Dow lost 248, decliners over avancers almost 6-1 & NAZ was down 49, Stocks finished off the lows, but all considered, that was little consolation. The Financial Index fell 4 to the 163s, approaching its Sep lows,
The MLP index ended down 3+ to the 365s & the REIT index was down 6 to the 214s. Junk bond funds were mixed to lower & Treasuries rose. Oil fell on debt woes. Gold took a nasty tumble, going below 1700, near its Oct lows.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](http://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif)
Photo: Bloomberg
On a down day for stocks, it's always good to her about Warren buying more stock. His Berkshire Hathaway invested $24B in Q3 & could spend as much as $10B on its next acquisition. Buffett has $8-$10B to spend on the right investment, though he has no specific merger-and-acquisition plans currently, he said. “We like the A part better,” Buffett,said, referring to a preference for acquisitions over mergers. “On the Lubrizol transaction I think we spent about $8.7 billion. We’d love another one like that -- we can handle that. We can manage somewhat larger. We can handle a $10 billion deal very comfortably.” He has turned to stocks & takeovers this year after interest-rate declines limited returns in the bond market. BRK.A investable funds were boosted in Oct by a $3.3B payment from General Electric (GE), a Dow stock, that ended Buffett’s 2008 financing deal. Many BRK.A units are producing better results than last year, when the company posted a $13B of profit.
Buffett Could Spend $10B on Next Investment
A trend to postpone or forgo having babies may delay the recovery from the 5-year housing slump & restrain future spending on goods & services from child care to diapers, soaps & toothpaste. The number of births fell to under 4M last year, the fewest since 1999, according to National Center for Health Statistics data & US births may not recover until 2013. A weak economic recovery is encouraging famlies to choose renting over buying a home & this trend is likely to persist. These changes bring a muted recovery, especially for building new homes. The number of births is similar to 2001, when the US was in “the early phase of expansion” after an 8-month recession. Consumer surveys & sales of infant products reinforce this concern. A Nielsen analysis for Kimberly-Clark (KMB) forecasts US births will drop 0.4% this year to 3.99M, the first time under 4M since 1999, & will be “flat to slightly negative” at about 3.989M in 2012. Limited population growth is a factor not well appreciated when making forecasts about an economic recovery.
The collapse of talks by the supercommittee was a coming event. Now the politicos are trying to tape together a last minute agreement involving more than $1T. It's difficult to imagine anything will come at the last minute & if there is an agreement, who knows where that will lead! The US economy is still in an iffy stage of recovery & is threatened with a reduction in gov spending (AFTER NEXT YEAR'S ELECTIONS!). This will not stimulate greater investment in new factories & businesses. Dow is just above 11½K, a very sensitive level. The semi-holiday week can bring significant changes for the markets & indications are for more selling given the rise in uncertainty about US & European debt problems..
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The MLP index ended down 3+ to the 365s & the REIT index was down 6 to the 214s. Junk bond funds were mixed to lower & Treasuries rose. Oil fell on debt woes. Gold took a nasty tumble, going below 1700, near its Oct lows.
AMZ Alerian MLP Index
DJR Dow Jones Equity REIT Index
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Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month | 0.005% | |
U.S. 2-year | 0.266% | |
U.S. 10-year | 1.964% |
| CLF12.NYM | ...Crude Oil Jan 12 | ...96.81 | ... 0.86 | (0.9%) |
On a down day for stocks, it's always good to her about Warren buying more stock. His Berkshire Hathaway invested $24B in Q3 & could spend as much as $10B on its next acquisition. Buffett has $8-$10B to spend on the right investment, though he has no specific merger-and-acquisition plans currently, he said. “We like the A part better,” Buffett,said, referring to a preference for acquisitions over mergers. “On the Lubrizol transaction I think we spent about $8.7 billion. We’d love another one like that -- we can handle that. We can manage somewhat larger. We can handle a $10 billion deal very comfortably.” He has turned to stocks & takeovers this year after interest-rate declines limited returns in the bond market. BRK.A investable funds were boosted in Oct by a $3.3B payment from General Electric (GE), a Dow stock, that ended Buffett’s 2008 financing deal. Many BRK.A units are producing better results than last year, when the company posted a $13B of profit.
Buffett Could Spend $10B on Next Investment
BRK.A Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
A trend to postpone or forgo having babies may delay the recovery from the 5-year housing slump & restrain future spending on goods & services from child care to diapers, soaps & toothpaste. The number of births fell to under 4M last year, the fewest since 1999, according to National Center for Health Statistics data & US births may not recover until 2013. A weak economic recovery is encouraging famlies to choose renting over buying a home & this trend is likely to persist. These changes bring a muted recovery, especially for building new homes. The number of births is similar to 2001, when the US was in “the early phase of expansion” after an 8-month recession. Consumer surveys & sales of infant products reinforce this concern. A Nielsen analysis for Kimberly-Clark (KMB) forecasts US births will drop 0.4% this year to 3.99M, the first time under 4M since 1999, & will be “flat to slightly negative” at about 3.989M in 2012. Limited population growth is a factor not well appreciated when making forecasts about an economic recovery.
The collapse of talks by the supercommittee was a coming event. Now the politicos are trying to tape together a last minute agreement involving more than $1T. It's difficult to imagine anything will come at the last minute & if there is an agreement, who knows where that will lead! The US economy is still in an iffy stage of recovery & is threatened with a reduction in gov spending (AFTER NEXT YEAR'S ELECTIONS!). This will not stimulate greater investment in new factories & businesses. Dow is just above 11½K, a very sensitive level. The semi-holiday week can bring significant changes for the markets & indications are for more selling given the rise in uncertainty about US & European debt problems..
Dow Jones Industrial Average
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