Image caption Mr Buffett says he is ready to get stuck into some serious investing

The billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, has urged Americans to ignore "prophets of doom", and believe that the country's "best days lie ahead".

In an upbeat annual letter to the shareholders of his investment firm, Mr Buffett said he was itching to make more large acquisitions.

The 26-page missive is seen as an authoritative guide to the state of the world's biggest economy.

He is one of the world's wealthiest and most influential investors.

As such, his opinion is closely followed.

Despite the American economy struggling to emerge from the recession following the financial crisis, Mr Buffett believes the time is now right to make some major investments.

In his annual letter to his Berkshire Hathaway investors, he said his trigger finger was now itchy to invest in new projects, using some of the fund's $38bn (£23.6bn) dollars in cash reserves.

The news that Mr Buffett is seeking substantial new opportunities will be welcomed by many global investors.

Shares in the benchmark Dow Jones Index are roughly at the same levels as they were three years ago.

Warren Buffett's comments will also be good news for the Obama administration which has struggled to create jobs, and is planning cuts of over $1tn from the US budget deficit over the next decade.