Buffett to CNBC: Market Chaos Will Probably Create Opportunities

In an exclusive interview with CNBC's Becky Quick last night(Wednesday) in Omaha, Warren Buffett says the current market chaos and turmoil will probably create buying opportunities for him and Berkshire Hathaway:

"You get more excited when there's a lot going on, you can't help it. And frankly, it will probably present more opportunity to us because when dislocations occur things get more mispriced and that sort of thing...

"So it can be a time of opportunity. It won't be for sure, but generally speaking, when there's a certain amount of chaos in certain sections, the fallout, and its unpredictable where the fallout will be, but the fallout sometimes offers some real opportunites."

Video clips of Becky's entire interview with Warren Buffett have been posted on Warren Buffett Watch.

Here's a clip of Becky reporting on Buffett's "opportunity" comments this morning at 6am ET on CNBC's Squawk Box.

She returned to Squawk Box a half-hour later, and filed this report focusing on Buffett's support for Barack Obama's Presidential campaign.

In the 8am ET hour of Squawk, Becky aired more of her interview, including Buffett's comments about how some investors may have been buying credit instruments without really understanding them. That was followed by a discussion on "Investing Like Buffett."

Mr. Buffett spoke to us before a fundraiser he co-hosted for Obama. In his introduction of Senator Obama at the event, he got a big laugh from the audience with this joke, as reported by Becky in CNBC.com's live blogging coverage (which you can read in its entirety in this WBW post):

Trader goes home and tells his wife that they are really struggling. Coming into tough time. He says, 'Honey if you could learn how to cook, we could fire the chef.'

She says, 'Yes, and if you could just learn to make love we could fire the gardener.'

Buffett's post-punch line: "What we're gonna do is fire the administration!"

Buffett has made it clear that right now he's supporting both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's Presidential aspirations, saying both of them would go a great job in the White House. In June, he held a fundraiser for Senator Clinton's campaign at which he made headlines with his call to increase taxes on the wealthy. At some point, he may be forced to choose between them. He tells Becky that he doesn't expect both Obama and Clinton to wind up on the same ticket.

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