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Warren Buffett’s big cash pile just hit $382 billion — what could Berkshire buy?

On Friday, we wrote about the actual “Buffett Indicator,” a very simple measure of the stock market’s value relative to GDP.

But there’s another Buffett-related signal that investors are focused on: Berkshire Hathaway’s growing cash pile, which hit $382 billion in the third quarter on the back of its growing insurance profit.

While we wouldn’t presume to know what Buffett and his tight-knit investment team are thinking, it’s hard not to speculate on the obvious: that Berkshire’s top brass just don’t see compelling investments right now.

In theory, Berkshire Hathaway has a lot of options: investing in its swath of majority-owned businesses, like railroads and insurance; buying stocks for its portfolio; or even buying back Berkshire’s own shares. In practice, however, $382 billion is such an unfathomably large figure that the list of investments capable of making a dent in it is very small. One option would be to make a major acquisition, funded by Berkshire’s cash haul that’s now worth more than a number of iconic American companies.

So, could Berkshire actually buy one of these giants? In theory, yes. In practice, almost certainly no.

For starters, Berkshire would likely have to pay a hefty premium, typically 20% to 40%, to convince shareholders to sell — not to mention the fact that any deal would be highly complex and trigger regulatory concerns.

Most importantly, however, if Berkshire is struggling to find attractive places to park $5 billion or $10 billion, it seems incredibly unlikely that Buffett, who is 95, will decide to splurge on a megadeal — and even more unlikely that Greg Abel, who will take over as CEO of Berkshire starting January 2026, will decide to take a huge punt as his first act in the boss’s chair.

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The 2025 New York City Marathon saw a record number of runners

On Sunday, the streets of the five boroughs were swarming with sprinters and supporters, as the NYC Marathon took place with near-perfect weather (and a hotter-than-usual political climate).

The day saw a new women’s course record set by Hellen Obiri, who finished the race in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 51 seconds, with fellow Kenyan runner Benson Kipruto winning the men’s by less than a second. But the city’s 54th official instalment of the 26.2-mile, Greek-mythologized endurance run was also a little busier than usual.

Warming up

According to event organizer New York Road Runners (NYRR), the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon saw ~59,000 runners — which would be the most participants of any recorded marathon in history, beating the record set at the TCS London Marathon in April of ~56,600 finishers.

In the long run

This marks a 6% uplift on 2024 — which also broke the world record at the time — including ~2,400 more female participants. More broadly, with the exceptions of 2012 and 2020, when the race was called off due to Hurricane Sandy and COVID-19, respectively, the NYC Marathon’s popularity has boomed over the past two decades.

It’s not just New York: people the world over are increasingly lacing up their sneakers of choice for marathons, despite their expensive price tags (London, for example, charges ~$300 for international participants). Now, the likes of Harry Styles and other famous faces can be spotted at the starting lines of equivalent contests in Berlin and Tokyo.

Besides celebs making running cool again, people are turning to endurance races for structure, discipline, and community in the post-pandemic world; for some younger people, run clubs have also become dating hot spots. At any rate, though, for NYC and other major cities, the growing popularity of marathons means hundreds of millions in additional spending as partakers and spectators splash the cash.

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Put your cash to work with SGOV — the largest Treasury ETF in the market*

Looking for potential yield on your excess cash? Consider SGOV from iShares.

Amid market volatility, uncertainty and growing concerns around de-dollarization, the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (ticker: SGOV) can be a timely option to consider for investors seeking a stable, cash alternative.

SGOV gives investors US Treasury exposure through the efficiency of an ETF, so you can keep cash actively deployed while seeking to hedge against risk-off periods. 

The fund buys very short-term US treasuries that mature in 0-3 months, collects the interest, and then pays it out to investors monthly. It carries a low annual fee of just 0.09%. 

Review your excess cash, put it to work, and diversify your portfolio’s fixed-income sleeve with SGOV.

*Morningstar, as of 9/30/2025, based on assets under management.

Texas wants a piece of Wall Street

After more than a year of buzz, the Lone Star State’s own stock exchange is finally starting to look real.

Last Friday, the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) — a Dallas-based challenger pitching itself as a “pro-business” alternative to Wall Street — announced an investment from JPMorgan, bringing its total funding above $250 million ahead of its planned 2026 launch. More than 70 investors have joined so far, including BlackRock, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities.

TXSE’s debut marks the first SEC-approved exchange in decades that will eventually be able to both list as well as trade public companies’ shares — potentially challenging the long-standing duopoly of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

Since 2008, the two have been the only primary listing venues in the US, together accounting for virtually 100% of the country’s public equities — worth more than $67 trillion, per data from the World Federation of Exchanges. The tech-friendly Nasdaq, which controlled less than a third of that in 2000, now commands more than half (52%), powered by Big Tech’s relentless rally.

Texas’ plan is to spoil New York’s party, pledging to reduce “the burden of going and staying public,” likely meaning simpler, cheaper listing standards and fewer compliance hurdles than its rivals. The state has been doubling down on efforts to lure Corporate America, launching a new business court system last year to compete with the Chancery Court of Delaware, a state that houses most S&P 500 companies.

But TXSE won’t be ’lone in Texas: in February, the NYSE said it’s reincorporating its Chicago exchange into “NYSE Texas,” based in Dallas, while the Nasdaq announced plans to open a regional headquarters there in March.

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Looking for potential yield for your excess cash? By investing in SGOV, the short-term treasury bond ETF from iShares, you can put your cash to work. Discover iShares here.

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