Jump to navigation

Subscribe Follow Magazine

Main menu

  • Futures
    • Modern Trader Magazine
    • Commodities
    • Futures Mag Archives
    • ETFs
    • Financials
    • Forex
    • Managed Funds
    • Market Analysis
    • News
    • Options
    • Regulation
    • Technology
    • Trading Strategies
    • Education
    • Futures Op-Ed
  • Favorites
    • Alpha Pages Most Popular
    • Futures Magazine
    • Modern Trader Magazine
    • Most Popular
    • Slideshows & Lists
    • Special Topics
      • Alpha Hunters
      • Bad Boys
      • FINtech
      • High-Frequency Trading
      • Trader's Life
      • Trading Strategies
      • FUTURES MAG's 500th ISSUE
      • We asked traders
  • Traders
    • Market Data
    • Hot Charts
    • Interactive Charts
    • Trading Calendar
  • FINalternatives
  • Hard Assets
    • Home
    • Base Metals
    • Precious Metals
    • Rare Earth Metals
    • Commodities
    • Mining Investments
    • Slideshows
  • Modern Trader
    • Subscribe
    • Past Issues
  • All +
    • Follow Us +
      • FuturesMag
      • Newsletters
      • Facebook
      • Google+
      • Linkedin
      • Twitter
      • RSS Feeds
    • About Us +
      • About
      • Advertise
      • Contact
      • Contribute
      • Privacy Policy
  • !
Follow Hard Assets          

Market Data

more >>

We Asked Traders

Top things I learned about life while day trading millions

Sponsored Content

Trading

Equities.com launches unlimited trading via Tradier Brokerage, Transforming into a news & fintech portal

Featured Topics

more Commodities>>

Commodities

A Saudi-Iran oil war could break up OPEC
Advertisement
more Volatility>>

Volatility

Implied vs. Realized Volatility & the VIX
more Financials>>

Financials

Making drones work for you
more Financials>>

Financials

Perspective: S&P 500 short side off highs

Check out Resource Investor - Polls on LockerDome on LockerDome

Warren Buffett Sells the Family Silver

By Jon A. Nones

May 7, 2006 • Reprints

St. LOUIS () -- With the market abuzz with anticipation of what Wall Street legend Warren Buffett intends to do with Berkshire Hathaway's $40 billion in cash, a small, but perhaps very significant little bit of news may have been overshadowed.

At the company's shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, Chairman Warren Buffett announced that the company has divested its silver holdings.

David Morgan, author of "The Morgan Report," sent a note to clients quoting an anonymous source at the Berkshire meeting who confirmed the sale.

According to the source, no sell price, date or addition data were given other than the announcement that the company not longer owned any silver.

The source said Buffett didn't really talk about silver other than he sold it, but said he would rather hold businesses that have earnings.

According to news sources today, Buffett told shareholders, "We had a lot of silver at one time but we don't have it now."

In 1997, Buffett purchased an estimated 130 million ounces for delivery in 1998. In February 1998, the silver price jumped to a high of $7.81/oz, rallying 50% since mid-1997.

The earlier this year that Buffett still held somewhere between 100 and 129 million ounces.

Buffett said that Berkshire had not benefited from the particularly steep rise in silver prices.

"I bought it very early, I sold it very early. Other than that it was perfect," he joked.

Silver hit a 23-year peak of $14.68 two weeks ago. On Friday, July silver futures closed at $13.89 an ounce.

Buffett said he detected speculative participation in the recent run up in prices, particularly metals.

"What the wise man does at beginning, the fool does in the end... any asset that has a big move based on fundamentals will attract speculators...," he said, according to sources.

"Something like copper is speculative on both sides of the market, and responding more to speculative than fundamental forces," he added.

However, it might important to note the timing of Barclays' silver ETF iShares Silver Trust [AMEX:SLV], which on April 28.

Jason Hommel, Editor of "Silver Stock Report" previously that "we just don't know" where the silver will come from to back the ETF, and it is possible that Warren Buffett could be the supplier, which isn't causing a shortage in the market.

Furthermore, the SEC seemed to the opposition and comments from sources of the silver market in its 32-page order.

Many analysts estimated that the ETF would need perhaps as much as 130 million ounces of silver to cover investment demand - the same amount Buffet originally bought in 1997.

Barclays' Christine Hudacko could not be reached for comment.

About the Author

Related Articles
Look for big rally in junior miners in January after tax loss selling
Iron-Ore Miners cut 140 million tons of capacity
Angola sees 2017 fold-output start in plan to cut oil reliance
Royalty hike closes Zambian copper mine
Iron demand falls to the wayside
Previous
Cornerstone Executing on Business Model, Exciting Drill Season Ahead
Next
Why Silver Prices Must Rise
Related Terms
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 958Barclays 399Warren Buffett 297Nebraska 216David Morgan 87Berkshire Hathaway 82Jason Hommel 31AMEX:SLV United States Silver 15Christine Hudacko 10ETF iShares Silver Trust 6

Subscribe Follow Magazine

Main menu

  • Futures
    • Modern Trader Magazine
    • Commodities
    • Futures Mag Archives
    • ETFs
    • Financials
    • Forex
    • Managed Funds
    • Market Analysis
    • News
    • Options
    • Regulation
    • Technology
    • Trading Strategies
    • Education
    • Futures Op-Ed
  • Favorites
    • Alpha Pages Most Popular
    • Futures Magazine
    • Modern Trader Magazine
    • Most Popular
    • Slideshows & Lists
    • Special Topics
      • Alpha Hunters
      • Bad Boys
      • FINtech
      • High-Frequency Trading
      • Trader's Life
      • Trading Strategies
      • FUTURES MAG's 500th ISSUE
      • We asked traders
  • Traders
    • Market Data
    • Hot Charts
    • Interactive Charts
    • Trading Calendar
  • FINalternatives
  • Hard Assets
    • Home
    • Base Metals
    • Precious Metals
    • Rare Earth Metals
    • Commodities
    • Mining Investments
    • Slideshows
  • Modern Trader
    • Subscribe
    • Past Issues
  • All +
    • Follow Us +
      • FuturesMag
      • Newsletters
      • Facebook
      • Google+
      • Linkedin
      • Twitter
      • RSS Feeds
    • About Us +
      • About
      • Advertise
      • Contact
      • Contribute
      • Privacy Policy
  • !
images