Reuters
Published Jun 05, 2020 15:31
By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said Warren Buffett, often regarded as the world's greatest investor, made a mistake by recently exiting a multi-billion dollar investment in the airline industry.
Trump made his assessment at the White House, shortly after the U.S. Labor Department reported an unexpected surge in May jobs, and five weeks after Buffett said his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (N:BRKa) sold its airline stakes.
"Warren Buffett sold airlines a little while ago," Trump said. "He's been right his whole life, but sometimes even somebody like Warren Buffett -- I have a lot of respect for him -- they make mistakes. They should have kept the airline stocks because the airline stocks went through the roof today."
Buffett did not immediately respond to a request for comment through his assistant.
At Berkshire's May 2 annual meeting, Buffett said his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate had in April sold its roughly $6 billion of stock in American Airlines Group Inc (O:AAL), Delta Air Lines Inc (N:DAL), Southwest Airlines Co (N:LUV) and United AIrlines Holdings Inc (O:UAL).
Buffett said the coronavirus pandemic had changed the industry "in a very major way," through no fault of the carriers, leaving the future of flying "much less clear."
Many airline stocks have outpaced the broader market this week, as carriers took steps to restore some flights they had canceled because of the pandemic.
American, Delta, Southwest and United rose after the Labor Department said U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by 2.51 million in May, and the jobless rate fell to 13.3% from April's 14.7%.
Economists on average expected a loss of 8 million jobs, and a 19.8% unemployment rate.
Berkshire's stock is lagging the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) for a second straight year.
Investors have faulted Buffett for not spending more of Berkshire's cash, which ended March at $137.3 billion.
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.