By Sam Boughedda
In an episode of "Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein," chief executive and chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management Dawn Fitzpatrick said that she isn't worried about a recession in the near term, despite the recent market selloff.
Fitzpatrick argues that consumers in the U.S. are in "extraordinarily" good shape, helping the economy to endure the Fed's expected rate hikes.
In the interview, which is scheduled to air May 31 at 9 pm E.T., the chief executive acknowledged that wage growth is not keeping up with inflation but that Americans in the U.S. still have sufficient cash to pay down credit card balances.
"When you look at that GDP number, the really important point is the reason it shrank is because of net imports, which were negative, which means we're importing a lot of goods from abroad. That's because consumer and corporate demand is robust. So there's a silver lining in the reading of that GDP number," Fitzpatrick said.
"The bottom line is a recession is inevitable. It's a matter of when. And when you look at what markets are pricing here, they're pricing it fairly soon. In the 2023 context, depending on which asset classes you're looking at, I actually think markets might be wrong," she added.
Asked whether soaring inflation is a big problem, Fitzpatrick explained that "rate increases will slow the economy and will impact inflation, but this economy has some shock absorbers built-in. I don't think we'll avoid a recession, but it will be further out than people expect."
Fitzpatrick manages around $28 billion in funds as the head of George Soros's family office.