The stock market is in a mania fueled by the Federal Reserve and investor speculation that will end badly in coming years, longtime hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller told CNBC on Wednesday.
"Everybody loves a party ... but, inevitably, after a big party there's a hangover," the billionaire CEO of the Duquesne Family Office said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "Right now, we're in an absolute raging mania. We've got commentators encouraging companies to do stock splits. Companies then go up 50%, 30%, 40% on stock splits. That brings no value, but the stocks go up."
Tesla shares rallied 82.5% from Aug. 11 — when the company announced a 5-for-1 stock split — to Aug. 31, when the split took effect. Apple jumped 34.2% between July 30 and Aug. 31 on news of a 4-for-1 stock split. The stock has fallen more than 12% since the split took effect.
The S&P 500 is up more than 51% after hitting an intraday low on March 23. Last week, the broader-market index hit an all-time high before a rollover in tech shares knocked it back below that level.
"I have no clue where the market is going to go in the near term. I don't know whether it's going to go up 10%; I don't know whether it's going to go down 10%," Druckenmiller said. "But I would say the next three to five years are going to be very, very challenging."
This massive market rally is due in large part to the measures taken up by the Fed since the pandemic began, Druckenmiller said. He noted that, while the central bank did a "great job" in March by cutting rates and launching unprecedented stimulus programs to sustain the economy, the follow-up market rally "has been excessive." He also said that for the first time in a while, he is worried about inflation shooting higher.
"The merging of the Fed and the Treasury, which is effectively what's happening during Covid, sets a precedent that we've never seen since the Fed got its independence," Druckenmiller said. "It's obviously creating a massive, massive mania in financial assets."
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.
