George Soros’ former financial manager says Wall Street is ‘very confident’ Trump will win

Wall Street is “very confident” that former President Donald Trump will win the 2024 presidential election, according to a billionaire investor who once managed money for George Soros.

Stan Druckenmiller – who left his job making money for left-leaning tycoon Soros to start his own investment firm Duquesne Capital – said the last two weeks had shown that markets were pricing in a Trump victory.

“You can see it in bank stocks, you can see it in crypto,” Druckenmiller told Bloomberg News. “Over the last 12 days, the market and the inside of the market have been very confident that Trump will win.”

When asked who he planned to vote for, Druckenmiller said, “I definitely wouldn’t support either one.”

According to Druckenmiller, whose net worth is estimated at $9.98 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, banking and cryptocurrency are two sectors of the economy that will benefit significantly as a result of Trump’s promises to deregulate the industry.

Bank stocks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup have soared in recent days after reporting better-than-expected earnings.

“If you put a gun to my head … I would guess that Trump is the favorite to win the election,” he said.

Druckenmiller said even if the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, won, she would not be able to implement much of her agenda because state polls show Republicans want a majority in the U.S. Senate.

He predicted that a “red sweep” – a Trump victory and a Republican majority in both houses of Congress – was “more likely.”

Druckenmiller said that Trump and Harris “actually agree on some things, like industrial policy.”

“Both feel that government should apparently play a major role in capital allocation, which I find bizarre, frankly,” he said.

Druckenmiller said that both Democrats and Republicans are “throwing aside free-market Reagan capitalism,” although he said Harris’ policies are “much worse in terms of anti-business and regulation.”

Druckenmiller called Trump a “blowhard” who lacked the “dignity” of Ronald Reagan and other presidents.

“I’ll probably write someone in if I go to the polls,” he said.

The latest Fox News poll shows Trump leading Harris nationally, although the vice president has a slight lead in key battleground states.

The Fox News poll shows Trump leading Harris 50% to 48%, but the Democrat has a six-point lead among voters in seven swing states that could decide the election.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Harris with a narrow three-point lead over Trump.

Harris entered the race in July after Biden ended his re-election effort following a weak debate against Trump in June.

Trump was widely seen as the front-runner at the time, in part because of his perceived strength in the economy after several years of high inflation under the Biden administration, which has eased in recent months.