Paul Tudor Jones Sees a Looming US Recession, Recommends Investors Hunker Down with Gold, Bitcoin

Paul Tudor Jones doesn’t like what's happening in the markets, U.S. politics or the broader world stage.

The billionaire hedge fund investor struck a decidedly bearish tone on Tuesday morning, telling CNBC that he believes the current mix of geopolitical unrest and American economic weakness will cause a recession and a double-digit drop in the stock market.

Jones dismissed the current slate of politicians raising their hands for the White House in 2024, calling on dark horse candidate Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, to enter the race. He wants to prevent another matchup between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, whom he said shared blame for the current environment.

Stock Investors Face 'Challenging Time'

“It’s a really challenging time to want to be an equity investor in U.S. stocks right now," the 69-year-old macro investor referred to as PTJ told CNBC, opining that the overall market would decline by roughly 12% by the end of 2023, auguring a recession in the first quarter of 2024.

Markets tend to pay attention to what Jones says. His star rose on Wall Street after he predicted the infamous "Black Monday" market crash in 1987 before making billions on a variety of calls about the broader direction of the global economy over the next few decades.

His outlook on what's coming for U.S. and global economies in the coming months is grim.

'Threatening and Challenging'

“It might be the most threatening and challenging geopolitical environment that I’ve ever seen,” he said, citing the Israeli conflict with Hamas, the war in Ukraine and ongoing tensions between China and Taiwan. “Because you have four nuclear powers, three of whom are led by sociopaths, and that would be China, Russia, and North Korea.”

But the risk of global war was only one-half of Jones' gloomy thesis.

“So that is also happening at the same time, the United States is probably in its weakest fiscal position since certainly World War II,” he said, pinning the blame equally on the spending habits of Trump and Biden.

"The people that created the problem, as Einstein said, are not the ones to fix it,” Jones explained. "Neither one of them can be president. It’s really, it’s that simple.”

And while Jones suggested that while cutting spending was key, the only way to get back to fiscal safety would be a tax hike on all Americans, not just billionaires.

Sen. Joe Manchin for President

When pressed on who he would like to see in the Oval Office, Jones seemed to indicate that he would support Manchin, even predicting that the centrist No Labels political organization, chaired by former Senator Joe Leiberman, might nominate Manchin. 

According to OpenSecrets data, Jones has given generally to politicians on both sides of the aisle, writing checks in recent years to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In June, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Jones donated $150,000 to “Tell It Like It Is” a Super PAC associated with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2024 White House run.

And while Jones struck a mostly bleak tone on Tuesday, he did offer some bullish thoughts on two sectors in particular.

“I like Bitcoin and I like gold right here," he said.