Key Details:
📍 Berkshire Hathaway's Q4 operating earnings up 28% to $8.481 billion.
📍 Annual earnings rise to $37.350 billion, a 17% increase from last year.
📍 Cash reserves reach a record $167.6 billion.
📍 Significant gains driven by the insurance sector.
📍 Berkshire Class A shares climb roughly 16% this year.
👉 Context/Background:
Berkshire Hathaway's financial performance in the fourth quarter highlights the conglomerat...

Buffett says "Everything in valuation gets back to interest rates" and that "interest rates are like gravity".
Here's a mathematical illustration comparing treasury yields to company PE ratios:

In the current investment landscape, a telling divergence has emerged between the broader indices and the behemoths of Wall Street.
The S&P 500 heatmap presents a patchwork of green and red, yet a deeper analysis reveals a critical narrative. Indices like the ES (S&P 500 futures), NQ (Nasdaq-100 futures), RTY (Russell 2000 futures), and YM (Dow Jones futures) have demonstrated resilience, with movements ranging...

The median estimate (year-over-year, not seasonally adjusted) for the consumer price index (CPI) for the month of November 2023 is 3.1%.
If 3.1% is the actual year-over-year increase in the CPI, it will mark the second consecutive month that the number has declined.
Last month (October 2023), the consumer price index increased by 3.2% (year-over-year, not seasonally adjusted), compared to the median estimate of ...

November CPI numbers were in line with expectations, which means rates will remain essentially unchanged until mid to late next year.
CPI y/y +% versus 3.1% expected
Prior y/y 3.2%
CPI m/m +0.1% versus 0.0% expected
Prior m/m 0.0%
Markets whipsawed in the wake of the print, with Treasury yields initially falling across the curve before reversing higher. The US 2-year yield is now up 2.3 basis points, though market expectations for rate cuts in 202...

Some day, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions may once again be like watching paint dry. We're not there yet.
Interest Rate
Very few anticipate a change in the federal funds rate target range, currently at 5.25%-5.50%, after the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting on Wednesday. Investors await signals on when the Fed might initiate rate cuts, examining projections in the dot plot and Chair Jerome Powell'...

After intense negotiations and heated protests, nearly 200 nations, meeting at the United Nations' COP28 summit in Dubai, agreed to move away from fossil fuels.
The landmark deal to battle climate change entails "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science," the proposal reads.
Meanwhile, oil bulls are stuck in a rut as t...