Billionaire Leon Cooperman is warning of a recession and predicting significant further decline in the S&P 500 (^IN) index.
Cooperman, chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors, made the comments on Fox Corporation's (FOX) Fox Business in a lengthy interview.
DON'T MISS: Warren Buffett's Company Boosted Its Stake In Only Three Major Companies in Q4
"I'm assuming this all ends in a recession," Cooperman said. "It could be late this year, it could be next year. But I think the combination of QT (quantitative tightening), Fed tightening, the high price of oil, or maybe a strong dollar, some combination of these four things, will create a recession."
Cooperman then made some very specific numerical predictions about the levels he was talking about.
"The final bottom of the market will be about 35% below the 4,800 peak," he said.
That math works out to an S&P 500 value of about 3,120 points.
"I think there's only a 5% chance of going above 4,400 on the S&P, and I think a 45% chance of, if we have a recession this year, the lows will be 3,300 or thereabouts," he continued. "And I think the 4,800 on the S&P 500 is a level that we're not going to surpass for quite some time."
Cooperman also talked about broad economic conditions.
"I'm looking at higher rates, continued high inflation and probably, regrettably, higher taxes," he said.
"Anyway, there's a lot to be worried about, but guess what? You know, if you talk about, what is a bear market? A bear market is a period of time when more stocks are declining than rising, the decline persists for at least a year, and the decline, on average, is about 25%," Cooperman said.
The billionaire then addressed his belief that, while it's currently easy to be bearish, he doesn't believe he is entirely of that point of view.
"By that definition, a very large percentage of the market has already been through a bear market," he said. "It's very easy to be bearish. I'm not surprised about inflation. If 64% of a typical business cost is labor, and you have 1.7 jobs available for everybody seeking a job, that is not in line with when labor costs are going to moderate."
"I'm not a bull. I'm not a bear. I'm like a buffalo. I'm finding a lot of cheap stocks," he said.
