Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has said that Donald Trump is likely to win next week’s election – but he said the margin will be razor-thin.
‘The expectation today is that Donald Trump will win the White House,’ the Citadel founder said on Tuesday.
However, Griffin – whose $42 billion fortune makes him the 37th richest person in the world – noted the race is ‘almost a coin flip.’
A prominent Republican donor, Griffin has contributed around $100 million to the GOP during this election cycle, Bloomberg reported.
Griffin is also notorious among retail investors for his involvement in the 2021 GameStop stock frenzy, where he was accused of helping hedge funds who faced big losses if the share price went too high.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has said that former president Donald Trump is expected to win the election next week
While Griffin said he expects Trump to secure a second term in the White House, he admitted that the race is very tight.
‘We are at that moment of peak uncertainty,’ he said while speaking as part of a panel at Saudi Arabia‘s Future Investment Initiative summit.
‘It is a race that Trump is favored to win but it is almost a coin toss.’
He added that the clarity brought by an election victory, for either candidate, will be good for markets.
‘This uncertainty will be behind us,’ he added.
While Griffin has donated millions to Republicans, he has notably not donated directly to Trump’s campaign.
The investor has especially focused his donations on candidates in primary races, particularly open primaries, according to Bloomberg.
Griffin’s comments come after legendary investor Stan Druckenmiller said the stock market is ‘convinced’ that Trump will win the election.
‘I would have to guess Trump is the favorite to win the election,’ the billionaire said in an interview earlier this month.
He said there are clues in bank stocks and in cryptocurrency that markets are pricing in a Trump victory – amid reports that major hedge funds are positioning themselves to profit if Trump wins a second term.
While Griffin said he expects Trump to secure a second term in the White House, he admitted that the race is very tight
Druckenmiller made the comments during an interview on October 16 with Sonali Basak.
She asked what the ‘Druckenmiller playbook’ is around this election cycle and what he thinks the mostly likely scenario is for what will happen next month.
‘It’s an evolving situation, and if you had asked me this 12 days ago, I would have said, “I don’t have a clue, it’s still a total toss-up, and I don’t have any conviction who is going to win the election,”‘ the 71-year-old billionaire said.
But he said he likes to look to the stock market for indicators as to the future of the economy – and as a clue during elections.
‘I remember how right the market was on Ronald Reagan in 1980, despite what the pundits were saying,’ he said.
‘And I must say in the last 12 days, the market and the inside of the market is very convinced Trump is going to win.
‘You can see it in the bank stocks, you can see it in crypto, you can even see it in DJT, his social media company.’
Druckenmiller, who has a net worth of around $6.9 billion, made his name managing money for George Soros for more than a decade. He also funded Nikki Haley’s primary campaign against Trump.
During the interview, he added that he would not endorse either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in this election cycle – and would likely not vote for either.
Meanwhile Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase – the largest bank in the US – has reportedly privately endorsed Harris, despite keeping quiet publicly.
The chief executive has reportedly not made his stance known publicly because he is afraid that Trump will retaliate against people and companies who opposed his run if he is elected.
Legendary investor Stan Druckenmiller said that the stock market is ‘convinced’ that Donald Trump will win the presidential election
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has reportedly privately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, despite keeping quiet publicly.
It comes as big fund managers have sensed a shift in momentum away from Harris, and are buying stocks that would benefit from a Republican victory, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For example, GEO Group, a private-prison operator, has jumped 21 percent this October, on track for its best month since 2022, while bitcoin miner Riot Platforms has surged 34 percent.
That is despite the polls still largely indicating that the candidates are neck and neck.
Trump has the lead in prediction markets, where people place bets on the outcome of the election, Fortune reported.
Yet, polls for the New York Times/Siena College and Reuters/Ipsos show Harris with a one percentage point lead over Trump as of Wednesday.
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