Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway just made headlines with its huge investment in U.S. Treasury bills, surpassing even the Federal Reserve’s holdings. In the first half of the year, Berkshire scooped up $230 billion in these low-risk, short-term securities, making it a major player in this investment arena. Despite his usual big bets on stocks, Buffett’s recent move into Treasury bills, coupled with selling off billions in Apple and other stocks, has boosted his company’s cash reserves to a staggering $277 billion. This surprising shift highlights Buffett’s confidence in these safe investments amid uncertain market conditions.
Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, has a huge amount of money invested in U.S. Treasury bills—$234.6 billion, according to its latest earnings report from the second quarter.
Here’s the scoop:
Berkshire Hathaway has been buying up U.S. Treasury bills, or T-bills, which are short-term investments issued by the U.S. government. In the first half of this year alone, they purchased $229.5 billion worth of these T-bills. This makes them the biggest buyer of these bills, surpassing even the Federal Reserve, which holds $195.3 billion in T-bills.
Warren Buffett, the famous investor who runs Berkshire Hathaway, has always liked T-bills. At a recent conference, he called them “the safest investment there is.” These T-bills come in different durations, from just four weeks to a whole year. You buy them for a set price and they grow in value until they’re worth more when they mature.
While T-bills don’t usually make as much money as riskier investments like stocks, they are currently offering decent returns because of high interest rates set by the Federal Reserve. For example, three-month T-bills are giving a 5.05% return, six-month bills are at 4.68%, and 12-month bills are at 4.18%.
In other news, Berkshire Hathaway has cut back on its Apple stock. It now holds $84.2 billion in Apple shares, down from $174.3 billion at the beginning of the year. This is the third quarter in a row that Buffett has reduced his Apple investment. Despite this, Apple is still Berkshire’s biggest stock holding. The next biggest investments are in Bank of America and American Express.
Buffett has also been selling off other stocks. Recently, he sold nearly $4 billion worth of Bank of America shares in just 12 days. With all these stock sales, Buffett has built up a record cash pile of $276.9 billion.
