Buffet Sees US Economy Improving Gives Credit to the Bernanke

Warren Buffett said on Monday the U.S. economy is gradually improving, helped by the efforts of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to stimulate it.

Speaking on CNBC television, Buffett said the economy is benefiting from improvement in areas that had not previously performed well, particularly homebuilding.

He also said the improved economy is helping create increased traffic for NetJets, Berkshire’s private plane unit.

“The economy is moving forward, but at a slow pace,” he said. “Demand has come back, but slowly.”

Buffett said low benchmark interest rates, including overnight rates that have been effectively zero since late 2008, can help stimulate demand.

“When interest rates are low, and people expect them to stay low for a while, it pushes up the value of all other assets,” he said. “Interest rates act like gravity for all other asset prices.”

Buffett called Bernanke “a gutsy guy” who has “done very, very well in terms of what he has done for the United States.”

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza