The birth of the "Eighth Giant" in the US stock market! Berkshire Hathaway joins the trillion-dollar club

On Wednesday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway became the first non-tech company in the U.S. to surpass a market value of $1 trillion, entering the club dominated by companies like Apple and Microsoft. Over the past sixty years, Buffett has built this massive conglomerate into a force that touches almost every corner of the U.S. economy. Its railroad cars shuttle on over 32,000 miles of track across the country, it owns key parts manufacturers for Boeing, and operates one of the largest auto insurance companies in the U.S. Buffett, who will turn 94 this Friday, has been selling stocks this year, including half of Berkshire's Apple shares, reaping huge trading profits and putting the proceeds into cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries. On Wednesday, Berkshire continued to sell some of its holdings in U.S. banks. Starting in mid-July, Berkshire has sold Bank of America stocks for five out of the past six weeks, totaling 129 million shares sold and earning $5.4 billion from these sales. Berkshire has not disclosed the motive behind selling some Bank of America stocks. It remains the bank's largest shareholder, holding over 900 million shares worth over $35 billion. Bank of America is currently Berkshire's third-largest position, behind only Apple and American Express. During Buffett's selling spree, Bank of America's stock price has dropped by over 9%. The stock is still up about 18% year-to-date, lagging behind competitors Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup. Berkshire's market value has increased by over $200 billion this year, with its Class A shares rising nearly 30% since the beginning of the year, outperforming the broader S&P 500 index. On Wednesday, Berkshire Class A shares closed at $696,502, up 0.8%. Douglass Winthrop, an investor in Berkshire, and research analyst Jeff Muscatello stated that since Buffett took over the company in 1965, the rise in its stock price is due to "the consistency of their approach" and Buffett's investment rules. "The first rule is not to lose money," Muscatello said. "The second is not to forget the first rule and let the power of compounding work over a very long time." Buffett has not ignored the soaring valuations of Berkshire's stock and the broader stock market. The billionaire slowed down the company's stock buyback program in May and revealed in June that he did not repurchase any shares that month. Buffett has complete discretion over the buyback program and typically restricts repurchases when he believes the stock is overvalued. The company's cash reserves soared to a record $277 billion in June as Buffett found no attractive investments in the public markets. While Berkshire's relative inactivity in the past has troubled its investors, hardly anyone is sounding the alarm now. Buffett said at the May annual shareholder meeting: On November 29th, VESYNC spent HKD 5.6445 million to repurchase 1 million shares