Warren Buffett sticks to business, avoids politics in letter

Some of Buffett’s stock positions date back many years, some to the 1980s and 1990s. “Tim Cook has been extremely intelligent about using the capital”, he added.

“What I do know is that when I take a dozen kids to Dairy Queen, which I do every Sunday, they’re all on their iPhones”, Buffett said. “I would say it is unlikely”.

The 2016 contest had 85,000 entries, and Buffett said he thinks they’ll get over 100,000 this year.

Investors who wanted billionaire Warren Buffett to address the current state of the world in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders will likely be disappointed, but they can still take some comfort in his consistently rosy long-term outlook for the USA economy.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes last yielded 2.333 percent in morning U.S. trading.

“Because I like it”, Buffett said on CNBC in response to why Berkshire had bought so much of iPhone maker’s stock.

“We don’t dispute the data that has led Mr. Buffett and others to form their views”, Armour said in a statement. “But heaven help them if they act on the nonsense they peddle”, he said.

He said he had invested about $20 billion in stocks since shortly before the election.

Buffett, in an interview with CNBC, shared information on what else Berkshire Hathaway has been purchasing in early 2017.

“If rates were to spike, however, then the stock market would be more expensive”.

Berkshire is ahead more than $US1.6 billion on its investment In Apple since Mr Buffett’s investment lieutenants spent $US6.75 billion on 61 million shares in the iPhone maker past year.

The billionaire has made his point most visibly through a $1 million bet with Protege Partners, which had said that hedge funds’ ability to short stocks would give them an advantage in falling markets.

As you might imagine, Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, gets asked for investment advice (and general life advice) from time to time.

After all the bankruptcies and consolidation in the industry, Buffett says the airlines are performing better and generally flying with their planes at least 80% full.

In his general comments about Berkshire Hathaway’s business, however, Mr. Buffett did relate how the purchase of General Reinsurance Corp., which followed his earlier purchase of personal lines insurer Geico, could have been handled better.

Still, he sounded rather optimistic on the sector, joking that airlines had “a bad first century”.