Last week’s market sell-off spurred by Donald Trump’s imposition of $50bn in tariffs on 1,300 Chinese products was part of the “old normal”, says veteran investor Mario Gabelli. “Markets go up and down, and you just take that into volatility,” he told Fox Business. The US remains attractive as an investment destination. “If I’m in the rest of the world, what I like about the US is the rule of law – on more favourable taxes to a more favourable regulatory environment – and a market system with all of the speed bumps and all the problems and all the potholes still is a very good place to invest.”
More specifically, Gabelli advises investors to own a piece of a baseball team. The Liberty Braves Group, which indirectly owns baseball team the Atlanta Braves, has “a real-estate facility… and over the next three or four years it’s going to improve dramatically, and I think you’ll make 50%, 60%… More important, for your grandchildren, you should buy… you should own a piece of the Atlanta Braves.”
Overall, in his view, the stockmarket simply isn’t overheated. The “animal spirits in the markets” have been re-awakened by Trump’s tax reforms and solid corporate profits, which in turn is creating a new wave of merger activity and resulting opportunities for investors, Gabelli tells CNBC. New priorities in Washington around spending on infrastructure and defence, coming on top of the tax reforms, could also continue to propel the markets higher. “I’m still very optimistic as I generally am over the next six to nine months.”