Stocks are feverish. Why doesn't iconic shortstop Michael Burry trade in a market like this?

Donald Trump's surprise announcement that the US is suspending strikes on Iranian infrastructure after "productive negotiations" has brought optimism back to traders, with the S&P 500 index of US stocks rising more than 1.5%. However, investor Michael Burry, known as the prototypical hero of the "Downgrade Game," said he prefers to refrain from trading in such a market.

"I believe that POTUS [US President. - Oninvest] is only trying to prevent the markets from crashing, as he has successfully done in the past. I don't trade on this growth," Burry wrote in a chat with subscribers of his Cassandra Unchained blog on Substack.

The investor noted that there was "no sign" of the conflict de-escalating over the weekend before Trump's statement. When markets began the first trading of the week, futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices were down 0.6%, while the Nasdaq 100 was down 0.8%.

"During the night when the markets were going down, I got up early to work on strategy and check the premarket on stocks I was interested in, to think about where to allocate capital - and whether I should do it at all - if things got chaotic," Burry described. - I'm now back to work on a key article I've been working on for the past week. I don't see any good opportunities."

In response to a clarifying question from a user, Burry said he keeps a "significant" amount of cachet in his portfolio. He said he still owns large blocks of stocks and also put options, which he disclosed earlier on his blog. Specifically, Burry confirmed that he continues to hold shares in US refiner Valero Energy and oilfield services companies Halliburton and Schlumberger as longs. But the investor is not making any new deals right now. According to Burry, only in one major market - in Hong Kong - he sees signs of "real capitulation" - a sharp decline in the already heavily sagging and undervalued securities.

The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which has been going on for more than three weeks, has triggered a 50% rise in the cost of benchmark Brent crude oil and a 7% drop in the S&P 500 index from its January peak.

On the morning of March 23, Trump said he had ordered the military to postpone strikes on Iranian power plants after "productive negotiations" with Tehran. The news came hours before Trump's deadline to demand that Tehran unblock the Strait of Hormuz under threat of destroying power plants. Despite Iran's Foreign Ministry denying talks with the U.S., traders' risk appetite surged. The VIX index, known as the Wall Street fear indicator, plunged sharply to the psychological 20-point mark, while futures on major U.S. indices soared 2% or more. After the opening of trading in New York, stocks continued to rise. At the time of publication, the S&P 500 was adding 1.6%, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq were up 1.8%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor