Conflict In The Middle East Sparked Higher Energy Prices, And Berkshire Hathaway’s Final Results With Warren Buffett As CEO Were… Just Okay

March 3, 2026·6 min

The episode opens with host Lana introducing the day's topics: Middle East conflict affecting energy prices and Berkshire Hathaway's earnings. The first segment details how conflict has shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy chokepoint, and halted operations at Saudi Arabia's biggest oil refinery and Qatar's main LNG plant. This caused benchmark oil prices to jump 8% and European natural gas futures to spike up to 50%. Investors reacted by buying energy and defense stocks like Inpex, Santos, Lockheed, and BAE Systems, while selling travel stocks like American Airlines and Carnival. The episode explains that higher oil prices could add 0.7 percentage points to global inflation if oil stays above $100 a barrel, potentially leading to stagflation. A Q&A segment with Carl follows, where he answers a listener's question about investing for children, discussing UTMA/UGMA accounts, 529 plans, and junior ISAs. The second story covers Berkshire Hathaway's final earnings report with Warren Buffett as CEO, showing a profit of just over $10 billion last quarter, nearly a third less than the year prior. The host notes that Berkshire's value is heavily tied to its $373 billion in cash and $274 billion in U.S. stock holdings, making it sensitive to market fluctuations. The episode concludes by mentioning that new CEO Greg Abel's first shareholder letter signaled no sudden changes in strategy.

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