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Druckenmiller Says Market Is ‘Very Convinced’ Trump Will Win

Stan Druckenmiller (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller said markets are pricing in a Donald Trump victory ahead of next month’s US presidential election. 

During the past 12 days, the market has seemed “very convinced Trump is going to win,” Druckenmiller said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “You can see it in the bank stocks, you can see it in crypto.” 

Still, he won’t vote for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. Druckenmiller called Trump a “blowhard” and suggested he wasn’t dignified enough to be president, while he said a Harris presidency would be bad for business.

“I’ll probably write in someone when I go to the polls,” said Druckenmiller, who hasn’t donated to either candidate.

Druckenmiller, 71, managed money for George Soros for more than a decade and funded Nikki Haley’s primary campaign against Trump. He predicted that it’s “extremely unlikely” that Democrats will gain control of Congress even if Harris were to win the presidency. 

If there were a so-called blue sweep, he said, equities may be troubled for three to six months. He also said that a red sweep is “probably more likely than a Trump presidency with a blue Congress.”

Scott Bessent, who also worked at Soros Fund Management, has been advising the Trump campaign on economic issues. He floated the idea of having a shadow chair of the Federal Reserve, a peer who could serve as a potential counterpoint to current Chair Jay Powell until his term expires in May 2026.  

But Druckenmiller said a shadow Fed “is a horrible idea and irresponsible.”

He said the Fed’s half-point cut in September was a mistake, and that his firm, Duquesne Family Office, shorted bonds after the announcement. 

The market needs to temper its expectations about the pace and extent of central-bank easing, according to Druckenmiller. 

--With assistance from Sonali Basak.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.