Billionaire John Calamos says he's bullish on stocks and the economy — and won't follow Warren Buffett off stage yet
John Calamos issued a cheery outlook for stocks and the economy, and ruled out following Warren Buffett in stepping down anytime soon.
The stock market is "coming back very, very well, so I'm pretty positive on that," the billionaire founder and chief investor of Calamos Investments told Business Insider this week.
The benchmark S&P 500 has rallied more than 23% from its April low to trade at record highs as of Friday morning.
Technology stocks like Tesla and Nvidia may be trading at heady valuations, but Calamos said he doesn't see any parallels to past bubbles such as the dot-com boom, which ended with a devastating crash.
Calamos said it's "very difficult to predict something like that's going to happen," so instead he focuses on setting up portfolios that provide protection against risks like that.
The convertible-bond pioneer said he expects volatility and uncertainty in markets to persist for a while, in part because President Donald Trump 's tariffs are clouding the global outlook. However, he expects those import taxes to eventually lead to better trade deals for the US that will be "positive, longer term."
Calamos also said the Trump administration's fiscal policy is "going in the right direction." The president's " big, beautiful bill" — which is working its way through Congress — proposes significant tax cuts funded in part by reduced spending on entitlement programs.
The veteran investor said he doesn't anticipate a recession, and inflation has "really come down," paving the way for more interest-rate cuts that promise to ease pressure on consumers and businesses and boost economic growth.
Buffett and retirement
Calamos started investing as a teenager, spent time working as a stockbroker, and quit to set up his own firm in 1977 after growing tired of being told what to do.
Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway almost a decade earlier, in 1965. Calamos said the "Oracle of Omaha" was firmly on his radar.
"Oh yeah, I respected him and what he was doing a lot," he said.
Buffett, who turns 95 in August, announced in May that he intends to step down as CEO at the end of this year. Calamos said he doesn't plan to leave his post anytime soon.
"Well, see, I'm not that old," he joked, pointing out that he's about a decade younger than Buffett. "I'm having a birthday next month, I'm going to call it the new 65."
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