6:53 AM: Buffett talks about the trip he made this week with Bill Gates and some others to see the oil sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Buffett says he and Bill wanted to see what it looks like rather than just read about it. He confirms the trip was arranged by Omaha-based Kiewit Corp, which is doing some construction work connected with oil sands development. Asked if he's interested in investing in oil sands, he said no, but that the information he learned about the industry has been filed away and could become useful at some point in the future.
6:56 AM: Buffett says he does not have a "buy order" right now for any oil sand companies.
7:03 AM: Becky asks again about the economy and he repeats his view that the negative ripples will continue to spread for awhile. He sees no "early end" to the problems although they will end eventually.
7:05 AM: Buffett confirms that he sold 60 percent of his Anheuser-Busch shares at prices around $61-$62 before the company agreed to a friendly merger with InBev at a sweetened price of $70. Buffett says at the time he wasn't sure the deal would go through given Anheuser's strong resistance to InBev's original bid. "In retrospect, I was wrong," but he says that often happens.
7:07 AM: Becky notes that in Berkshire's latest SEC filing, the company keeps information about its holdings of Conoco-Phillips secret. She can't get Buffett to say anything about whether he's been buying or selling the stock recently.