Icahn: Markets will have ‘a day of reckoning’

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is “extremely cautious” on the U.S. market, he told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Thursday.

“I do believe in general that there will be a day of reckoning unless we get fiscal stimulus,” he said, pointing to the Federal Reserve’s maintaining low interest rates, and potentially creating “tremendous bubbles.”

On the fiscal side Icahn argued that “you certainly could do more spending.”

“The Republican party that I used to be more sympathetic with — I’m right in the middle now, although as you know I’m for (GOP front-runner Donald) Trump — but what I would say is Congress is in this massive gridlock obsessed,” he said, explaining that the Republican-controlled Congress is “obsessed with this deficit to a point that I think it’s almost pathological.”

Worrying about a deficit when there is no significant inflation and the dollar remains the global reserve currency is not a smart way to govern, Icahn said, adding that “a country is not a company.”

As for actual bets, Icahn said he thought some commodities companies could see their share prices rise, but he has “a huge short position on.”

“The short position obviously isn’t working that well as the market goes up, but I have not changed my opinion,” he said.

The famed investor has voiced a bearish opinion before, telling CNBC in September that markets looked “way overpriced” and that many investors had put themselves into “dangerous” positions.