“‘I’ve always told people there is nobody who can really pick the market on a short-term or an intermediate-term basis. Maybe I made the mistake of not adhering to my own advice in recent years.’”
Icahn’s investing arm Icahn Enterprises LP IEP, +0.01% started to short the market after the 2008 financial crisis, and became more aggressive in subsequent years. The company used a strategy of shorting broad market indexes, individual companies, commercial mortgages and debt securities. “I obviously believed the market was in for great trouble,” Icahn said. “[But] the Fed injected trillions of dollars into the market to fight COVID and the old saying is true: ‘Don’t fight the Fed.'”
Icahn addressed the report on the day it was released and offered an update on IEP’s recent earnings, saying he was fully in compliance with loan terms.