Warren Buffett gave an interesting interview with Bloomberg yesterday. You can watch the video clip here.
Highlights:
He has endorsed Obama for President in 2008 (remember Paul Volker has as well)
He's concerned about “stagflation,'' or slowing in the U.S. economy while inflation accelerates:
“We're right in the middle of it right now. I think the `flation' part will heat up and I think the `stag' part will get worse.''
Buffett, 77, is the world's richest person, and runs a company with a $72 billion portfolio. He's said the U.S. housing slump has been a drag on Berkshire's earnings, adding today he's unsure when the economy will recover.
“Capitalism has downturns… We are in one now. But we will come out of it, just like we did before…It's not going to be tomorrow, it's not going to be next month, and may not even be next year.”
I was talking about looming stagflation last year and the long always cheerleaders were pooh-poohing it. I have always said we will eventually come out of this difficult economic climate. But just because we will come out of difficult times eventually, does not mean investors should blindly stay the course throughout the downturn. Holding equity investments over the next few months is a very high risk proposition. The market will not be able to accurately price and discount the coming hit to earnings until we are further through the delevering process.
All the people urging investors to “buy the dips” over the past 18 months have been painfully wrong. Beware of those saying the same thing now.
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