Buffett loves Apple Inc – nowhere to 2nd in Berkshire’s $122bn portfolio

“America works.I’ve said this before, it’ll work wonderfully under Hillary Clinton, and I think it’ll work fine under Donald Trump”, Buffett said in a CNBC interview after the election.

Berkshire Hathaway owns a collection of companies in the fields of insurance, utilities, railroad, manufacturing and retail.

Buffett argued that those with a negative long-term outlook on the economy should not take their own predictions seriously.

In an interview on CNBC, Buffett said his company bought more than $9 billion of airline stocks because he believes they are operating more efficiently than they used to.

Buffett said most savers would be better off putting their money in low-priced index funds over the long term, and he estimated that investors wasted roughly $100 billion over the past decade on unnecessary fees.

Overall, Buffett told the television network, Berkshire has spent about $20 billion on stocks since just before the USA election in November, adding that he thinks the US market is cheap with interest rates at current levels.

And it can be extremely hard for investors to determine whether a money manager has the rare ability to outperform the stock market.

“Unfortunately, I followed the Geico purchase by foolishly using Berkshire stock – a boatload of stock – to buy General Reinsurance in late 1998”, he said. “They love it.” Last month Apple sold 78 million iPhones, nearly 1 million more than analysts were looking for. Buffett bought his most recent stake between January 1 and January 31-the day Apple reported that its sales rose $2.5 billion, or 3%, in the last three months of 2016, which was higher than expected. Berkshire is a key investor in Kraft Heinz.

“A few, however – these are serious blunders I made in my job of capital allocation – produce very poor returns”. Two investment managers, who each manage about $10 billion of Berkshire’s assets are in place already.

Mr. Buffett talked about share repurchases at length, although he seemed to not say anything on the topic that would revise his past statements.

“If a statue is ever erected to honor the person who has done the most for American investors, the hands-down choice should be Jack Bogle”, Buffett wrote. In reference to Berkshire specifically, Buffett pointed out during last year’s annual meeting how the company’s strategy has worked in some pretty extreme political and economic climates over the years.

Buffett then described how he “atoned” for that mistake by buying a majority stake in utility MidAmerican Energy for all cash in 2000.

Over the first nine years of the challenge, the five hedge funds chosen by Seides delivered an average 2.2. percent a year.

“Further complicating the search for the rare high-fee manager who is worth his or her pay is the fact that some investment professionals, just as some amateurs, will be lucky over short periods”, Buffett wrote in his letter.

He said the United States economy was doing “terrific”, even at just 2 per cent growth per year.