Sunday 23 November 2008

How the Mighty Have Fallen: Buffett, Other Legends Feel Bear Market Bite

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

How the Mighty Have Fallen: Buffett, Other Legends Feel Bear Market Bite

Feeling mauled by the seemingly undying bear market? Take a look at the year-to-date performance for some biggest of the big-name investors and consider yourself in good company:

* Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway): -43%
* Ken Hebner (CMG Focus Fund) -56%
* Harry Lange (Fidelity Magellan): -59%
* Bill Miller (Legg Mason Value Trust) -50%
* Ken Griffin (Citadel): -44%
* Carl Icahn (Icahn Enterprises): -81%
* T. Boone Pickens: Down $2 billion since July
* Kirk Kerkorian: Down $693 million on his Ford shares alone

My guest John Roque, managing director and technical analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder, suggests these staggering losses are simply a matter of the fact that “a bear market gets everyone” — even Wall Street legends.

Look no further than Warren Buffett: Shares of his Berkshire Hathaway have tumbled as his recent investment in Goldman Sachs has raised more concern about his exposure to financials than inspired confidence. The cost of credit-default swaps (CDS), or insurance against default, on Berkshire’s debt has nearly tripled in two months and is wider than CDSs on many other insurance and financial firms, Bloomberg reports.

Of course, Buffett is truly a long-term investor and his defenders say it’s far too soon to judge his investment in Goldman, or his much-ballyhooed “Buy American” call in October. But in a true bear market, “everybody gets taken to the cleaners,” Roque says, maybe even the “Oracle of Omaha.”