Buffett tops Bloomberg poll as best investor

Bloomberg announced a quarterly survey on October 29, 2009, that shows Warren Buffett is regarded as the best assessor of financial markets by a plurality of almost one-fourth of respondents to the quarterly poll of investors, traders and analysts who subscribe to the Bloomberg terminal. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan got the worst ranking.

The report came out after Bloomberg surveyed 1,452 investors, traders and analysts from the world's six continents during October 23 and 27.

Warren Buffett
Affected by the financial crisis, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. showed a 9.6% decline in book value last year, but that is only the second time the measure has fallen since its inception in 1965.

Buffett seized advantage of the financial panic last fall to make big purchases in well-known companies at depressed prices, extending 8 billion U.S. dollars in financing to New York- based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co. at 10% yields after the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. failure froze credit markets.

Bill Gross, founder and chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Company, is in second place with 16 percent of the votes. Gross now manages more than 350 billion U.S. dollars in bonds. Since 1973, Pacific Investment Management Company's capital has maintained an average annual growth rate of 10.6%.

Billionaire investor George Soros gets 10%, followed by Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who in 2006 predicted the financial crisis, and Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report.

Although his performance during the financial crisis gains appreciation, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke only won less than 10% of the vote. The former Chairman Alan Greenspan's support rate was only 3%. Many economists believe that it is his conservative policies and Wall Street's reckless pursuit of the greatest interest that helped brew the global financial crisis.

In addition, although the third quarter GDP of the United States is getting better, investors' confidence in Obama and his economic team fell sharply over the past three months.

By People's Daily Online