Billionaire Leon Cooperman Predicted a 40% Crash and Recession in 2023. The S&P 500 Rallied 45% Instead.

The legendary hedge fund manager who once ran Goldman Sachs' asset management division was absolutely certain the bear market was just getting started. His math was simple: 40% off the 4800 peak would put the S&P 500 around 2,880. Instead, the market had other plans. Not only was there no recession in 2023 (or 2024, or 2025), but the S&P 500 went on an absolute tear — blowing past 5,000, then 6,000, and now sitting around 6,940. That's not down 40%, that's UP 45% from the very peak Cooperman said we'd never see again "for several years." The 81-year-old billionaire has since quietly stopped making bold market timing calls, preferring to talk about individual stocks instead. Funny how that works.