Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) reported record operating earnings of $47.4bn (£37.5bn) last year, in its results released on Saturday.

In his annual letter to investors, Buffett said the record profits came despite more than half of the company's operating businesses reporting a decline in earnings last year.

"In 2024, Berkshire did better than I expected though 53% of our 189 operating businesses reported a decline in earnings," he wrote.

"We were aided by a predictable large gain in investment income as Treasury bill yields improved and we substantially increased our holdings of these highly-liquid short-term securities."

Berkshire's cash pile and other cash-like securities, such as Treasury bills, stood at $334.2bn at the end of the year, which is nearly double the $167.6bn seen at the end of 2023.

"Despite what some commentators currently view as an extraordinary cash position at Berkshire, the great majority of your money remains in equities," Buffett wrote. "That preference won’t change.

"While our ownership in marketable equities moved downward last year from $354bn to $272bn, the value of our non-quoted controlled equities increased somewhat and remains far greater than the value of the marketable portfolio," he said.

Berkshire Hathaway shares were flat in pre-market trading on Monday morning.

Eurozone inflation surged to 2.5% in January, marking the highest rate since July and remaining above the European Central Bank’s medium-term target of 2% for the third consecutive month.

Eurostat’s final reading on Monday confirmed that consumer prices in the region rose 2.5% year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations and up from 2.4% in December. This marks the fourth consecutive increase in annual inflation since it hit a three-year low of 1.7% in September 2024.

Among the 19 eurozone member states, inflation showed varying trends. Compared to December, eight countries saw a drop in annual inflation, four remained stable, and 15 experienced a rise, Eurostat reported.

The main drivers of inflation in the euro area were services, contributing 1.77 percentage points, followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (0.45 p.p.), energy (0.18 p.p.), and non-energy industrial goods (0.12 p.p.). Notably, Hungary recorded the highest inflation rate in the region at 5.7%, while Denmark posted the lowest at 1.4%.

Enrique Diaz-Alvarez, Chief Economist at global financial services firm Ebury, said:

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said:

Pedro Goncalves writes:

Gold prices remained near record levels on Monday, buoyed by a weakening dollar, as market attention shifted to a crucial inflation report set for later this week.

The spot price of gold rose by 0.2%, reaching $2,942.05 per ounce, while gold futures rose by 0.1% to $2,957.00. The yellow metal reached an all-time high of $2,954.69 last Thursday.

"Disappointing US macro data at the tail end of last week has caught up with the dollar, which has opened the door higher for gold," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. "With trade uncertainties not looking like they are disappearing anytime soon, gold could still be eyeing off reaching new all-time highs again this week."

Gold hit a series of record highs last week, driven by sustained haven buying following president Donald Trump’s threats of additional trade tariffs. Worries about a potential US economic slowdown also fuelled demand for gold, especially after weak purchasing managers’ index (PMI) and consumer sentiment data.

A drop in the dollar — on growing expectations that a softer economy may prompt more interest rate cuts — helped lift broader metal prices as well.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

Over in Asian markets, the rally in Chinese tech stocks cooled following an executive order from the US restricting Chinese spending on some strategic US sectors.

President Donald Trump directed the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to restrict Chinese spending on technology, energy and other sectors.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.6% in the session and the SSE Composite (000001.SS) was 0.2% lower.

The euro strengthened against the pound and the dollar in early trade on Monday, as news ekes out about Friederich Merz's next steps. The euro rose about 0.1% against sterling to just below the €1.21 mark. It was also around 0.2% higher against the dollar, sitting at around the $0.95 mark.

From our US team:

US stock futures ticked upward Sunday night after a week that saw the major indexes slump, with the Dow logging its worst weekly performance since October, sparking fears of a pullback in response to record-high levels.

Nasdaq (NQ=F) futures bounced back about 0.5%. S&P 500 (ES=F) futures made a similar upward move of 0.5%, and futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) crept up 0.4%.

Key events this week include the January report for the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index on Friday. The PCE index is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure for inflation.

Meanwhile, earnings continue to roll in, with Nvidia (NVDA) taking the spotlight, releasing after the bell on Wednesday. Wall Street's earnings expectations are high after the former darling of the AI stock surge saw a rocky month when the emergence of Chinese competitor DeepSeek battered the stock's value.

Of course, the coming week will probably also be defined by market reaction to President Donald Trump's unpredictable policy moves. A flurry of tariff changes led investor moves throughout February, yet economists say Trump's immigration policy changes could be just as meaningful in the weeks ahead.

Hello from London. Lucy Harley-McKeown here, ready to bring you the latest markets news of the day.

The main event driving European markets today is set to be the fallout from the German election. The country's Christian Democrats (CDU) topped the polls on Sunday.

The party's leader, Friedrich Merz, will be preparing to head a coalition government after his conservative party won 28.6% of the vote.

Later today brings the German Ifo confidence survey, too, and fresh EU inflation data.

In the US, Dominoes Pizza (DPZ) reports its results.

Let's get to it.