Cliff Asness Tweets: ‘I Am Not a Libertarian About Coronavirus’

(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus has dragged billionaire investor Cliff Asness back from his Twitter break -- and away from his libertarian orthodoxy.

The founder of AQR Capital Management LLC resurfaced on the social-media platform Sunday with a series of missives calling for fiscal intervention to relieve consumers and businesses hit by the deadly outbreak.

A volte-face for the combative proponent for free markets and small government? Sure, but as he put it: There are no pure libertarians in viral pandemics.

It’s another sign of growing investor panic as rate cuts and cheaper asset valuations fail to inspire a recovery across global markets while a plunge in consumer demand and business investment raises recession risk.

Wall Street is calling for everything from corporate bailouts and crisis-era stimulus to direct aid for workers hit by the pandemic.

Asness, a pioneer of quant investing, said he was open to the possibility of enforcing extreme social distancing as desperate times require desperate measures, like emergency fiscal intervention to remedy imperfect markets and help those affected.

Market volatility unleashed by the spreading virus is also hitting AQR’s stock-picking portfolios. The systematic strategy of buying cheap shares and selling expensive ones, known as value, has plunged as investors shun the riskiest names. A Bloomberg long-short index of the investing style is set for its worst month this century.

In that regard, Asness isn’t wavering.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justina Lee in London at jlee1489@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Sid Verma

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.