Star stock picker Cathie Wood of Ark Invest on Tuesday again suggested that the U.S. economy will soon experience deflation and said that the reported acquisition of crypto exchange FTX.com will boost its remaining competitors.
Wood, who has a significant position in crypto exchange Coinbase Global, said in a webinar that the crypto industry “will be down one exchange and those that are left standing will be all the stronger for it.”
Shares of Coinbase fell nearly 14% in afternoon trading on Tuesday after Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said that is has signed a nonbinding agreement to buy FTX.com, a unit of major rival FTX, to help cover a “liquidity crunch” at the cryptocurrency exchange.
Wood, who has been a prominent bullish investor in cyrptocurrencies such as bitcoin, again called the Federal Reserve’s aggressive pace of interest rate hikes a “monetary mistake” and said that “we think within 6 to 9 months we will see a significant downturn in inflation that will invite more talk of outright price deflation.”
Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF, which was the top-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020 during the so-called pandemic bubble, has fallen nearly 64% for the year to date as higher interest rates weigh on the unprofitable, speculative technology stocks in her portfolio.
The fund fell 1% in afternoon trading on Tuesday.
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