Good afternoon, you're tuned in to Markets Desk.
Warren Buffett marks his ninety-sixth birthday this weekend, and it's been anything but a quiet year for the Oracle of Omaha. He stepped down as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO, handed the reins to Greg Abel, made a significant bet on Alphabet, and accelerated his philanthropic giving — a final chapter that looks more like a new volume.
Speaking of Abel, Berkshire's new chief executive has been putting his own stamp on the portfolio by continuing to accumulate Alphabet shares through the second quarter. That signals strong conviction in the artificial intelligence story at Google's parent, building on a position Buffett himself initiated and clearly blessed before his departure.
Shifting to the macro picture, Social Security recipients should note that cooling inflation is trimming the projected cost-of-living adjustment for two thousand twenty-seven. A lower COLA means smaller year-over-year increases in monthly checks, which matters most for the roughly sixty-seven million Americans who depend on that income as a primary financial anchor. The adjustment is still being calculated, but the trajectory is clearly downward as price pressures ease.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
