David Tepper AKA Captain Obvious

David Tepper appeared on

Squawk Box on Friday. In his brief appearance, he laid out his investment thesis for the short-term: the market is presently a "difficult investment environment" and there will be no more quantitative easing unless the S&P 500 drops several hundred points. No kidding? Tepper's views are considered influential because last

Tepper was able to successfully predict the movement of the market. Back then, Tepper stated that traders should buy in because either the economy would improve, or there would be another round of quantitative easing—in either case, the market would rally. The subsequent decision by the the Federal Reserve to engage in QE2 and the bull-run in the markets have vindicated Tepper's assessment. But is he not just stating the obvious? Ben Bernanke and the rest of the Federal Reserve has been claiming for months that there is no QE3 planned. Some contrarian investors may have denied this, but even that crowd has generally believed that QE3 would only materialize after a significant drop in the markets. Even in his prediction last September, the Fed was not shy about the possibility of QE2 before Tepper made his call. So, is Wall Street going to crown Tepper when he's proven right once again? Or will investors finally come to the conclusion that Tepper's predictions are nothing more than the street's consensus?

Traders who believe that Tepper is right in his assessment might want to consider the following trades:

Traders who believe that Tepper will be wrong, and the market will either rally or the Fed will quickly implement QE3 may consider taking positions in the following: