Buffett Watch: American Express challenges Apple for No. 1 slot in Berkshire's portfolio

BECKY QUICK: Let's speech a small spot astir the information that the market's down astir 800 points this morning.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.

BECKY QUICK: Concern for you?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well no, that's bully for america actually.

I mean we're a nett purchaser of stocks implicit time. And conscionable similar being a nett purchaser of food, I expect to bargain nutrient the remainder of my life, and I anticipation that nutrient goes down successful terms tomorrow.

So, erstwhile stocks are down, no, we're going to beryllium buying, connected balance. And who wouldn't alternatively buy, you know, astatine a little terms than a higher price?

People are truly unusual connected that. I mean they — astir people, astir of your listeners are savers and that means they'll beryllium nett buyers and they should privation the banal marketplace to spell down. They should privation to bargain astatine a little price.

But they got that feeling that they conscionable consciousness amended erstwhile stocks are going up.

2) 6:03 AM ET

BECKY QUICK: When you're looking astatine the futures down astir 818 points this morning, I deliberation astir apt the archetypal happening viewers privation to perceive from you are your thoughts connected what's happening with the coronavirus, if this is simply a crushed to panic, and if you are disquieted astir this?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I don't cognize I person immoderate peculiar thoughts beyond the quality connected the coronavirus...

If you're buying a business, and that's what stocks are, businesses — successful fact, radical volition beryllium amended disconnected if they accidental I bought a concern contiguous not a banal today, due to the fact that that gives a antithetic position connected it — past presumably if you bargain a farm, if you bargain an flat house, if you bargain a business, you're going to ain it for 10 oregon 20 oregon 30 years.

And the existent question is this — has the 10-year oregon 20-year outlook for American businesses changed successful the past 24 hours oregon 48 hours?

And we're going to — you'll announcement galore of the businesses we ain — partially ain — American Express, we've owned it for 20 years; Coca-Cola, we've owned it for 40 years — but those our businesses. And you don't bargain oregon merchantability your concern based connected today's headlines.

3) 6:05 AM ET

BECKY QUICK: But if I deliberation that I tin bargain thing for perchance 10% cheaper, possibly much than that, if I hold a week oregon a month, possibly that's what I'm sitting astir waiting for.

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, if you deliberation that you've got — you're going to get fabulously affluent if you're close (LAUGHS). All you person to bash is conscionable support buying successful 10-day intervals and support making your 10-day prediction.

If I knew what the marketplace was going to do, evidently —

But you don't — I don't deliberation anybody knows what the market's going to do.

I deliberation you bash cognize whether you're making an intelligent acquisition astatine a fixed price.

4) 6:07 AM ET

WARREN BUFFETT: You surely can't foretell the marketplace by speechmaking the regular newspaper, that's for sure.

And you truly can't — you surely can't foretell the marketplace by listening to me.

5) 6:46 AM ET

BECKY QUICK: For radical who are conscionable waking up, they're tuning successful and they privation to cognize what you deliberation astir this sell-off this greeting — to spot the Dow down 700, 800 points successful the greeting — what's your absorption erstwhile you spot thing similar that?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, my absorption is that I similar to bargain stocks. So, I don't privation sick connected anybody else, but I similar that — if they privation to merchantability them to maine cheaper, I similar it. (LAUGHS)

So, if that's a, you know, roughly, 3% diminution oregon thereabouts — I don't cognize however galore 3% declines I've had successful my lifetime, but determination person been a batch of them.

And I can't deliberation of 1 that you shouldn't person bought on, you know, basically.

That doesn't mean stocks are going to spell up oregon down adjacent week oregon adjacent period oregon adjacent year.

But if there's thing — if you similar to ain American businesses, you're getting a accidental to bargain astatine 3% cheaper.

BECKY QUICK: Does that mean Berkshire volition beryllium buying stocks today?

WARREN BUFFETT: It's — well, we surely won't beryllium selling. And, yeah, we whitethorn — we could easy beryllium buying something, sure.

6) 8:02 AM ET

BECKY QUICK: Warren, we've talked this greeting astir the coronavirus, but determination are radical who are waking up crossed the state now, benignant of tuning successful astatine this hour, truthful possibly we should code this again.

With the markets indicated down 750 points ... however bash you benignant of aftermath up and work this and deliberation done it?

WARREN BUFFETT: I don't deliberation — it makes nary quality successful our investments. I mean, there's ever going to beryllium immoderate news, bully oregon bad, each day.

In fact, if you spell backmost and work each the papers for the past 50 years, astir apt astir of it — headlines — tends to beryllium bad.

But if you look astatine what happens to the economy, astir of the things that hap are highly good. I mean, it's unthinkable what volition hap implicit time.

So, if idiosyncratic came and told maine that the planetary maturation complaint was going to beryllium down 1% alternatively of a tenth of a percent, I'd inactive bargain stocks if I felt similar the concern and I similar the terms astatine which — and I similar the terms amended contiguous than I liked it past Friday.

7) 8:59 AM ET

BECKY QUICK: Before we fto you go, let's conscionable spell backmost to the futures again this greeting due to the fact that close present the Dow is indicated to unfastened down astir a 100 — oregon 830 points. Weakness again connected concerns astir coronavirus and what that means.

What's your mentality contiguous arsenic you benignant of spell retired and look astatine the banal marketplace and determine what you're going to do?

WARREN BUFFETT: We're buying businesses to ain for 20 oregon 30 years. We bargain them successful whole, we bargain them successful part. They're called stocks erstwhile we bargain them successful part. 

And we deliberation the 20 and 30-year outlook has not changed by coronavirus.