CNBC. 

Stock markets
around the world are mixed. Australia’s ASX
(+0.27%) led the way higher overnight and Germany’s DAX (-0.59%)
trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed
near 2,880.

US economic data picks back up. PPI will be
released at 8:30 a.m. ET and wholesale inventories will cross the
wires at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 2 basis points at
3.23%.