David Tepper: “My Balls Are In My Jockstrap,” As Stocks Could Drop Another 15%

As Bill Ackman babbles about ‘hell on earth’, and Ray Dalio commits billions of dollars to pay the bills of health care workers (please take this report with a grain of salt) as his firm’s flagship fund was reportedly blindsided by the selloff…

Did you hear that Connecticut billionaire Ray Dalio, big finance guy, and his wife are donating $4 billion to health care workers to pay their bills? What a patriot! Did anyone tell Bernie Sanders?

— Bill O’Reilly (@BillOReilly) March 23, 2020

…another hedge fund titan who presciently described the novel coronavirus outbreak as a “game changer” just six weeks ago is warning investors who are still desperately trying to catch a falling knife that he doesn’t expect the carnage to end anytime soon.

Appaloosa Management founder and Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper spoke with CNBC’s Scott Wapner on Monday, and warned that the market could fall another 10% to 15%.

Though Tepper also noted that he has started “nibbling,” buying some high-quality names, particularly in the tech sector.

“I’m nibbling right now, for what it’s worth,” Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management, told CNBC’s Scott Wapner on “Halftime Report.” Tepper noted he is adding to his positions in tech giants such as Amazon, Google parent Alphabet and Alibaba as well as chipmaker Micron Technology. Tepper also said he’s buying some health-care stocks. “Things look really interesting for the long term.”

As the market struggles to judge the economic blow from the coronavirus outbreak, Tepper said he “wouldn’t want to be levered” right now.

“If you’re levered, I wouldn’t be levered,” Tepper said. “The market could go down more. On the other hand, we could be near a bottom once they [Congress] get this package done.”

Before the bottom is in, the market will need to see the outbreak peak in Italy and other badly hit European countries (some we saw a promising glimpse of earlier), Tepper said, while also wanting to see lawmakers in Washington pass the second part of Trump’s economic stimulus plan.

He added that instead of the federal government’s dithering about making up for supply shortfalls, Tepper said he wanted to see the masks and ventilators “rolling off the assembly line.

It’s not enough to hold a few press conferences and make some big promises, Tepper said. The public needs to see action.

“I’d like to see the ventilators rolling out of the assembly lines, I’d like to see the masks being given…You have to have a plan,” he said. Tepper added. “The key is to get out of this lockdown and into a distancing mode.”

A fan of colorful language, during the decade-plus post-crisis bull market that ended only recently, Tepper developed a catchphrase: going ‘balls to the wall’ when betting on record market gains.

Now, he says, his “balls” are resting in his jockstrap.

“Sometimes you hear me say “Balls To The Wall….Well, now, they are in my jockstrap,” Tepper said.

Watch a clip from the interview below: