Famed investor Warren Buffett says investing in the stock market has been ‘almost totally a casino’ over the past two years
Investing in the stock market has been ‘almost totally a casino’ over the past two years, according to famed investor Warren Buffett.
He has accused Wall Street of turning the stock market into a ‘gambling parlour’, which makes more money when people are taking risky bets ‘rather than investing’.
Buffett, 91, made the comments after millions of new lockdown traders started buying stocks.
Taking a punt: Warren Buffett has accused Wall Street of turning the stock market into a ‘gambling parlour’
He said: ‘Wall Street makes money, catching the crumbs that fall off the table of capitalism. They don’t make money unless people do things.
‘It’s much better to have somebody that’s going to trade 20 times a day and get all excited – just like pulling the handle on the slot machine.’
The criticism came during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday, when his company announced that it spent £40billion on stocks in the first three months of 2022.
Buffett said large US companies have become ‘poker chips’ for market speculation.
The company posted more than £4billion in earnings for the first quarter – down from £9billion for the same period last year.