President Donald Trump may have promised to jumpstart the U.S. economy, but so far, the economy itself has not been on board—eking out its weakest growth in three years during the first three months of 2017: 0.7%.
But that’s nothing to worry about, said investing legend Warren Buffett in an interview with CNBC Friday.
“I’m a broken record on this subject but since the fall of 2009, literally, it’s been about 2% a year,” Buffett said ahead Berkshire Hathaway’s much anticipated annual shareholder’s meeting Saturday.
Of course, some politicians and economists have bemoaned the 2% GDP growth trend when the country has clocked in rates much higher in years past. But Buffett has repeated on more than one occasion that at least from a longer term point of view, 2% growth will lead to a better standard of living for Americans.
“If you have an already prosperous economy—and we have one of the most prosperous in the world—and you keep compounding it over time, people will be living far better 20 years from now than they are now,” Buffett said last year on Bloomberg.
Separately, Buffett also revealed Thursday that he had sold off a third of his stake in IBM (IBM). Buffett’s investment in the company was notable as the financial heavyweight has generally avoided tech investments in the past, saying he doesn’t understand the sector very well (though more recently Berkshire bought into Apple (AAPL)—likely one of his investing lieutenants’ calls).
One possible motive for his selloff of shares: his bet on the tech giant hasn’t really paid off as expected. Since the end of the first quarter of 2011, when Berkshire first bought a stake in IBM, shares of the company have dipped about 4.9%. Since the start of the first quarter however, shares have risen 4.8%.
Buffett told CNBC Thursday that he had revalued the company “somewhat downward.”
IBM shares were down more than 3% in pre-market trading on Friday.
