Saturday, October 18, 2008

Buffett Says Now Is the Time to Buy U.S. Equities

Warren Buffett said he's buying U.S. stocks and, if prices stay attractive, his personal investments, as distinct from his stake in Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will soon be wholly in American equities.

Writing in The New York Times, he said he's following the principle: be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
Exaggerated concern about the long-term prosperity of financially secure U.S. companies is foolish, and most probably will be setting profit records in years to come, Buffett said.

While short-term stock movements can't be foretold, the likelihood is that the market will recover before the economy or general investor sentiment rebound, and ``if you wait for the robins, spring will be over,'' he said.

Referring to the 1930s Depression, Buffett pointed out that the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its nadir on July 8, 1932; economic conditions continued to deteriorate until Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in March 1933, and by that time the market had climbed 30 percent.

Bad news, Buffett wrote, is an investor's best friend, because it enables the purchase of ``a slice of America's future at a marked-down price.''

Buffett, ranked the richest American by Forbes magazine, has committed at least $28 billion of Berkshire's cash this year to acquire companies, finance buyouts and purchase securities as the contraction in global credit markets drove down stock prices and sent firms searching for funds.


Source...

Bloomberg.com

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