President Donald Trump has had a positive impact on the economy since taking office, billionaire hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz said Friday.
“I think that the economy is much stronger than anyone would have anticipated before the election,” Peltz said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“What we have today is we have the dollar weakening, the economy getting stronger. I don’t understand why they want to have three interest rate increases [in 2017],” he added. “We owe a lot of money. Why do we want to pay more interest? Why do we want to make the dollar stronger? I think things are just fine the way they are.”
The markets widely expect the Fed to hike interest rates for a third time in 2017 at its December meeting, according to CME FedWatch tool.
Peltz said he agreed that over the last eight years, the government’s response to business was not friendly. It was “a proxy fight,” he said.
Peltz spoke before the Labor Department monthly jobs report, showing a loss of 33,000 jobs in September. It was the first decline in the government’s monthly employment report in seven years.
Peltz, head of $12.7 billion hedge fund Trian Partners, was also speaking with CNBC on Friday about his proxy fight with Procter & Gamble.
In the interview, Peltz said he believes the vote on whether to elect him to P&G’s board will be “close.” The hedge fund manager also said he feels he can still work with P&G Chief Executive Officer David Taylor, adding people can mend fences after the dust settles.
