The Stock God | Warren Buffett: U.S. stock valuations lack attractiveness, Berkshire Hathaway holds a large amount of cash waiting for buying opportunities

“Stock Guru” Warren Buffett said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that current stock market valuations lack appeal. His investment flagship, Berkshire Hathaway, will continue to hold a large cash reserve and wait for truly favorable buying opportunities.

Although he has stepped down as Berkshire’s CEO, the 95-year-old Buffett noted that he still goes to the office every day and stays fully involved in the company’s investment decision-making. He revealed that the company recently bought U.S. Treasuries for about $17 billion. Currently, its cash and cash equivalents total more than $350 billion, mainly held in the form of short-term Treasury bills.

He said the extent of the market decline is far from enough to trigger large-scale entry. Enter the market for a 5% to 6% drop in the index is not his style. Buffett is calm about recent market volatility and believes the current correction is far from the kind of historical adjustments that represent truly major buying opportunities. “Since I took over Berkshire, the market has had at least three drops of more than 50%… This level of volatility doesn’t amount to anything.”

He emphasized that Berkshire’s cash reserves of more than $350 billion are there to be deployed when the market experiences a truly significant selloff. Buffett confirmed that Apple is still Berkshire’s largest single-stock investment by size.

On monetary policy, Buffett said he is not sure whether he would choose to cut interest rates if he were in the Federal Reserve. If he were in the Fed, he would focus on two areas: the inflation trajectory and the stability of the banking system.