US President Donald Trump's biggest weakness is his fear of falling stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange, claims investor Michael Burry, quoted by Business Insider.
“The stock market is Trump's kryptonite,” pointed out the investor immortalized in the 2015 film “The Big Short.”
According to him, the US president's goal in starting the war with Iran has changed from “revolution” to “simply getting out before the market crashes too much.” “It's a shame Americans died for this,” Burry continued in a recent message on his Substack channel.
Burry made the comments on news that Trump was considering “winding down” the US military campaign against Iran, arguing that it had already destroyed Tehran's ability to produce missiles.
“And Iranian oil can be sold again because the stock market is down,” Burry commented in his note, attaching another news story that the US was allowing the sale of Iranian petrochemicals that had already been loaded onto ships in an attempt to temper rising oil prices.
Ironic message from Michael Burry
In a later note, Burry wrote: “Trump is now giving an ultimatum on the Strait of Hormuz. He'd like to win that before the market opens. What's changed since Friday when the war was essentially over, I'm not sure.”
The S&P 500, the reference index of the American stock market, crossed the 7,000-point threshold at the end of January, a historic first. It has since fallen about 6 percent to below 6,600 points at Monday's close on the New York Stock Exchange.
Business Insider notes that it's worth noting that the decline also reflects a broader sell-off in shares of software companies like Adobe, amid investor fears that customers will cancel their subscriptions and use artificial intelligence tools instead.
The conflict between Iran, the US and Israel has caused major disruptions to the flow of oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical sea route.
'Nothing else touches' Trump, says 'The Big Short' investor
Along with attacks on the region's energy infrastructure, this fueled a 66 percent surge in Brent crude and a nearly 60 percent jump in West Texas Intermediate benchmarks reported earlier this year.
Burry has previously said that “nothing else touches” Donald Trump than the decline in the US stock market.
Other investors have also noted the US president's reluctance to cash in on severe financial market backlash to his policies and have for some time begun to bet that he will abandon measures that cause major turbulence.
Burry is best known for anticipating and profiting from the collapse of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s after his massive contrarian bet was chronicled in the book and movie “The Big Short.”
