Three Stocks Warren Buffett Is Selling as a Recession Nears

Friday's jobs report marked the second month in a row with substantially fewer jobs created than analysts expected—renewing fears that a recession is imminent, if not already underway.

With all three major market indices sliding on the news, the selloff may just be getting started.

And none other than Warren Buffett—the legendary "Oracle of Omaha" is leading the charge…

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has dumped millions of shares of various stocks over the last few months—and is now sitting on a record cash position of $276 billion. The massive selling is reminiscent of Berkshire's stock sales ahead of 2022—the worst year for markets since the 2008 financial crisis.

Here are the top 3 stocks Warren Buffett is selling now.

Apple Inc. AAPL

Berkshire Hathaway has cut its position in Apple by nearly 50% in recent months, reducing its position from over $135 billion to just over $84 billion today.

When asked about the move at the most recent conference for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders in May, Buffett said the move was for tax reasons.

But there's no denying that Apple's earnings and revenue growth have slowed in recent months.

Last quarter, the tech giant reported year-over-year quarterly revenue growth of just 4.9%. Earnings growth came in at 7.9%

Bank of America BAC

Last quarter, Berkshire Hathaway reduced its position on Bank of America by $37 billion.

The move comes as Bank of America reports negative quarterly earnings growth of 6.8%. Revenues also shrank last quarter, retreating by 0.8%.

Analysts are forecasting a 10% dip in growth for BAC over the next quarter. Banks are typically hard-hit by recession, as rising defaults cut into their earnings. In any case, it seems that mainstream analysts see the same potential for trouble for BAC in the months ahead that Warren Buffett does.

Chevron Corp. CVX

Buffett has been very bullish on oil and gas stocks in the post-Covid years, so it's interesting that he's unloaded 30.6 million shares of the energy giant last quarter.

At one time, Chevron was the fifth-largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio. But it's possible that Buffett sees a prolonged period of lower energy prices ahead, since recessions and other economic drawdowns always reduce energy demand, and therefore profits for oil and gas companies.

Nationally, gas prices are already over 50 cents cheaper per gallon than they were a year ago… and they're still falling, thanks to a few factors including an unusually mild hurricane season and the rise of electric vehicles.

Chevron, not coincidentally, is joining a host of energy companies coming under pressure. It reported a decline in quarterly earnings of 26.2%, and grew revenues by just 4.8% last quarter on a year-over-year basis.

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