Berkshire Hathaway Inc is having its annual shareholders meeting this weekend. According to press reports this one attracted record crowds of investors, who want to hear what warren Buffett has to say about the future. Not only for the company, but about general health of economy as well. The “Oracle” had a rather somber message. Operating profit fell about 12 percent from a year earlier to $1.7 billion, as most of Berkshire’s businesses were down Buffett told an estimated 35,000 people at the meeting in downtown Omaha. This comes on top of a 9.6 percent decline last year, the biggest drop since Buffett began running the company in 1965. More over, he acknowledged that Berkshire will probably lose money on derivatives in near future, although some contracts could make money on a much longer-term bet, that stock prices will rise. In spite of of its much vaunted image, Berkshire Hathaway has not been exempted from market collapse. The stock has fallen 39 percent since December 2007,  bringing up questions about a possible buyback program. Buffett said no such actions are planned because Berkshire’s share price is not “demonstrably below” the company’s intrinsic value.  His outlook for economy at large remains largely pessimistic over most immediate future.
Meanwhile his bridge pal, Bill Gates, opened phase one of Microsoft’s main campus expansion. This happened couple of weeks ago. Friend of mine who works there was moving to new office on Thursday and Friday. He stopped by yesterday and told me how the HQ looks like. New soccer field was built, there is a bike repair shop on premises. If the employees feel like shopping, they can do it their very own two story mini mall. But my personal favorite is the pub. That’s right, beer serving pub, with alcohol available after 3PM. Nice. Might as well stay at work, why bother going home with all the good stuff right there.
Before trading starts for the week I’m placing an order in EUR-GBP. Looking for the price to move down.

I’d like to enter it at 0.8874 with an objective of 80 pips or so. After that important support at around 0.8780 might slow the progress down. Every Sunday I look for possible gaps on the open and today is no exception. Focus is on Yen pairs, especially NZD-JPY, where I have a trade from post last week. All JPY crosses closed Friday hinting to a strength in Yen. I don’t expect major reversal here, but maybe some pullback. Gaps, if they happen, should be an indication of what to expect for next 24 hours. This doesn’t change my long term JPY view.

Mike K.