Warren Buffett is cheering the current selloff, saying investors should want the stock market to go down

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

• Warren Buffett has celebrated the market sell-off sparked by coronavirus fears.
• “That’s good for us actually — we’re a net buyer of stocks over time,” the Berkshire Hathaway CEO and billionaire investor said in a CNBC interview on Monday.
• “Just like being a net buyer of food — I expect to buy food the rest of my life and I hope that food goes down in price tomorrow,” he added.
• Buffett said the outbreak had affected “a good many” of Berkshire’s businesses, but he remained optimistic about their long-term prospects.
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Warren Buffett cheered the ongoing market sell-off in a CNBC interview on Monday, suggesting his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate would benefit from lower stock prices caused by the novel coronavirus.

“That’s good for us actually — we’re a net buyer of stocks over time,” the billionaire investor and Berkshire CEO said. “Just like being a net buyer of food — I expect to buy food the rest of my life, and I hope that food goes down in price tomorrow.

“Who wouldn’t rather buy at a lower price than a higher price?” Buffett continued. “People are really strange on that. They should want the stock market to go down — they should want to buy at a lower price.”

“They just feel better when stocks are going up,” he added.

Buffett made the comments following the release of his annual shareholder letter on Saturday, in which he said one criterion for Berkshire to make an acquisition was that it “must be available at a sensible price.”

Read more: A renowned market bear says investors should be ‘braced for zero or negative total returns’ over the next 10 to 12 years — and reiterates his call for a 67% stock meltdown

The coronavirus — which causes a disease called COVID-19 — has infected more than 77,000 people, killed about 2,400, and spread to more than 25 countries. Stocks tumbled Monday following deaths in Iran, Italy, and South Korea in recent days, which fanned fears of a pandemic that could slow global economic growth.

“A good many” of Berkshire’s businesses have been affected by the outbreak, Buffett told CNBC, saying the impact had most likely worsened.

Still, he downplayed the long-term significance of the virus. He said “not only our businesses, but American businesses, will be doing fabulously better 30 years from now or 20 years from now.”