Buffett Is Scared

Something’s wrong…

The greatest capital allocator in American history just made the single most defensive bet of his career.

He has more cash sitting on the sidelines right now than at any point since 1990. And he’s not buying tech.

I’m not going to make you wait for the name. You already know it.

Warren Buffett.

Berkshire Hathaway’s cash position is now at its highest level in modern history – sitting at 30% of total assets ($370 billion). Going into the 2008 Financial Crisis, it was 17%. That means Buffett’s nearly doubled his defensive posture since then.

The company holds another $314 billion in Treasury bills. According to JPMorgan estimates, that’s roughly 5% of the entire U.S. T-bill market – the largest position of any non-government entity on Earth.

And he’s adding more.

In the week of his March 31 CNBC interview, Buffett disclosed Berkshire had bought an additional $17 billion in T-bills. When asked about equities, he disclosed exactly one purchase. He called it “tiny” – and wouldn’t name it.

At the current real rate of return, Buffett is deliberately choosing to lose $5 million per day to inflation rather than deploy a single dollar into equities at current prices.

That math tells you everything you need to know about how Uncle Warren feels about stocks. Think about it…If the greatest capital allocator in history won’t touch equities right now, what makes you think you’re the exception?