Morning Fundamentals: U.S. Budget Issues Again Rearing Their Head

Just as the Obama administration faces a backlash and criticism over its handling of the crisis in Syria, the issue of the U.S. budget and debt ceiling is once again rearing its ugly head. The leadership of President Obama has been put under the spotlight as his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, ap-pears to be winning international fans over his strong leadership style despite a number of controver-sial domestic policies that continue to draw widespread international criticism. The withdrawal of Lawrence Summers, a close Obama adviser, from the race for the next Chairman of the Federal Re-serve is another recent blow for Obama.

In 1980, Stewart Horejsi, a distributor of hydrogen and oxygen tanks in Kansas took the decision to start buying shares as his frustration grew over the increased competition in his business. His decision to buy 40 shares of Berkshire Hathaway shares at $265 each and then another 60 shares at $295 two weeks later and then 200 more at $330 a month after that has seen his shareholding in the iconic in-vestment firm grow to a bigger stake than that of Bill Gates. Horejsi now owns 4300 Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway valued at more than $740 million. His net worth of $1.1 billion today allows him to join the exclusive yet growing club of Berkshire billionaires.

As the U.S. Federal Reserve meets and the market widely anticipates an announcement of a tapering of stimulus for the world's largest economy, U.S. stock markets have gained towards a record high. At the same that Forbes has confirmed Bill Gate's status as the richest man in America, Microsoft an-nounced a $40 share buyback and an increase in its dividend. The S&P 500 gained 0.42% to 1,704.76. Earlier in Europe, bourse were softer with the DAX losing 0.19% while the FTSE fell 0.8%.

Commodity prices continue to ease as the spectre of the Fed reducing stimulus weighs on investor sentiment. The major indexes have lost almost 1%. WTI continues to give up ground as a military strike on Syria becomes less likely. WTI lost 1% to $105.50. Precious metals are also lower with gold losing 0.55% to $1,310 while silver fell 1.15% to $21.75. Copper bucked the trend to gain 0.1%. Agri-cultural commodities were mostly lower with oats and coffee losing the most ground.