Warren Buffett’s grip on Wall Street looks less secure in 2026 because Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, NYSE: BRK.B) is badly trailing the market. The company’s Class B stock is down 1.8% this year, while the S&P 500 has gained 10.7%. Once dividends are counted, the index is up 11.4%. That puts Berkshire behind by 12.4 percentage points on price and 13.1 points on total return. The disparity looked even worse on June 1. Berkshire was trailing the benchmark by 17.5 percentage points, the largest underperformance of the year. The recovery of June almost closed a third of the gap. However, the period has not been good for the company. In the second quarter and the subsequent 10 days, Berkshire gained slightly more than 3%, whereas the technology-weighted S&P 500 index jumped by around 16%. At the end of March, Berkshire was leading by 1.8 points. Berkshire falls further behind as technology stocks carry the index This is not the first weak year for Warren and Berkshire. In 2025, the company finished 5.5 percentage points below the S&P 500 before dividends. Including payouts, the difference reached 7 points. Two years of weaker relative returns have put more attention on Berkshire’s leadership and its ability to compete with a market now dominated by large technology companies. Chief Executive Greg Abel and investment manager Ted Weschler were absent from a Forbes feature about the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. However, Forbes listed both men as guests. Images taken by David Grogan of CNBC, which is owned by Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), and Brendan McDermid of Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI, TSX: TRI), also showed them at the private event. The annual gathering brings together major business figures. This year’s names included Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), and Sam Altman, who leads privately held OpenAI. Greg and Weschler’s presence came as investors watched the handover from Warren and measured Berkshire’s results against faster-growing parts of the market. Berkshire’s recent numbers look weak beside its record since 1965. Over that long stretch, its shares produced a 19.9% compound annual return, nearly twice the S&P 500’s pace. Warren built that record by buying solid companies when fear pushed their prices below what he believed the businesses were worth. Warren keeps using patience while investors question its current payoff Warren has long argued that frequent trading hurts investors. He once said, “The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient.” He has also warned against selling simply because prices are falling. His second famous rule is just as direct: “Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy only when others are fearful.” The broad market’s history supports the patience behind those words. An investment of $100 in the S&P 500 in 1928 would now sit just below $1 million, even after crashes, recessions, wars, and political shocks. Warren used that approach during the 2008 banking crisis. Berkshire put $5 billion into Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) while financial shares were collapsing. Berkshire received preferred stock paying a 10% dividend and warrants that allowed it to buy common shares later. The transaction eventually earned Berkshire more than $3 billion. At the time, many traders feared the entire banking system could fail. His test during selloffs stayed simple. Warren asked whether a 30% share-price fall would reduce future demand for drinks sold by Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or cut card use at American Express (NYSE: AXP). When customer behavior remained steady, he treated the lower stock price as a market problem rather than a business problem. Berkshire used the same logic with The Washington Post in 1973. During a deep selloff, it invested $10.6 million when Warren believed the shares cost only one-quarter of the company’s real value. The price dropped further after the purchase, but Berkshire held on. By 1985, that stake was worth more than $200 million, producing a gain of almost 1,900%. The bet rested on his view that panic can push a strong company far below a fair price for years.
Japan wants GPIF to raise alternative investments from 1.7% toward 5%
Japan is preparing to let the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) put far more money outside regular stock and bond markets, according to Reuters and Nikkei on Sunday. GPIF, the world’s biggest pension fund, managed about $1.8 trillion and held only 1.7% of its portfolio in alternative investments in March. Officials want that share to rise gradually toward the 5% ceiling. The recommendation will be incorporated in the government’s next report regarding the policy of the GPIF. The officials believe in the need for a diversification in investment so as to minimize risk and increase profitability. The private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and associated investments are all classified under the alternative investments category. Large pension funds and institutional investors have incorporated more of these to gain greater returns and diversify risk. In the case of the GPIF, increasing the investment proportion from 1.7% to 5% means billions of dollars will be invested there. Japan directs more pension cash into private and domestic assets Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Friday that GPIF and other government pension funds should invest more inside Japan. Her remarks pushed the yen higher and supported Japanese government bonds. Traders began to factor in the possibility of state-sponsored funds pouring more money into local markets instead of maintaining their existing portfolio split between domestic and foreign positions. Due to the GPIF’s large size, an alteration of any significance will have a direct impact on demand in each market. International investors follow the actions of this fund, since it may influence investments, but it will not eliminate the 5% cap. Pension proposal comes at a time when the Japanese economy is expanding more rapidly than expected. Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 2.1% in the first quarter of 2026 due to rising consumer spending and robust exports. Economists polled by Reuters expected a rise of 1.7%, compared with 1.3% in the previous quarter. Output rose 0.5% from the prior quarter, government figures released Tuesday showed. That beat the 0.4% forecast and improved on the 0.3% expansion recorded at the end of 2025. Compared with one year earlier, GDP grew 0.6%. The numbers do not include the full economic damage from the Iran war, which started late in February. The BOJ raises rates as Japan struggles with persistent inflation The Bank of Japan expects weaker growth and much higher inflation during fiscal 2026. It cut its growth projection to 0.5% from 1% and raised its core inflation estimate to 2.8% from 1.9%. The BOJ said, “The rise in crude oil prices is expected to push up prices, mainly of energy and goods, with moves to pass on wage increases to selling prices continuing.” Higher oil costs are feeding into energy and product prices while businesses keep charging customers more to cover rising pay. The government is considering new wording on monetary policy in its coming economic blueprint. Officials submitted a draft to ruling coalition lawmakers on Tuesday. Cabinet approval is expected later this month, followed by the final version. It will be the first blueprint issued since Takaichi Sanae became prime minister. Bond yields have climbed to their highest levels in decades as investors worry that the government may be crossing into the central bank’s territory. Japanese law protects the BOJ from political interference, but it also requires coordination with the government’s economic program. Takaichi’s government and those advisers who support reflation policies have cited the above regulation in warning the BOJ to exercise caution when raising rates. The BOJ has responded by stating that interest rates are still low despite the high pressure on inflation. Consumer price growth has stayed near the BOJ’s 2% target for four years. The weak yen has raised import bills, and steady wage gains have kept pressure on domestic prices. The BOJ has increased rates twice since Takaichi took office. In June, it lifted the main policy rate to 1%, the highest level in 31 years. Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
The richest 10% now account for nearly half of U.S. consumer spending
The richest 10% of Americans now fund almost half of consumer spending, while many other households trim purchases and watch every bill. That divide sits at the center of the U.S. economy in 2026. Stocks remain near record levels despite a rougher artificial intelligence trade, so wealthy investors still have money to spend. Most families do not own enough financial assets to feel that benefit at supermarkets, gas stations, or inside their bank accounts. This disparity has existed for many years. According to Beth Ann Bovino, the chief economist of U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB), the pandemic has just made it clearer. Bovino stated that shocks have different impacts on various income levels, including the current oil shock. Economists refer to this trend as a K-shaped economy, where the rich keep getting richer while others get poorer. Wealthy households keep U.S. spending afloat as other consumers cut costs Federal Reserve data shows that the top 1% controlled 29.2% of total U.S. wealth at the end of 2025, compared with about 20% in the early 1990s. The bottom half held only 5.3%. According to estimates by Moody’s Analytics, the richest 10% of Americans were responsible for almost half of all purchases by U.S. consumers in 2025. This share is the biggest ever measured. Their expenditures supported the level of aggregate demand in the country despite persistently low consumer confidence and expensive debts incurred by many families. It turns out that economists are no longer worried about the damage the Iran war has done to U.S. growth. The problem is that inflation did not come down much, thus restricting monetary policy space for the Fed. A July poll by The Wall Street Journal found that forecasters expect inflation-adjusted gross domestic product to rise 2.1% between the fourth quarters of 2025 and 2026. Their April estimate was 2%, which also matched last year’s growth. The average chance of a recession over the next 12 months dropped to 25%, down from 33% in April and the lowest since early 2025. Job forecasts improved too. Economists expect unemployment to finish December at 4.3%, rather than 4.5%. They see payrolls adding around 65,000 jobs each month during the coming year, up from 45,000. Persistent inflation blocks new Federal Reserve rate cuts through December Economists expect the Consumer Price Index to climb 3.4% during the 12 months ending in December, above April’s 3.2% call. They also raised their 2026 forecast for core personal consumption expenditures inflation to 3.2% from 2.9%. That measure removes food and energy and receives close attention from Fed officials. Energy fears were much worse when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February. Iran then closed the Strait of Hormuz, which usually handles around 20% of global oil supplies. Crude traded at $67.02 per barrel just before fighting began, then reached $112.95 in April. The shock faded faster than expected because the economy uses less oil than it did decades ago, while higher stock values supported purchases. After the U.S. and Iran reached a June ceasefire and reopened the strait, oil fell to $68.55 on July 6. Fighting restarted later. Trump said the ceasefire was finished, and crude closed Friday at $71.41. Economists expect it to end in December, near $70. Kevin Warsh became Federal Reserve chair in May after Trump nominated him in January. He now faces inflation above the central bank’s 2% goal. Economists expect rates to stay between 3.5% and 3.75% through December, ending the gradual cuts that began in 2024. Only 15% think an increase is likely. Belief in the independence of the Fed has increased after President Trump failed in his attempts to use the Fed politically through former Fed chairman Jerome Powell. 90 percent of the traders on CME think that the Fed is independent or very independent, while fewer see the Fed as partially independent compared to October. Warsh wants less guidance about future rate decisions. Nearly half of the respondents still want the Fed to publish its economic forecasts and dot plot. Another 27% want forecasts without the dots, while 15% want the projections dropped. The survey covered 72 economists from July 2 through July 7, and some skipped certain questions. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.
米国の中央銀行デジタル通貨(CBDC)を禁じる条項を含む、住宅に関する超党派の法案が、トランプ米大統領が署名を見送ったことにより、金曜日(7月10日)に法律として成立しました。これは、暗号資産の支持者やプライバシーの擁護者にとって大きな勝利であり、彼らはすでに1年以上にわたりこの法案を求めてきました。 「21世紀の住まいへの道(ROAD to Housing Act)」は、上下両院で圧倒的な超党派の支持を得て可決された後、議会を通過してホワイトハウスに到達しました。下院では358対32、上院では85対5という大差で可決されたのです。この差が決定的でした。合衆国憲法では、会期中の議会の下であれば、大統領が署名または拒否権を発動しなくても、10日後に法案は法律になります。そして、ここでまさにそうなりました。