Buffett:
Treasury bills are now all the rage at Berkshire Hathaway. They have been earning between 5.0% and 5.5% since mid-2023, and Warren Buffett decided they’re a great deal, rather than stocks at current prices, and loaded up on them.
At the end of March, the huge conglomerate held $153 billion in T-bills, up by $24 billion from three months earlier, and up by nearly $50 billion from March 2023, and up by $86 billion from March 2022 ($67 billion), according to BRK’s 10-Q filings. The year 2022 was when T-bills began paying a noticeable interest once again.
If BRK earns an average of 5.3% on its T-bills in the current quarter, that would be about $2.4 billion in interest income with zero risk. By comparison, it reported $15.7 billion in total pre-tax income for Q1. So the income from T-bills matters.
Total T-bills, cash, and cash equivalent jumped to $189 billion, up by $21 billion in three months, and up by $59 billion year-over-year ($130 billion in Q1 2023).
Excluding the amounts held by “Railroad, Utilities and Energy” companies, total T-bills and cash jumped to $182 billion, and Buffett said at the shareholder meeting that it was “a fair assumption” that it would grow to $200 billion by the end of June, and that he was “quite satisfied” with that position. Cash is king.
Converting Apple shares to T-bills.
While loading up on T-bills – of which the government has been issuing a tsunami on a weekly basis – BRK dumped 13% of its stake in Apple in Q1, or about 116 million shares, after having sold about 10 million shares in the prior quarter. Apple remains BRK’s largest stock position, with a value of $135.4 billion on March 31, according to BRK’s
10-Q filing today.
Obviously, Buffett praised Apple and the stock, because BRK was still holding $135.4 billion as of March 31, and he doesn’t want to tank the shares before he can unload more of them.
But he did sell Apple, and bought T-bills with the proceeds, instead of other stocks, and that ballooning pile of interest-earning cash became a topic at the shareholder meeting on Saturday, and he was asked why he wasn’t putting this cash to work – though it’s actually working just fine, producing 5%-plus risk free.
Earning 5%-plus risk free while waiting for bad stuff to happen.
“I don’t think anyone sitting at this table has any idea how to use it [the cash] effectively, and therefore we don’t use it,” Buffett said.
“We’d love to spend it, but we won’t spend it unless we think we’re doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money,” he said.
“We only swing at pitches we like,” he said. And right now, they’re not liking anything other than T-bills.
“As the world gets more sophisticated, complicated and intertwined, more can go wrong,” and the company wants to be able to “act when that happens,” he said. Waiting for a big drop in share prices, to put this cash to work at reasonable price levels?
Obviously…
When Buffett gets unexcited about stocks, dark-ish about their potential, waits for them to drop, dumps a big pile of Apple, and invests in T-bills — and explains why — suddenly no one takes him seriously anymore.
The financial media drag out voices that kindly brush it all off. Just an old folksy guy on his way out. It’s only when he hypes stocks, or a particular stock, that the financial media and the other organs of Wall Street see him as the Oracle of Omaha and jump in behind him. Some things are just funny, without anyone wanting them to be funny.
Full:
https://www.cryptopolitan.com/brics-to-create-its-very-own-central-bank/
Biden Ready To Use SPR Again If Oil Prices Rise
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, MAY 08, 2024 - 05:40 AM
Several weeks after we reported that - very unsurprisingly - the
Biden admin had halted its laughable attempts to refill the SPR as oil prices soared (having missed its entire window to do so when WTI was trading in the low $70s), we speculated that it may be only a matter of time before the senile president decides to start draining the strategic reserve all over again to keep gas prices low ahead of the election.
Now we get confirmation of just that: as
OilPrice reports,
President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve, which of course is true but what it misses is that under Biden the SPR has already been drained by half.
Full:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/biden-ready-use-spr-again-if-oil-prices-rise
Oil News:
International organizations are increasingly sounding the tocsin on shrinking crude inventories, with the IEA indicating Q2 2024 would see demand surpass supply by a whopping 900,000 b/d, the first two consecutive negative quarters since late 2021.
- With OPEC+ curbing supply by means of Saudi Arabia’s and Russia’s voluntary production cuts, the end of refinery maintenance in Europe and Asia as well as recovering manufacturing activity in both the US and China would suggest an increase in fuel use.
- According to Kpler, Chinese crude inventories marked a two-year low at the beginning of April and even though they have built since then, at 944 million barrels they are some 50 million barrels lower than a year ago.
- With US refining back to running close to full capacity at 15.8 million b/d, US crude inventories should start their seasonal descent soon, currently trending around 460 million barrels, shot-for-shot replicating last year’s levels.
Market Movers
- Colombia’s national oil company
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) is
preparing to participate in the Andean country’s first-ever offshore wind auction, looking for a bid partner that would have the technical experience.
- Energy major
Shell (LON:SHEL) is
negotiating a sale of its gas station business in Malaysia, the second-largest in the country, to
Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) in a deal worth around $1 billion.
- Chinese oil giant
Sinopec (SHA:600028) is
reportedly in talks with Pembina Pipeline Corp. to buy a stake in Canada’s Cedar LNG project and guarantee a 1.5 mtpa offtake agreement from the facility, i.e. half its production capacity.
Tuesday, May 05, 2024
Just when it seemed that the geopolitical risk premium had all but evaporated from oil prices, Israel rejected the Egypt-brokered ceasefire proposal and its army started the long-mooted Rafah operation. The return of Middle Eastern tension and aggressive Saudi Arabian pricing for June cargoes, understood to be a harbinger of an OPEC+ production cut extension come June 1, should provide some resistance to the bearish pressure that has been building in oil markets.
Russia’s Oil Revenues Double Year-on-Year. Russia’s oil
revenue more than doubled year-on-year to $11.5 billion in April, with higher crude differentials further boosted by a weakening national currency, as global insurance firms are calling the G7 oil price cap policy “increasingly unenforceable”.
Chevron Eyes Gulf of Mexico Output Boost. This year’s most prominent addition to crude output in the US Gulf of Mexico,
Chevron’s (NYSE:CVX) 75,000 b/d Anchor floating production unit located in the Green Canyon offshore area, is set to
reach first oil by mid-year.
India’s Refining Buildout Slows Down. As India’s Modi government
targets 9 million b/d of refining capacity by 2030, refiners are running into time overruns with Chennai Petroleum delaying the launch of its 180,000 b/d Nagapattinam refinery by the end of 2027.
US Natgas Prices Bounce Back from Slump. US natural gas Henry Hub futures
strengthened 3% on Monday to $2.2 per mmBtu amidst a higher domestic pull on feedgas to LNG export plants, as Trains 1 and 2 of Freeport LNG in Texas returned from inspection and repairs.
China Opens Up EV Sector to Foreign Investors. The Chinese government has introduced new supportive measures to boost investment into non-fossil-fuel vehicles, removing all restrictions on foreign investment, amidst rumors that Beijing would remove traffic restrictions on Tesla’s EVs.
Braskem Shares Collapse on End of ADNOC Talks. According to Reuters, the national oil company of Abu Dhabi ADNOC has terminated talks to buy a controlling stake in Brazil’s top petrochemical producer
Braskem (NYSE:BAK), sending the latter’s shares down some 15% in just one day.
India Wants to Buy Venezuelan Oil Despite Sanctions. India’s largest oil refiner Reliance Industries has
resubmitted a request to the US Treasury for authorization to import crude from Venezuela, right after the White House granted upstream firm Maurel&Prom a 2-year waiver.
European Majors Flock to Namibia’s Waters. Azule Energy, a joint venture of oil majors
BP (NYSE:BP) and
ENI (BIT:ENI), farmed into Namibia’s offshore Orange Basin, signing up for a 42.5% stake in Block 2914A in the immediate vicinity of the recent multi-billion-barrel Mopane find.
Nigeria Hints at Easier Exit for Majors. Nigeria’s
disgruntled oil producers such as
ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) or
Shell (LON:SHEL) would be allowed to exit the African country’s onshore fields quicker if they take responsibility for oil spills and pay up, said the country’s regulator NUPRC.
Russia Ships Fuel to North Korea. According to the White House, Russia has been silently shipping refined petroleum products to North Korea at a level higher than the US-imposed price cap, even though UN sanctions limit its imports at 500,000 barrels of refined producers a year.
Outlook for 2024 Copper Supply Downgraded. The International Copper Study Group
lowered its 2024 copper supply forecast, seeing the forecasted 467,000-ton glut decrease to 162,000 tons on the heels of First Quantum shutting the Cobre Panama mine, 5% of global production.
French Oil Major Accused of Terror Negligence. French prosecutors
opened an investigation against oil major
TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) after survivors of the 2021 Islamic State attack on the Mozambique LNG project accused it of negligence and indirect manslaughter, saying it failed to ensure the safety of subcontractors.
China Allocates More Product Export Quotas. China’s Ministry of Commerce has granted product export quotas to 7 state-controlled and private sector companies, allocating 14 million tons and disappointing the market as the first batch is already used at 87% and refiners want to clear their high stocks.
jog on
duc