Warren Buffett's Unhappy New Year

I had already written a while ago about Warren Buffett's decisions during the panic of 08, and him being public about his shares investments. I even questioned his integrity while doing so, since it could hurt small investors who would follow him without having the background required to understand what was going on.

This all was in late October 2008, while all the news reports were overly bullish in Warren, and trying to talk up the markets...

Today Barron's Magazine is publishing an article about Warren Buffet and his unhappy/unlucky investments in 2008. Unfortunately, it requires a subscription (and I am no subscriber), but there's still a preview available:

EVEN GREAT INVESTORS MAKE MISTAKES. Warren Buffett's affinity for a group of financial stocks, including American Express, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp, is likely hurting his equity returns in 2009.
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has sizable holdings in that trio, and the sizable declines in their share prices this year are dragging down Berkshire's vaunted equity portfolio, which totaled $76 billion at the end of the third quarter, the latest reporting period.
We estimate Berkshire's equity portfolio could have dropped 14% in 2009 through Thursday, against an 8% decline in the S&P 500.

It isn't an easy step to bet against Warren Buffett, specially when you're a nobody in the financial world, but still, I am happy to keep the score for myself: Pej 1 - Warren 0 :-)