Come across this......Berkshire was a net seller of $1.1 billion...

Come across this......

Berkshire was a net seller of $1.1 billion of stocks during the quarter. That compares with net stock sales of $4 billion in the first quarter, suggesting Buffett is growing more cautious on the market. It’s also clear the value investor isn’t finding as many bargains while the US stock market is at record highs.In 2020, Berkshire sold a net $9 billion of stocks, meaning Buffett and his team have now disposed of $14 billion of equities in the space of 18 months. The company has exited JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, the “Big Four” US airlines, and other holdings in that timeframe.

Buffett has also spent less money on buybacks, with just $6 billion on share repurchases last quarter, dqown from $6.6 billion in the first quarter and about $9 billion in each of the two quarters before that. That downward trend suggests Mr Buffett sees Berkshire stock as near full value.

For more than a decade, Mr Buffett has told shareholders he won’t conduct buybacks if they would reduce the value of Berkshire’s cash, cash equivalents, and Treasury bills to below $20 billion. He raised that figure to $30 billion in his company’s latest earnings report, signaling he wants to maintain a larger safety net than before.

However, Mr Buffett may still be understating his preferred cash cushion. The investor said at Berkshire’s annual meeting in May that the company had $70 billion or $80 billion that he would “love to put to work.” Given Berkshire’s cash pile totalled about $140 billion at the time, his comment suggests he wants the company to have $60 billion to $70 billion stashed away for “a rainy day.”

Berkshire’s latest earnings result also highlighted price increases in several markets, pointing to higher inflation. The BNSF Railway’s fuel expenses surged 112%, partly due to higher fuel prices, while its coal revenues jumped 42% as energy customers balked at lofty natural-gas prices. Marmon benefited from higher metal prices as it was able to pass them on to customers. Berkshire’s building-products group hiked its prices in response to robust demand, and to supply disruptions that drove up the costs of lumber, steel, copper, energy, freight, fixtures, and petrochemical-based materials.

Gold and the other precious metals have come under pressure in recent weeks, as have commodities. The recent jump in the bond rate and lift in real interest rates may explain some of the move. A strengthening US dollar has also placed the commodities spectrum and the PGMs under pressure. The US inflation data due on Wednesday may well prove to be the next catalyst for gold.

Gold corrected sharply but finished well above support and off the intraday lows. The next key catalyst will be the US CPI and PPI readings due out later this week