Billionaire investor Mario Gabelli said Friday he wishes the stock market would drop so he could get better bargains.
“I’d like them to go down because I like to buy things cheap,” the founder of Gamco Investors said on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” His firm has nearly $40.7 billion assets under management.
Stocks were higher Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 tried to end a record-setting week on a high note.
The Dow on Thursday posted its first record high since January, while the S&P 500 posted its first all-time high dating back to late August. The Dow’s record close was its 12th this year and its 100th since President Donald Trump‘s election victory in November 2016.
Gabelli, who said he was “neutral” on Trump’s tariffs, said the market is not too complacent about tariffs.
The Trump administration is attacking what it sees as unfair trade on a number of fronts.
The trade conflict between the U.S. and China heightened Monday evening after the Trump administration announced it will impose 10 percent tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Reuters first reported Tuesday morning that in response China said it will institute tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion on Sept. 24.
“I think [the market] has adjusted because we as a country can not continue to give $400 billion to China a year. And that has to change,” said Gabelli, referring to America’s trade deficit with China, which was $375 billion in 2017. “I agree with fair trade.”
The question now is whether Trump will follow through on a threat to put tariffs on the rest of Chinese imports, which totaled $505 billion last year.
WATCH:
Gabelli’s four Ts: Tariffs, taxes, ten-year Treasuries & tech
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