Handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks and fast

Warren Buffett (Photo credit: MarkGregory007)

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.

Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee. Read more >>

Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome. Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.

Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee. Read more >>

America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food

Any catalogue of powerful people — and certainly any ranking of them in order of clout — is bound to be highly subjective, of course. That doesn't mean that it has to be arbitrary. The Daily Meal editors collaborated to assemble our initial list, then added and subtracted, fine-tuned and developed. We did extensive research and had endless discussions and occasionally strenuous debates. One thing that was clear from the beginning was that the most influential figures in the field weren't always the best-known, and that CEOs could wield more might than celebrities. Read more...

Coffee prices soar

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You may soon find yourself paying more for your morning coffee...if you aren't already. A trifecta of bad news has sent coffee futures soaring 44% since June, and companies like Dunkin' Donuts, Green Mountain and Maxwell House are passing on those costs.

Bad weather in South America is threatening crops. Brazil and top exporter Vietnam are talking about hoarding their stocks. And U.S. stockpiles are reportedly at 10-year lows. That means higher prices for U.S. coffee companies, which, in turn may mean higher prices for consumers.

Bagged coffee from Folgers, Dunkin' Donuts and Millstone already cost 10% more. Parent company J.M. Smucker, which announced the price hike last month, cited "sustained increases in green coffee costs."

Kraft Foods raised prices of Maxwell House Coffee and Yuban coffee products by about 9% last month as well. That translates into a price hike of 5 cents to 30 cents per pound of ground coffee and an increase of 2.5 cents per ounce for instant coffee.

And single-serve K-cups, sold at Tully's Coffee, Timothy's Coffee, Newman's Own Organics, Caribou Coffee, and other Green Mountain Coffee brands will see prices rise 10% to 15%, starting Oct. 11. Sales of the brewing system and K-cups make up about 86% of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.'s business. More...

U.S. Jobs Lost are Gone Forever

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Will the jobs ever return?
I’m sure everyone within an eyeshot of this article knows at least one person with a master’s degree who has been out of work for a year or more. Many of us know several people like that -- smart, capable, and good people. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently published a chart of the median duration of unemployment, and it’s ugly. The spike in long-term unemployment is literally off the charts, and given that there are nearly 6 unemployed for every 1 job opening, we can expect this trend to continue.

Even the gainfully employed are terrified that their job could be next, clutching to it tightly while being conditioned to thank their bosses for reduced wages and benefits as long as they hold on to their position. Although the federal government is one of the only sectors hiring, state workers are being slashed in record numbers as 46 states teeter near bankruptcy. Teachers, cops, and firefighters -- the backbone of many small communities -- are being gutted by debts owed to banks who enjoy bailouts and bonuses.

It seems that every facet of the economy is blinking "red alert," setting new records of failure in every category. The game is up. The Ponzi scheme is over. Credit is maxed out, and since flooding the economy with more money (credit) is the only way to stimulate job growth, we can reserve our hope.

Industrial, tech support, and other white-collar jobs have been relocated to countries with cheaper labor and are unlikely to return, in addition to the lack of money flowing to the consumer class. Six more fortune 500 companies including Kraft Foods and Walt Disney recently announced they are moving their headquarters to China. And you, the taxpayer, bought General Motors and invested in factories in Brazil and not America.

The industrial jobs seem to be gone forever, or at least until the cost of labor in the United States = slave labor + less taxes + shipping costs from Asia. However, you can sing at the funeral pyre for the white-collar tech-support jobs done over fiber optic lines.