Warren Buffett said the current market environment is making it harder to uncover attractive investments, arguing that speculation is taking precedence over disciplined, long-term stock picking. In comments to CNBC’s Becky Quick, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman said, “It’s tough to find values when everybody is preferring gambling.”
The remarks add to a theme Buffett has raised before. Earlier this year, he described the stock market as “a church with a casino attached,” pointing specifically to the rise in one-day options trading as a form of gambling. His latest comments come as U.S. equities have continued to push to record levels, even as investors weigh concerns that include war-related energy shocks and broader market uncertainty.
Speculation, AI enthusiasm and retail trading
According to the report, some market skeptics believe speculative behavior has become more visible in shares tied to the artificial intelligence build-out, while products such as options and leveraged exchange-traded funds have added momentum to the trend. Retail traders have also been active in names such as memory chipmaker Micron and in recent initial public offering SpaceX.
Buffett, 95, has long been associated with value investing, and he said the best opportunities are often scarce and require patience. He noted that there are periods when opportunities appear quickly, while at other times an investor may go years before finding a single compelling idea. In his view, the latter should be the norm, even if the market often rewards the opposite impulse.
He also suggested that human behavior helps explain why speculative activity persists. In his words, people are naturally drawn to gambling, and there can be more money in encouraging that behavior than in cultivating patient investors.
Source: cnbc.com
