market folly

Legendary hedgie Michael Steinhardt, now the Chairman of WisdomTree, sat down with CNBC for an interview today.  Here's some comments from his talk:


Michael Steinhardt's Latest Interview

On his investor personality: "I have an innate inclination towards bearishness, that's the way I am.  We each have our own personality and character composition and mine is tended toward the bearish side."


On whether investors should wait for a pullback in the market after the big run-up: "I'm not sure it's going to stop, but I think that one must marvel at where the stock market is in relation to the rest of world, in relation to the economics, the politics... it's not a glorious happy time."


On where he's putting money these days: "I have a number of stocks which are mostly specialized itsy-bitsy things.  I own, I was Chairman of a company called Genie Energy (GNE)."  


On his average net long exposure:  "I managed money for 29 years, and my average exposure in my funds for those 29 years was between 30-35% net long, now that's probably as bearish as anybody was in that period.  I think having lower risk is a virtue.  I'm not sure I'm a perma-bear."


When asked if he's very long right now, he replied "no, no I'm not."

Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates was also in the media room during the interview and he noted that Steinhardt is one of the best short sellers there is.

Embedded below is the video of Michael Steinhardt's interview with CNBC:



For more on this legendary investor, head to Steinhardt on the differences between past and present hedge funds.