April 1, 2026 | Bouncing into April?

Yesterday marked the best stock market bounce at the end of a quarter since September 2008. Far from an all-clear sign, bounces like that are most common during bear markets (shown below, courtesy of Bespoke).

Mean reversion has made some progress in the sell-off to date, but Berkshire Hathaway is not parting with its cash pile just yet :).The pile grew from ~$128B at the end of 2019 to a peak of $381.7B in Q3 2025 (dark blue above) — a near sevenfold increase — as Buffett sold stakes in Apple and Bank of America while finding few acquisitions worth current pricing. The Q4 2025 figure dipped slightly to $373.3B, and the most recent filing (Q1 2025 in the 10-Q) shows cash at $343B.

The Middle East war is making matters worse, and we hope for a quick resolution. But when it comes to markets and liquidity strains, problems go far deeper and will not be solved by an end to oil constraints.

Market bottoms don’t come while the masses are still feeling optimistic enough to buy every dip. As retired market analyst Wally Deemer wisely quipped: “When it’s time to buy, you won’t want to.”  That is when cash will be king, once more.

Danielle Park April 1st, 2026

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