Billionaire Leon Cooperman Predicts Romney Win Better For Stock Market Than Obama Victory

By Connor Adams Sheets | September 06 2012 5:25 PM

Leon Cooperman, the billionaire founder of Omega Advisors, and Jack Bogle, the retired CEO and founder of Vanguard, are having it out over what the 2012 presidential election's impacts will be on the stock market.

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U.S. stocks ended the last day of April on a sour note with all three major indices posting their first monthly loss of the year, following three months of solid gains. Investors were spooked by a duo of lackluster U.S. economic reports and news that confirmed Spain has plunged into a double-dip recession.

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Cooperman, a hedge fund magnate who founded the $6.5 billion Omega, predicted Thursday on CNBC that a Mitt Romney victory in November would have a marked positive impact on the S&P 500, but that if President Barack Obama is re-elected, the S&P 500 would be negatively impacted, Business Insider reports.

Leon Cooperman even went into detail during the Thursday taping of CNBC's "Half-Time Report," predicting that if Obama wins the S&P 500 will lose 15 points, but that if Romney takes the White House back for Republicans, it would mean a 100 point gain for the S&P, assuming that it is at 1,400 points when .

Jack Bogle questioned the sanity of making such a prediction during a taping later of CNBC's "The Closing Bell" later Thursday:

"Did he really say take away 15 points? ... Well anybody who can get this market down to a 15 point change is not my kind of guy. You know, I like Leon, but who the heck knows? 15 points is nothing," Business Insider reports that he said. "I think he's dreaming. I really respect the man, but I don't think anybody knows."

Cooperman has a lot of experience, however, in finance, having created one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. He said Thursday that he doesn't blame Obama for the economic woes currently facing America, saying that Obama inherited a down economy, Business Insider reports, but that he would like to see Obama interface with business leaders more often when considering policy choices and ways to address the floundering economy.

Cooperman, 69, had a net worth of $2 billion as of March, according to Fortune, which said the New Jersey resident is the 224th-richest American.