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Stock investors have had little love for banks over the past year. With one notable exception.

Warren E. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has been building its position in banks over the past year. It is now among the five biggest shareholders in Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bancorp and Bank of New York and owns big stakes in others. Its latest disclosure of its holdings showed that the firm had added to its positions in some of those companies in the second quarter.

Bank stocks fare better when the economy is growing strongly, companies and individuals are taking out more loans, and interest rates are high.

Right now, investors are thinking the exact opposite: Economic growth is slowing, worries of a recession are rising, the Federal Reserve just cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade and investors expect more cuts to come. Wall Street analysts expect those lower rates to crimp the profitability of banks over the next year.