Here are listed sales in the filing, courtesy of 24/7WallStreet.com:

· 7/20/09… 1,817,000 at $28.7269 average in open market sale.

· 7/21/09… 3,915,100 at $26.9188 average in open market sale.

· 7/22/09… 2,254,200 at $26.6425 average in open market sale.

What took Buffett so long to start selling Moody’s? We have no idea. Moody’s runs one of the biggest scams on Wall Street. It charges the companies whose securities it rates (just like Standard & Poor’s and Fitch also do).

So what do you think these ratings agencies did when presented with a whole load of junk mortgage-backed securities to rate? They assigned them investment grade status and pocketed the cash.

If these ratings agencies had instead acted honestly and responsibly (rather than pimping themselves out to the highest bidder) the whole subprime debacle and the ensuing credit crisis could have been avoided.

Buffett isn’t the only investment whizz who thinks Moody’s is heading for trouble. Hedge-fund legend David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital is selling Moody’s short.

Yesterday, Moody’s shares tumbled almost 4% on the news that the Buffett had began to unwind his position in the company. We’d like to see Moody’s go out of business. But that’s maybe wishful thinking. Make sure you don’t own any shares in Moody’s. And if you’re feeling speculative, consider going short Moody’s along with Einhorn.

One of the easiest ways of deciding what stocks you should own is by “standing on the shoulders of giants.” We’re no geniuses here at Notes. But at least we are smart enough to recognize it. And that’s why we track what people far smarter than us are doing with their money.

As of the end of the first quarter this year, this is how Warren Buffett’s holdings (via Berkshire Hathaway, his investment vehicle) looked like:

1. American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) over 151.6 million shares, same as before.

2. Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) 5 million shares; same as last quarter.

3. Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE:BNI) 76.77 million shares; HIGHER than 70.089 million shares of last quarter.

4. Carmax Inc. (NYSE:KMX) 12 million shares; LOWER than the 17.63 million and that is two straight quarters of declines.

5. Coca Cola (NYSE:KO) right at 200 million shares, still same as before.

6. Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) 12 million shares, same as before.

7. Comdisco Holdings (NASDAQ:CDCO) roughly 1.5 million shares, same as before.

8. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is really lower than the 71.228 million shares reported as this has been used for cutting taxes, and we already know that the number is lower than what the filing says.

9. Constellation Energy Group (NYSE:CEG) was just updated this week so the number is actually about 12.4 million rather than what the filing shows as being 14.828 million shares.

10. Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) 5.254 million shares, same as before.

11. Eaton Corp. (NYSE:ETN) 3.2 million shares; looks like new holding but may have been missed before.

There’s a lot of talk these days about how Buffett has lost his touch. This may be so. But the guy remains the world’s most successful investor. If you have a medium- to long-term investment horizon, you could do a lot worse than consider following Buffett into some of these long positions. If you think you can outsmart the guy, go ahead. But we know who our money would be with…

In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Information Administration said the crude stocks dropped by 400,000 barrels for the week ending August 8. Gasoline supplies plunged by 6.4 million barrels, marking a decline of more than 14 million barrels in three weeks.

Distillate stocks were off 1.7 million barrels, while refineries were operating at 85.9% of capacity, down from 87% a week earlier, the EIA said.

“Capacity utilization is now at a four-month low, reflecting refiners’ reluctance to process crude oil,” wrote Chris Lafakis, of Moody’s Economy.com. “Every major crude-oil refiner reported losses in its refining business in the second quarter … As a result of this financial stress, refiners are curtailing their processing efforts.

“Nonetheless, a sustained increase in gasoline demand will boost the gasoline crack spread and coax refiners to boost production,” Lafakis believes.

He also noted that “gasoline demand is now less than 2% below its year ago level … Evidence of stronger demand cuts to the core of the ‘demand destruction’ thesis, which has been the primary catalyst pushing crude-oil prices lower.”

In the uranium sector, Cameco (CCO) announced further flooding at its Cigar Lake project, the world’s richest undeveloped uranium deposit, with the potential to one day meet 10 percent of global demand. The company didn’t say what new remediation efforts will be necessary, nor if the projected 2011 startup date would be affected.
Source: Oil has an Up Day, EIA Report Seen as Bullish, Cigar Lake Floods Again

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 0.78%, while the TSX Gold Index gained 1.2% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, rallied 1.63% with the advancing issuers inching past the decliners by a 492 to 483 margin on modest volume of 142 million shares traded.

Phoenix Coal (PHC) surged out of the gate having completed its merger with capital pool company, Marimba Capital (MRA.P). The United States coal miner raised C$110 million and ended the day up C$1.46 at C$2.04 on more than 16 million shares traded.

Romarco Minerals cut 17.8 metres of 3.1 grams gold per tonne at the Haile mine in South Carolina. The junior ended the day up C$0.015 at C$0.215.

Shares of San Gold rallied on no new developments. The Manitoba gold miner is drilling off the high-grade Hinge deposit. San Gold ended the session up C$0.13 at C$2.22.

It was a good day for the uranium producers with Cameco (CCO) leading the charge with a C$3.10 gain to close at C$43.80.

Well, the month of June is now in the review mirror, and after a rough month the last day offered some solace to investors. The Canadian markets are closed on Tuesday, so we will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Tuesday July 1, 2008