Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway fund is amassing corporate debt and foreign government securities in place of traditional stock packages, according to Bloomberg. The Oracle of Omaha’s prized investment fund now holds about $11.1 billion in foreign government bonds, compared with $9.6 billion at the end of March. In contrast, Buffett only purchased $350 million worth of stocks for the second quarter of 2009. “Some of the normal places he’s gotten the cash to invest are just getting killed in the recession,” said Gerald Martin, a finance professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington. “So he’s locking in these guaranteed returns, moving from the volatility of stocks to a steady stream of income that, in some cases, is almost at the return you normally get from the stock market.”
Buffett Buying Debt in Place of Stocks
Berkshire Hathaway has trimmed its acquisition of stocks in favor of foreign governmental bonds and other safer investments.
August 10, 2009