Tag Archives: Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett: I bought $12 billion of stock after Trump won.

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The failure of Warren Buffett’s favoured candidate to capture the White House has not dimmed the billionaire’s appetite for stocks.

Mr. Buffett revealed that he has bought $12 billion of stock for his company Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) since the Republican Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 8 US presidential election.

In an interview with talk show host Charlie Rose that aired on Friday night, Mr. Buffett suggested that Berkshire’s post-election stock purchases overall were even higher, reflecting stocks that his deputies Todd Combs and Ted Weschler bought.

“We’ve, net, bought $12 billion of common stocks since the election,” Mr. Buffett said.

“The guys that work with me, the two fellows, they probably bought a little bit or sold a little bit too.”

The speed with which Berkshire is buying stocks is unusual.

It has spent in fewer than three months roughly half what it spent on equities in the three years ending September 30, 2016.

Buffett demurred on whether Berkshire has added to its stakes in the four largest U.S. airlines: American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O), Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N), Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) and United Continental Holdings Inc ( UAL.N).

Berkshire revealed those stakes in mid-November, surprising many, given Buffett’s long aversion to the sector.

Asked why Berkshire dove in, Mr. Buffett said: “It was in large part my decision.”

Berkshire will likely by February 14 disclose some of the stocks it has bought, in a regulatory filing listing most of its US holdings as of yearend.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate owned $102.5 billion of equities as of September30, excluding its stake in Kraft Heinz Co ( KHC.O).

U.S. stocks rose after Mr. Trump was elected, reflecting investor optimism that his policies might boost economic growth, aided by a Congress also under Republican control.

Mr. Buffett said Mr. Trump is unlikely to reach his goal of four per cent annual growth, but that growth at half that level would over a generation add 19,000 dollars per person to real gross domestic product.

“Two per cent will produce miracles,” Buffett said.

The U.S. economy grew by 1.6 per cent last year, the lowest since 2011.

 

Source: Reuters

Billionaire Warren Buffett invests in 3 big US airlines.

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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has taken stakes in three large US airlines, in a $1.3 billion bet that marks a sharp U-turn of his antagonistic views on the sector.

 

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested $797 million in American Airlines, $249 million in Delta Air Lines and $237 million in United Continental Holdings, according to a regulatory filing reviewed Monday by AFP.

 

Berkshire Hathaway also took a stake in Southwest Airlines, CNBC television network reported Monday.

The financial guru was known for his dislike of the airline industry after his disastrous bet on preferred shares of US Airways in 1989, calling the sector a “death trap.”

 

The surprise Berkshire news pushed airline shares sharply higher in after-market trades. American Airlines jumped 3.5 percent, Delta was up 2.9 percent and United Continental, parent of United Airlines, gained 2.6 percent.

 

Buffett, the head of the massive Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, is the world’s third wealthiest person.

“Reveal Your Tax Returns”, Warren Buffett Challenges Donald Trump.

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US billionaire Warren Buffett challenged Donald Trump Monday to release his tax returns, a feat which the Republican presidential candidate has so far resisted.

 

Trump has said he won’t release the documents because he is under audit, which Buffett — one of the world’s richest men — suggested is a weak excuse.

 

“Now I’ve got news for him, I’m under audit too,” Buffett said, speaking at a Hillary Clinton rally in Nebraska. “You’re only afraid if you got something to be afraid about.”

 

“He’s afraid because of you,” Buffett told the attendees.

 

Buffett suggested he and Trump meet “any place, any time” before election day to publicly go over their tax records together.

 

The business magnate also sharply criticized Trump for a recent dispute with the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier.

Pakistani immigrant Khizr Khan galvanized the Democratic National Convention with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the Republican nominee for having “sacrificed nothing” for the country.

 

In an interview aired on ABC Sunday, Trump insisted he had, in fact, made “a lot of sacrifices” for the United States.

 

Buffett declared otherwise: “Donald Trump and I haven’t sacrificed anything,” he said, referencing Trump’s remark.

 

“How in the world can you stand up to a couple of parents who have lost a son and talk about sacrificing because you were building a bunch of buildings?”

 

Buffett is one of several extremely wealthy Americans to back Clinton for president, including billionaire and independent former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.