“It Won’t End Well”: Self-Proclaimed “Fully Invested Bear” Leon Cooperman Says Market Has Him “Nervous”

Speaking at CNBC’s Financial Advisor summit this week, Leon Cooperman – who has a track record of speaking critically about the market while it’s dropping – actually went on record and criticized the market while on its way up. 

“I have a strong feeling the cycle we’re going through won’t end well but I have no idea where it ends,” he told Becky Quick on Wednesday. 

“I have a strong feeling the cycle we’re going through won’t end well but I have no idea where it ends,” hear the full details of what Lee Cooperman told @BeckyQuick at yesterday’s @cnbcevents #FASummit at https://t.co/Rc4p9phRer. pic.twitter.com/NnjIezNOvN

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) June 30, 2021

Quick called him a “fully invested bear” and said that he believed you “have to be in the market right now”, but that despite that, he’s “nervous”. 

When asked about what he was watching for indicators: “I would watch the dollar exchange rate, I would watch Fed Speak, I would watch economic performance, I would watch the craziness in the market – you know, Bitcoin, stuff like that, meme stocks. The market structure is totally broken. The way stocks trade is very unnatural.”

Cooperman said the Fed’s view on inflation will “provide support” to the market (otherwise known as hyperinflating it). Cooperman said that company’s would be able to pass on inflated materials costs to their consumers: “Everybody is worried about inflation. Inflation is a positive for common stocks because inflation in companies’ costs works its way into selling prices, which lift the nominal level of revenues and earnings. Inflation becomes a problem for the market when the central bank is moving to curb inflation.”

He continued: “The cyclical forces that determine the market outlook are basically positively positioned and that’s why I’m heavily invested. We have a central bank that wants more inflation. Until that changes, I think the market is probably in good shape.”

“In terms of my long-term outlook, to be honest with you, stocks are the best place to be, but I just wouldn’t expect much from the major averages,” he continued telling CNBC. “I’m prepared to be in that kind of environment where I have to stock pick my way to success.”