Warren Buffett Raises Berkshire Cash Level to Record $277 Billion After Slashing Stock Holdings
August 3rd, 2024He has been selling for, “Seven quarters straight.” He knows something big is coming down.
Via: CNBC:
Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile swelled to a record $276.9 billion last quarter as Warren Buffett sold big chunks in stock holdings including Apple.
The Omaha-based conglomerate’s cash hoard jumped significantly higher from the previous record of $189 billion, set in the first quarter of 2024. The increase came after the Oracle of Omaha sold nearly half of his stake in Tim Cook-led tech giant in the second quarter.
Berkshire has been a seller of stocks for seven quarters straight, but that selling accelerated in the last period with Buffett shedding more than $75 billion in equities in the second quarter. That brings the total of stocks sold in the first half of 2024 to more than $90 billion. The selling by Buffett has continued in the third quarter in some areas with Berkshire trimming its second biggest stake, Bank of America, for 12 consecutive days, filing this week showed.
If stocks are about to lose or already losing their value so should be got rid of, aren’t dollars losing their value, too? What is he going to trade all those dollars for that will retain its value?
The U.S. is over $35 trillion in debt, so it’s all a clown world of make believe. In such a clown world, the U.S. Dollar is relatively strong. In the event of war or other major instability, it might even rise. Even if it didn’t, he’s betting that any declines in the dollar will be much less than what could happen to those stock positions he was in.
As for how Berkshire is holding the cash: I don’t know, but I’d guess they deal with short term U.S. government bonds and money market funds.
Money Market funds are paying around 5% now, much better than the 1% they were paying not too long ago.