MW Druckenmiller says CEOs are excited due to Trump. Why he's cautious on the stock market.

By Steve Goldstein

Legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller is optimistic about the economy. But he doesn't share that enthusiasm for the stock market.

Druckenmiller gave an inauguration day interview to CNBC in which George Soros's former right-hand man said the chief executives he's spoken to are excited about the incoming administration.

"I've been doing this for 49 years, and we're probably going from the most anti-business administration to the opposite," Druckenmiller said. "I'd say CEOs are somewhere between relieved and giddy. So we're a believer in animal spirits."

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On the stock market, however, he said it's "complicated." "You're going to have this push of a strong economy versus bond yields rising in response to that strong economy, and that kind of makes me not have a strong opinion one way or the other," he said. Druckenmiller said the ratio of the earnings yield to bond yields was the most unattractive in 20 years.

U.S. stock futures were trading higher on the first trading of the Trump administration, with the S&P 500 (ES00) contract up 0.2%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury BX:TMUBMUSD10Y fell 4 basis points as the dollar DXY fell after Trump didn't unveil any new tariffs in his first day in office.

Druckenmiller said he would focus on individual stocks rather than the broader market. His last 13-F showed his told holdings as Natera $(NTRA)$, a DNA testing company; Coupang $(CPNG)$, the U.S.-listed, South Korean online retailer; and Coherent Corp. $(COHR)$, a maker of optical materials and semiconductors.

-Steve Goldstein

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January 21, 2025 03:05 ET (08:05 GMT)

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