Fra Zerohedge:
Newly announced special advisor to Donald Trump on regulation, billionaire Catli Icahn, is worried. During a lengthy interview with CNBC’s “Fast Money Halftime Report,” Icahn was repeatedly asked if he was concerned about the market – which has shot up considerably since Trump won the presidency – “it’s nuts that the market’s up 12% in a couple weeks.”
- *ICAHN: BECOMING MORE HEDGED AS STOCK MARKET RUNS UP
- *ICAHN: CONCERNED LACK OF STOCK SELLING LAST FEW WEEKS
- *ICAHN REITERATES CRITICISM LOW INTEREST RATES CAUSED BUBBLES
- *ICAHN: ILL THOUGHT-OUT TO KEEP INTEREST RATES SO LOW THIS LONG
- *ICAHN SAYS BE WARY, MANY UNCERTAINTIES AHEAD FOR STOCK MARKET
- *ICAHN: YEAH I’M CONCERNED ABOUT THE MARKET IN THE SHORT TERM
Note that all of the market’s gains of the last two years are in this post-Trump period…
Icahn admitted he was “concerned about the market in the short term” because there are “so many factors here that you have to worry about,” warning about China…
“If you get into a trade war with China, sooner or later we’ll have to come to grips with that,” he said. “And maybe it’s better to do it sooner, but that’s not my decision at all.”
“I remember the day something like that would really knock the hell out of the market,” he continued. “But maybe if you’re going to do it, you should get it over with, right?”
Icahn was, however, not finished, as he warned that it was “dangerous to have all the money ‘dammed up’ in ETFs” slamming companies who deferred capital investment to buyback more stocks – Icahn called for government to “control” companies and implicitly prevent them from using borrowed money to buy back stock…
Finally, on questions relating to conflicts-of-interest for Icahn, who will be providing advice on an SEC head and a regulatory agenda that, in many cases, effect his investments, the billionaire told CNBC such sentiment was “crazy.”