Intro Warren Buffett's Burkshire haway slashed almost 50% of its Apple Holdings in the second quarter Buffett's firm has been Apple's most prominent backer even after trimming shares to half Burkshire stake in apple is sizable Burkshire has dumbed a total of 505 million shares since January 2024 making it a 55.8% reduction in their apple Holdings what has spooked the ace investor they can only be one or two re reasons to buy the stock you hope that the stock will go up and you can raken some profits but there could be a million reasons for selling them so let's try and understand the possible reasons as to why Buffett did what he did number one US economy US Economy the first and the most probable reason could be that Buffett is becoming vary of the broader US economy a weak jobs report revealing a 4.3% unemployment rate sparked worries about us economic activity and whether the Federal Reserve waited too long to cut interest rates the numbers indicate highest unemployment rate since October 2021 this is reflecting in berkshire's cash pile which stood at $277 billion up from $189 billion almost 3 months ago which is a sign of caution number two defensive move if you look at Defensive Move the entire Burkshire picture and the macroeconomic data a safe conclusion is that birkshire is getting defensive this is what Kathy cyford an analyst at CF research told reers after the news broke out it's no secret that Buffett's love for treasury bonds what are treasury bills short-term securities issued by the US government they are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government and are considered among the safest investments in the world in 2022 Buffett's burshire haway held a whopping $26 billion in US treasury bills Buffett reportedly prefers treasury bonds to other options because he never wants to worry about whether or not burky's pile of cash is safely invested meanwhile yields have jumped so much in the past 2 years that Burkshire is actually earning a pretty penny on this cash hold if that $126 billion is invested at a 5% yield Burkshire is generating an incredible $6.3 billion in interest per year but these returns too could decline once the raid Cuts begins which are expected in September and thirdly the Apple stock Apple Stock Apple's warm growth rate and high valuation may suggest that Buffett has concluded the stocks prospects are not great don't get it wrong Buffett Still Remains a Big Apple fan reflecting the iPhone maker strong pricing power and committed customer base he said at the meeting that he expected Apple to remain berkshire's largest stock investment but selling made sense because the 21% federal tax rate on the gains would probably grow but his overall sentiment that he may have had towards Apple stock may have changed in the last two years and finally he is Warren Buffett the only possible explanation is that he is Warren Buffett he has taken the decisions calls to buy and sell shares over the last six decades stamping his authority as one of the best investors in the world so his reasons to sell such a large chunk of Apple could possibly be something we cannot even think of [Music] [Applause]