TOP 5 PREDICTIONS FROM SALT HEDGE FUND CONFERENCE

Maybe it’s the gambling atmosphere in Las Vegas, but the crowd at the SALT hedge fund conference sure hasn’t been shy about placing bets on everything from the price of oil to who will win the 2016 presidential election. Here are five of the top predicti

1 Oil is going to rise to $70 a barrel by the end of the year, said T. Boone Pickens, head of BP Capital Management. “Demand is very, very good this year for oil,” but supply is going to get tight due to the number of oil rigs that have shuttered production, Pickens said.

2 Shares of oil company Royal Dutch Shell are headed down, said famed short seller Jim Chanos. “Big oil is pumping negative cash flow,” said the Kynikos Capital founder. Shell’s play for BG’s liquid natural gas resources won’t fix the problem because there’s more supply than demand.

3 Stocks are going to rise between 7% to 9% this year, said Leon Cooperman, head of Omega Advisors. “There’s consternation about interest rates, but I personally don’t quite get it,” Cooperman said, adding that stocks can easily withstand a slight uptick in historically low rates.

4 Fixed- income investments, on the other hand, are on the decline, Cooperman said. “I would reduce all fixed income positions and move to short-term durations,” he said. Michael Novogratz of hedge fund giant Fortress also warned that the bull market for fixed-income is over while speaking with Bloomberg Television at the conference, which is hosted by investment firm SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci.

5 Hillary Clinton will face off against Jeb Bush in the coming presidential election, said Greg Fleming, president of Morgan Stanley’s brokerage operations. Fleming made the prediction in a lightning-round session in which all the panelists were told to place bets on who makes it to 2016.

Indeed, with the election around the corner, predictions on who will win in 2016 often dominated the Vegas gathering. And with so many outspoken people swarming the opulent Bellagio Hotel and Casino, the political conversation sometimes grew heated. When Pickens took the stage on Thursday, he was asked to play a word-association game.

When Clinton’s name came up, he simply said, “Loser.”

“Winner,” he said, when the interviewer said, “Jeb Bush.”

Pickens also spent some time criticizing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is from his hometown in Oklahoma.

“Well, we’re both from the same place, but that doesn’t make us much alike,” the oil tycoon said of the former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief. He accused her of having “trouble” with the truth.

“Loser,” he said when Warren’s name came up.