“I Don’t”

Good morning! With less than 48 hours to go — and more than 78 million votes already cast — both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will appear at a blitz of rallies across key battleground states on the last day of [US election campaigning](. Today we’re exploring: - Berkshire cash-away: Warren Buffett’s stock-selling summer has left the company with a huge cash pile. - Hire ground: Job openings are falling in the US. - I don’t: New government data shows a sharp decline in China’s marriage rate. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you!   Iconic investor Warren Buffett and his loyal lieutenants have been busy over the warmer months, [having sold $36 billion worth of stock]( holdings in Q3, taking Berkshire Hathaway's cash pile north of $325 billion — its highest on record. The company’s stake in Apple was downsized significantly, with filings implying that Buffett and co. offloaded roughly one-quarter of the company’s stake in the iPhone maker, the fourth quarter in a row that Berkshire has trimmed its holdings in Apple. Why is Berkshire selling so heavily? We wouldn’t presume to know exactly what the world’s pre-eminent investor is thinking, but there’s a saying: “Don’t listen to what people say; watch what they do.” In this case, by holding more than $325 billion in cash and cash equivalents, Buffett and co. are signalling something along the lines of: we don’t think there are a lot of compelling places to invest right now. And with that much money, not many opportunities are out of reach — there are only a few dozen companies in the US that the group couldn’t acquire outright. For context on just how much cash it is, the world’s richest person spent “just” $44 billion acquiring Twitter in 2022, Starbucks’ market cap is about one-third of the cash pile, and buying America’s largest news organization wouldn’t take more than ~3% of the company’s hoard. It’s also enough to buy every single one of the 32 teams in the NFL at a 50% premium to their current valuation (which are collectively valued at ~$208 billion, [per CNBC](). Is [Berkshire Hathaway,]( like [Goldman Sachs researchers](, bearish on the future of stocks? Well, when choosing between owning shares in the world’s largest company and parking the cash in US treasuries, the world’s most famous investor is opting for the latter... for now. [Read this on the web instead](   On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released some pretty underwhelming US jobs data, with only 12,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added last month — the lowest figure since December 2020, and considerably less than the reported 223,000 new jobs added this September. The last major economic report before America heads to the polls, the smaller-than-expected growth is explained in part by the [unprecedented impact]( of hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as recent national strike action. But, as Luke Kawa [noted](, what was more worrying were the revisions to previous months: August job growth, first reported as +142K, was revised to +78K, the worst reading since December 2020. Though it might not have always felt like it, for much of the past six years (pandemic-craziness aside), it’s been a job seeker’s market, with more job openings than people unemployed. The latest [JOLTS data]( revealed that the ratio of job openings to job seekers is narrowing, as job growth has continued to slow. [Read this on the web instead](   China’s population is ditching marriage by the millions, as data from the country’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, [reported by CNN](, reveals that the country recorded 17% fewer marriages in the first nine months of 2024 than in the same period of 2023. With strong links between the number of marriages and the number of births, the figures will concern China’s leaders. Officials have spent millions on government-backed programs to encourage the country’s young people to get married and start a family, as it faces a baby shortage that just a couple of generations ago — when the country implemented a one-child policy to rein in its population growth — would have seemed unfathomable. To encourage marriage, policymakers have drafted changes in regulations that would make it easier to get married and harder to divorce. They’ve also [organized events]( like “mass weddings,” one of which saw more than 5,000 couples tie the knot at a state-sponsored event on September 22, and have worked to rebrand getting married and having kids as a patriotic act. Go Deeper: [Why aren’t people having babies?]( [Read this on the web instead](   More Data - Casual restaurant chain and weekend-eve enthusiast TGI Fridays, which opened its first bar in Manhattan in 1965, has [filed for bankruptcy](, after recently closing 50 locations. - TikTok remains Gen Z’s go-to social media, with 39% reporting the video-sharing platform as their favorite in the latest US teen survey from [Piper Sandler](… while those who preferred Snapchat fell to just 18%. - Music legend and mega-producer Quincy Jones, who worked closely with Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, [“passed away peacefully"]( at his Bel Air home on Sunday night at the age of 91. - Blockchain and the Beast: A group of on-chain analysts have alleged that the crypto wallet of Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) contains $23 million made from a [host of scams](.   Hi-Viz - As we approach a photo-finish presidential result, this [NYT minigame]( explores how either candidate could win the Electoral College. Off the charts: Which social media platform that saw its US web traffic hit a new high in September now reportedly has 275 million monthly active users, per [TechCrunch](? [Answer here.](   Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi, I like the newsletters, but I had a thought for you...) or want to [sponsor this newsletter](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com?subject=I’m interested in advertising with Sherwood Media)?   Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe](   [X]( [Instagram]( [Chartr Logo]( Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... 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