Although holding positions have approached the "regulatory threshold", Buffett's selling of U.S. Bancorp has not stopped.

According to regulatory documents, in the six trading days since last Monday (September 30 to October 7), Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has continuously sold U.S. Bancorp stocks, cashing out approximately $0.6759 billion.

Continuously selling U.S. Bancorp stocks for three months.

According to regulatory information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), after selling approximately $0.3379 billion worth of U.S. Bancorp stocks in the first three trading days of last week (September 30 to October 2), Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway continued to reduce its holdings by 9.571 million shares of U.S. Bancorp stocks for three consecutive trading days on October 3, 4, and 7, cashing out approximately $0.383 billion.

According to statistics, this is the 14th round of selling Bank of America stocks disclosed by the company since mid-July, with Buffett having cashed out over $10 billion in total.

However, it is worth noting that the number of stocks Buffett has recently sold in the last two rounds is significantly less than in the previous rounds.

According to Berkshire Hathaway's filing documents, when the stock price falls to $39, Buffett's sales tend to slow down. As of Monday, the stock price of Bank of America closed at $39.96.

After the latest round of selling, Berkshire Hathaway still holds approximately 10.1% of Bank of America's shares, worth about $31.4 billion, maintaining its position as the largest shareholder, but is just one step away from the regulatory threshold.

According to relevant regulations of the U.S. SEC, when Berkshire Hathaway's shareholding falls below 10%, it will no longer need to disclose its trading activities within two working days as it currently does, but will switch to quarterly disclosure.

Currently, Bank of America remains the third largest holding of Berkshire Hathaway. Excluding the impact of taxes, Buffett's total profit from selling Bank of America's stock since mid-July, when combined with dividends received since 2011, has exceeded the $14.6 billion spent to purchase Bank of America shares.

It is worth noting that in previous years, Buffett has been increasing his holdings of Bank of America stock and praising the bank's leadership. However, he has not publicly explained his recent continued decision to reduce his holdings.

Or continue to sell Bank of America.

It is not yet known whether Warren Buffett's consecutive selling behavior really means clearing positions in Bank of America.

However, according to his habit, when he starts selling a stock, he will eventually exit that stock completely.

In recent years, Berkshire Hathaway has cleared its holdings in several banks, including U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo & Co, and Bank of New York Mellon.

Analysts believe that Buffett is highly likely to continue reducing his holdings in Bank of America 'silently' after reducing them to less than 10%.

The reasons behind this include Bank of America's overvalued valuation and the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts after a four-and-a-half-year hiatus.

It is known that Bank of America is very sensitive to changes in interest rate cycles, possibly even more so than other banking peers.

Switching to Japanese financial and shipping stocks?

It is worth noting that Buffett has significantly reduced holdings in various stocks in recent months.

In the first half of 2024, Warren Buffett's total stock sales were $97 billion, while the newly purchased stocks amounted to only $4.3 billion. As of the end of June, Berkshire Hathaway's cash reserves were close to $277 billion (approximately RMB 1.95 trillion).

Ash Shah, the investment director and senior investment portfolio manager at Summit Global Investments, said: "In short, Buffett seems to believe that the best investments currently are cash and bonds."

Previously, at the 2024 annual shareholders meeting, Warren Buffett clearly stated that holding a large amount of cash is "quite attractive" relative to available funds in the stock market and conflicts around the world.

"We are willing to spend money, but it must be something (acquisitions or investments in companies) that is low risk and can make a lot of money for us.

It is worth mentioning that Berkshire Hathaway commissioned banks last week to issue a yen bond in the global market, indicating that Buffett may increase his holdings in Japan.

Market observers say that with Berkshire Hathaway's return to the yen bond market, it has triggered speculation that Buffett may be raising funds to invest in Japan, with some believing he may be considering purchasing Japanese financial and shipping companies.