Leon Cooperman: 'The world is all crazy'
Billionaire hedge fund pioneer Leon Cooperman told CNBC on Tuesday the world is "turned upside down," from negative interest rates in Japan and Europe to the unprecedented U.S. presidential election.
"The world is all crazy," the Omega Advisors chairman and CEO told "Squawk Box." "[But] the world is not going into recession."
Against that backdrop, U.S. stocks are "fully valued," Cooperman contended. "The market is fully valued, not exploited, not overvalued, but fully valued." Omega has about $5.4 billion in assets under management.
But for investors who do their homework there's opportunity, Cooperman said. "I think there are many companies that are very cheap relative to the index ... because the money flowing into the market is largely going into these indexed products."
Cooperman also said nominal GDP growth should be around 4 percent, which means the fed funds overnight lending rate should be 2 percent, not 37 basis points.
The Federal Reserve has the fed funds rate pegged in a range of 25 to 50 basis points. Central bankers will next meet in November to decide on whether to raise rates.
The Fed last increased rates in December 2015 for the first time in more than nine years. The market puts the odds of a December hike this year at about 70 percent.
Cooperman also said the 10-year Treasury yield, trading near 1.76 percent early Tuesday, should be around 4 percent.
In his "Squawk Box" appearance, Cooperman also defended himself against insider trading charges brought by the government, and made the case for why he believes Donald Trump is not presidential.