Given at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, Buffett explains why he's buying American stocks and why fear is the investor's worst enemy. This speech preceded his famous NYT op-ed by one day.
In mid-October 2008, the global financial system was in freefall. Lehman Brothers had collapsed one month earlier, and the S&P 500 was down over 30% for the year. On October 16, 2008, Buffett published an op-ed in the New York Times titled "Buy American. I Am." The day before, he gave this speech in Toronto, laying out the same argument: fear is the investor's enemy, and this is the time to buy.
Transcript coming soon. Check back later!
This speech and the accompanying NYT op-ed are widely credited with helping to stabilize market sentiment in late 2008. Buffett's personal commitment to buying equities "with my own money" gave retail investors the confidence to stay the course. Within six months, the S&P 500 had bottomed and begun one of the great bull markets in history.