Billionaire Barry Diller Calls Stock Market ‘Great Speculation, Urges Everyone To Save Cash

“Personally, and professionally, every nickel you can, keep it ... wherever it’s banked,” billionaire media mogul Barry Diller told CNBC on Tuesday. “Generally, I think for any speculation, and I think the market right now is a great speculation, I would stay home,” he said. Diller, chairman of both Expedia and IAC, also cited the upcoming presidential election as a significant cause of uncertainty for investors.

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Billionaire media mogul Barry Diller on Tuesday urged investors to maintain sizable cash positions following the stock market’s robust rally from coronavirus-induced lows in late March.

“Personally, and professionally, every nickel you can, keep it … wherever it’s banked,” the chairman of both Expedia and digital media group IAC said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Diller noted that IAC in August announced a 12% stake in MGM Resorts International. But he said the roughly $1 billion investment made sense because the pandemic had ravaged the casino and gaming industry, providing the company an attractive opportunity in which “we would never lose our capital there.”

“Because of this moment, for bad reasons, we got the ability to invest in something like that,” Diller said. “But generally, I think for any speculation, and I think the market right now is a great speculation, I would stay home.”

Diller is far from the first to express skepticism about the stock market’s pandemic recovery, which saw the S&P 500 rise more than 60% from its intraday low of 2,191 on March 23 to its record high of 3,588 on Sept. 2. Stocks have given back some of those gains since, with the S&P 500 entering Tuesday’s session off about 8% from its intraday peak earlier in the month.

Some, such as billionaire investor Michael Novogratz, have suggested the pullback represents the end of a “speculative frenzy.” By contrast, other market watchers have described the declines as healthy given the months-long rally and contend it may create attractive buying opportunities, especially in high-flying tech names such as Apple.

Diller cited the upcoming presidential election between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as a significant cause of uncertainty for investors.

“Each day from now until November is going to get more and more concerning, and more and more decisive, and more and more difficult,” said Diller, a longtime Democratic donor who has contributed more than $600,000 this year to the Biden Victory Fund, according to Federal Election Committee records.

“I actually think if I could wake up in mid-November, maybe it’s even late November given what might be contested, I would rub that magic genie,” added Diller, the former CEO of Fox and Paramount Pictures.

– CNBC

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