Investing

Why David Tepper Believes Now Is Not the Time to Be Bearish

Chris Lange

Published: March 8, 2021 10:29 am

Famed investor and founder of Appaloosa Management, David Tepper, weighed in on the current situation in the markets on Monday morning. Tepper’s comments have been known to move markets, and he has been right in his analysis an overwhelming number of times. When he talks, the markets listen.

For those late to the party, Tepper was famous for calling the bottom in the financial crisis of 2008–2009. This bottom would later come to be known as “The Tepper Bottom.” He also famously predicted the impact of COVID-19 on global financial markets well before they crashed.

Tepper was on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday morning. In the interview, he basically said that it is very difficult to be bearish on equities now and that the sell-off in U.S. Treasuries that had driven rates higher is likely over. Tepper was quoted as saying, “Basically I think rates have temporarily made the most of the move and should be more stable in the next few months, which makes it safer to be in stocks for now.”

The broad markets have seesawed over the past couple of weeks as Treasury yields have gained. In turn, this has put pressure on equities, namely growth stocks. However, these rising Treasury yields could be abating as the selling begins to slow or even reverse.

Tepper noted in the interview that Japan, which has been a net seller of Treasuries for years, very well could begin buying U.S. bonds again as the yields have become more attractive. This potential buying would in turn stabilize the bond market and take “major risk off of the table, and it’s very difficult to be bearish.”

The broad markets responded positively on Monday, with the exception of the Nasdaq, but this was also in part due to optimism surrounding the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill.