Billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC Friday that the economy is in a precarious position and warned against seeing the recent stock rally as an indication that somehow we’ve turned a corner.
“It’s a myth to say the market is a good indicator of the economy. I think individuals are much more of an indicator. I think that you have to be cautious, [the market] is on the precipice right now and could go either way, is a very sensitive area right now” Icahn said. Icahn also said that the market is acting in a “schizophrenic” way and emphasized the fact that there is a real risk of a double-dip recession.
“The market is schizophrenic at this point. So you have trillions of dollars literally in consumers hands, they don’t want to spend it, they’re afraid to spend it,” Icahn said.
“If you get a double-dip recession and they start coming down, it’s going to be a bit of a bloodbath….The amateur investor is going to get hit badly again because they’re pouring money into these funds. Some of these funds managers I do not think are experienced enough to handle some of the distressed stuff they’re buying and they’re going to get burned,” Icahn said.
