Buffett: Global Economy Clearly Slowing as US ‘Inching Ahead’

Wednesday, 24 Oct 2012 08:15 AM

By Forrest Jones






The global economy is definitely cooling, although the United States is managing to inch along, said Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett.

The U.S. housing sector is showing signs of life, which will keep the world's largest economy in recovery mode, while stocks are still the best place for investors to keep their money, despite earnings from large U.S. companies like Caterpillar, 3M and DuPont that point to a cooler global economy.

"Well, I think the stock market, generally, is the best place to have money. But I think that there's no question that, worldwide, there is some slowing down going on," Buffett told CNBC.

The U.S. economy is in better shape than Europe's is, while Asia continues to cool its once-hot growth rates.

"It's certainly better in the U.S. than it is in Europe. And in terms of the rate of decline in Asia, it's reasonably steep. And we're still inching ahead, but it's inching," Buffett told the network.

Housing is showing signs of life in terms of upticks in prices, though at a choppy pace, but once the sector really begins to quicken its pace of recovery, other areas of the economy will display marked improvements as well.

"In the United States, actually, residential housing is picking up and we've been waiting for that for a long time, and that will have a significant impact," Buffett said.

"And it hasn't gotten to any big level yet, but our carpet businesses and brick businesses and all of that will come on with residential construction. And that has turned," Buffett said.

"We're selling a lot of furniture and carpet" right now, he added.

Home prices rose in July, as a closely watched index revealed that builders reported rising orders.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, leading measures of U.S. home prices, showed average home prices increased by 1.5 percent for the 10-City Composite and by 1.6 percent for the 20-City Composite in July versus June, according to the latest report.

“The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing. Single-family housing starts are well ahead of last year’s pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing," David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement.

"All in all, we are more optimistic about housing. Upbeat trends continue. For the third time in a row, all 20 cities and both Composites had monthly gains. Stronger housing numbers are a positive factor for other measures including consumer confidence."

Editor's Note: The ‘Unthinkable’ Could Happen — Wall Street Journal. Prepare for Meltdown

© 2012 Moneynews. All rights reserved.