LONDON — Warren Buffett, one of America's most respected investors, said Tuesday that many U.S. stocks are still overvalued and must decline further before he considers them a good investment.

The United States is suffering an economic downturn, Buffett said, but he stopped short of calling it a recession.

"We're in a slowdown, that's for sure," he told reporters.

Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said he had little interest in U.S. stocks at present. "We're not doing a lot of buying. We're buying more planes than we are stocks," he said.

He spoke at a news conference to announce the delivery of 50 new aircraft to Executive Jet Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. Executive Jet will use the Cessna aircraft for its NetJets fractional ownership program, in which several owners buy a plane on a time-share basis.

Buffett said he would start buying shares again "when businesses sell for less in the market than they're worth."

Berkshire Hathaway's retail jewelry and furniture businesses have experienced declining sales in recent months, he said.

"We're seeing a slowdown in our businesses where you have discretionary spending. We're not seeing that in NetJets," he said.

Executive Jet chief executive Richard Santulli said fractional sales of executive jets have stayed strong during the past months, in part because some executives are pinching their pennies by holding off from buying an entire aircraft when just a share in a plane will do.

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Buffett reasserted his well-known aversion to shares in high-tech companies, saying he hasn't bought any despite the plunge in share prices for dot-com businesses over the past year.

He famously sat out the recent investment binge in high-tech shares, opting instead for stocks in less volatile — and less complicated — old-line industries such as soft drink leader Coca-Cola Co.

Buffett allowed that "it's not inconceivable" he might change his mind and invest in a telecommunications or dot-com business.

"But I'd have to understand it, and it would have to be selling for less than it's worth. I don't see either of those things happening, but I don't rule anything out," he said.

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