In the United States, large tech stocks have always dominated the trillion-dollar club, but two non-tech companies are about to join their ranks.

In the past month, the US stock market has experienced intense volatility, benefiting from the strong recovery of the US stock market, Warren Buffett's $Berkshire Hathaway-B (BRK.B.US)$ star weight-loss drug company $Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.US)$ has reached a historic high in the recent market turmoil, with a market cap just steps away from a trillion dollars.

Berkshire Hathaway Class B hits a new high, just a step away from a trillion dollars

Against the backdrop of the US stock market's rebound, Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares reached a new high, hitting $451.28 during yesterday's trading session. Currently, Berkshire Hathaway Class B has a market cap of over $960 billion, a gain of less than 4% away from a trillion dollars. Year to date, Berkshire Hathaway Class B has accumulated a gain of over 25%.

• Berkshire's stock price has risen significantly, with Apple making a significant contribution.

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ Berkshire Hathaway, under Buffett, holds the largest position. Although Buffett significantly reduced the Apple position last quarter, it is undeniable that Apple has made a significant contribution to the rise in Berkshire's stock price.

Buffett's initial investment in Apple began in 2016, when Apple's stock price was around $26 per share. Over the following years, Apple's stock price continued to rise, bringing significant profits to Berkshire Hathaway. Apple's stock price has now soared to about $226, with an increase of over 800%. On July 15th this year, Apple reached a new high of $236.955 during trading. Currently, Apple's market cap exceeds $3.4 trillion, making it the world's largest company by market cap.

According to Cheviot Value Management's calculations, Berkshire's annualized return from Apple (including dividends) exceeded 26%, surpassing the S&P 500 index's 12.9% growth during the same period.

At the end of last year, Buffett began reducing Berkshire Hathaway's holdings of Apple. In the first quarter of this year, Berkshire Hathaway reduced its Apple holdings by 13%.

In the second quarter, Berkshire unexpectedly made a large reduction in its Apple holdings, with a reduction of nearly 50%, reducing its stake from 0.79 billion shares to 0.4 billion shares. This sale of Apple and other company stocks brought Berkshire Hathaway a tax-adjusted income of $47.2 billion, a substantial investment return that generated huge profits.

In May of this year, Buffett specifically explained at the shareholder meeting why he sold Apple stock, stating that it was mostly for tax reasons. However, even after the significant reduction, Apple remains Berkshire Hathaway's largest holding. Apple is still a key driver in Berkshire's investment portfolio, with other important holdings like Coca-Cola and American Express helping Berkshire move forward steadily.

• Other holdings also performed well.

In addition to Apple's impressive returns for Berkshire, the performance of other holdings is also remarkable. Among Berkshire's top ten holdings, American Express, Coca-Cola, Moody's, Chubb Ltd., and Davita have all recently reached historical highs in stock prices.

The third largest holding stock $American Express (AXP.US)$ On July 31, the stock price of this stock reached a new historical high in intraday trading, with a highest price of $256.24. On August 20, it reached a new closing price high. The stock price of this stock fell by 2.68% yesterday, closing at $246.3. Since the beginning of this year, American Express has risen more than 32%.

The fourth largest holding stock coca-cola (KO.US) Yesterday, the stock price of this stock reached a new historical high in intraday trading, with a highest price of $70.13. Since the beginning of this year, Coca-Cola has risen nearly 20%.

The eighth largest holding stock $Moody's (MCO.US)$ Yesterday, the intraday stock price hit a historic high, reaching a peak of $476.84; Moody's has risen over 22% year to date.

The ninth largest holding stock $Chubb Ltd (CB.US)$ On July 30, the intraday stock price hit a historic high, reaching a peak of $277.91; the stock closed at $272.07 yesterday, and Chubb Ltd has risen over 21% year to date.

The tenth largest holding stock $DaVita (DVA.US)$ On Monday (August 19), the stock price reached a new all-time high, with a maximum price of $152.216; the stock rose 2.01% yesterday, closing at $150.6, and has risen over 43% so far this year.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that one of the two new faces in Buffett's portfolio in the second quarter is an aerospace and electronics company. $Heico (HEI.US)$ Recently, it has also reached a new all-time high price. On Thursday last week (August 15), the stock price reached a maximum of $258.84 during trading. Heico Aerospace closed at $244.56 yesterday, with a cumulative increase of nearly 37% this year.

• Controversy over high cash reserves.

In addition, the latest disclosure of position reports shows that Berkshire Hathaway has reached a new high in cash holdings, which many investors interpret as bearish for the future of the US stock market.

As of the end of the second quarter, Berkshire Hathaway's total portfolio market value has dropped to $280 billion, while cash reserves have reached a record-breaking $276.9 billion, with short-term US Treasury holdings rising to $234.6 billion, surpassing even the Federal Reserve. In addition, it is reported that Berkshire Hathaway has sold more stocks than it has bought for seven consecutive quarters.

In the second quarter, Berkshire Hathaway sold more than $77 billion worth of stocks, with the sale of Apple alone cashing out nearly $50 billion in cash and directly reducing its holdings. It is understood that Buffett implied at a previous Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting that the reduction of Apple was due to tax reasons. If the US government wants to compensate for the mounting fiscal deficit by raising capital gains tax, then "selling a small amount of Apple" will benefit shareholders in the long run.

In addition, Buffett has been continuously reducing holdings recently. $Bank of America (BAC.US)$ . In the second quarter, Berkshire cleared its position on , and reduced its holdings. $Snowflake (SNOW.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Paramount Global-B (PARA.US)$ , and reduced positions on $Capital One Financial (COF.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Chevron (CVX.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$AT&T (T.US)$Please use your Futubull account to access the feature.$Floor & Decor (FND.US)$And many other companies may also be negatively affected in the automotive and clean energy sectors.

Some investors believe that Buffett's continued reduction of holdings and holding record cash reserves are defensive measures, waiting for a market downturn to keep enough cash to buy at the bottom.

However, recently some fund managers pointed out that Berkshire Hathaway's huge cash reserves have more "details", and it does not reflect Warren Buffett's bearish view or the imminent collapse of the stock market.

Chris Bloomstran, the fund manager of Semper Augustus, which manages about $0.55 billion in assets and considers Berkshire Hathaway as its largest position, believes that Berkshire Hathaway's large insurance business requires the company to have adequate cash reserves to provide funding for potential insurance claims.

The "miracle weight loss drug" has once again received positive news, and the stock price of Lilly is unstoppable.

The latest three-year research data released by Lilly shows that the GLP-1 weight loss drug tirzepatide can reduce the risk of diabetes in obese patients by 94%.

Benefiting from the positive news of the weight loss drug, the stock price of Lilly reached a new high. On the previous day (August 20), it hit a historical high of $967 during trading, and yesterday it reached a historical closing high. In August, the cumulative increase was over 18%, and the market value once again exceeded the $900 billion mark. Since the beginning of this year, the company's stock price has risen by more than 64%.

• Tirzepatide can reduce the risk of diabetes in obese patients by 94%.

According to a research result announced by Lilly on Tuesday, compared with placebo, the GLP-1 weight loss drug tirzepatide can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in obese or overweight adults by 94%. This study evaluated the efficacy of tirzepatide in 1,032 randomly assigned prediabetic, obese, or overweight adults, with a treatment period of 176 weeks followed by a 17-week non-treatment period (a total of 193 weeks). It is reported that tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Lilly's diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss drug Zepbound.

Later trials also found that tirzepatide led to continuous weight loss in patients throughout the treatment period. At the end of the treatment period, in prediabetic, obese, or overweight adults, patients who took a dose of 15mg had an average weight loss of 22.9%, while patients who took placebo had an average weight loss of 2.1%.

Dr. Jeff Emmick, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Eli Lilly & Co., said in a statement that these data reinforce the potential clinical benefits of long-term treatment for obesity and pre-diabetes patients.

The CEO of Eli Lilly and Co stated that people taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs reduce their daily calorie intake by 800 calories, equivalent to the calories of a meal. It is worth mentioning that dulaglutide, acting on two different hormone receptors (GLP-1 and GIP), rather than one, is usually more effective than Novo Nordisk's semaglutide.

• The weight loss drug market is expected to further expand.

Combining healthy eating and increasing exercise has been widely considered an effective strategy for reducing the risk of prediabetes developing into diabetes. GLP-1 products like Zepbound and Mounjaro reduce food intake to make the body feel full, slow down digestion, and improve blood sugar control. GLP-1 drugs were originally used to treat type 2 diabetes, but have gained global popularity in recent years due to their excellent weight loss effects.

As GLP-1 drugs show more and more effects in the treatment of cardiovascular and other diseases, major players are competing to enter the drug development field, further expanding the weight loss drug market. Barclays previously predicted that by 2030, the global weight loss drug market would reach $100 billion, but now this figure is expected to increase to $150 billion.

The latest financial report data shows that Zepound's revenue for the first half of the year was $1.761 billion, with second quarter revenue of $1.243 billion. Including the hypoglycemic drug Mounjaro, dulaglutide alone contributed $4.334 billion in revenue for the second quarter, reaching a first half revenue of $6.658 billion, accounting for approximately 33% of the total first half revenue. Eli Lilly forecasts that the total sales of dulaglutide for weight loss and diabetes indications this year will reach $15 billion.

In addition to Eli Lilly's dulaglutide, the Danish pharmaceutical company $Novo-Nordisk A/S (NVO.US)$ The efficacy of Semaglutide in delaying the progression of prediabetes has also been mentioned. Novo Nordisk currently has a market cap of over $600 billion and its stock price has risen nearly 30% year-to-date, making it the largest company in Europe by market cap. Both of these pharmaceutical giants are researching their respective weight loss drugs for other medical uses.

• In comparison to Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly has an advantage in the US supply chain.

Currently, the competition between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly is heating up as both companies vie for dominance in the booming obesity drug market. But for investors, the real story may extend beyond just weight loss treatments.

One key difference between these two giants is how they handle supply chain challenges. Eli Lilly has successfully overcome early hurdles, ensuring that all doses of Zepbound are available in the US market. In contrast, Novo Nordisk still faces difficulties in supplying Wegovy to the US market. This may give Eli Lilly a significant advantage in the short term, but the long-term impact will depend on how each company addresses these challenges.

Wells Fargo ranks Eli Lilly as the number one large-cap pharmaceutical stock in the US. According to a new research report from Wells Fargo, analysts point out that the company has a strong product pipeline and is expected to achieve robust growth. The Wells Fargo team states that improvements in the supply chain and international sales make it a very attractive investment choice.

Editor / jayden