David Tepper: It's Not The Right Time To Short The Market

Billionaire investor David Tepper said during a CNBC interview on Wednesday that by no means are stocks cheap at current levels — and shorting the market perhaps isn't the best strategy moving forward.

Tepper's bias toward the long side stems from positive developments in Washington, he said. Specifically, Tepper suggested President Donald Trump's administration is signaling it won't be placing additional regulations on the economy and businesses — and that by itself is enough for investors.

"That alone just releases animal spirits," Tepper said. "If nothing else happens, that releases animal spirits and upticks where earnings and other things should be."

There's More To Tepper's Bullish Story

Tepper acknowledged that a positive tone from the White House is enough to ignite the animal spirits, but there's more to the bullish story. He further stated that not only is "every region of the world is growing" but the growth is "synchronized."

Concerns of a trade war with China have abated and the risk to the market is now "off the table," Tepper said. In addition, the fund manager is confident that the ongoing rhetoric flying between the U.S. and Mexico will see "some kind of settlement."

Finally, Tepper argued that while the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates one quarter of a point next week, a rising interest rate environment won't get in the way of growth.

"There's nothing to get in the way until potentially inflation starts picking up and people start getting worried about that," Tepper said.

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