TEPPER: 'Four Feds going all one way? Good luck.'
His message to the crowd of investors was short and simple:
"It's kind of hard to fight money. Don't fight the Fed...Now you've got four Feds. Four!... Four Feds going all one way? Good luck.'"
Tepper is one of those closely-followed fund managers who has a tendency to move the market when he speaks. Earlier, we ran into a big fund manager who said he only came to watch Tepper talk.
The entire talk was about monetary policy. Last November, he said short the euro at the Robin Hood Conference.
"I said short the euro i think that might of worked out okay, I guess." (It did).
But this talk was less about Europe, and more about China. Back in November, said Tepper, "this country called China was incredibly tight." He pointed out that monetary policy in the US, China, Japan and Europe is easy now.
With China, that means you have to be careful if you think that easing there means the same thing as easing has meant in the US. That's because China is already loaded with debt, and with easing is about to add more. He thinks that could make things whacky - the steady rise in stocks we've seen in the US might not happen in China.
"I won't be too long bonds, or too short stocks," he said. As for commodities, he said he'll tread carefully.
Tepper ended quickly after that. As he pointed out earlier, someone else might need the time.
"I've got 6 minutes and 39 seconds, I could probably sell a couple of those to Bill Ackman, he's going to need them."
The Sohn Conference is attended by more than 2,500 investors. The event raises funds for pediatric cancer research.