SUPPLY-CHAIN DANGER: Well known investment expert says protect your portfolios, inflation could be worse than feared, biggest threat to markets and society

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones believes that inflation is here to stay, posing a major threat to the U.S. markets and economy.

“I think to me the number one issue facing Main Street investors is inflation, and it’s pretty clear to me that inflation is not transitory,” Jones said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday. “It’s probably the single biggest threat to certainly financial markets and I think to society just in general…Inflation can be much worse than what we fear.”

The longtime trader said price pressures will continue to rise in the coming months. Inflation ran at a fresh 30-year high in August amid supply chain disruptions and extraordinarily strong demand.

“It’s absolutely dead for a 60/40 portfolio, for a long stock, long bond portfolio. So the real question is how you defend yourselves against it,” Jones said.

Jones is the founder and chief investment officer of Tudor Investment Corporation. He shot to fame after he predicted and profited from the 1987 stock-market crash. He is also the chairman of non-profit JUST Capital, which ranks public U.S. companies based on social and environmental metrics.

More than a year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life, the supply of basic goods at U.S. grocery stores and restaurants is once again falling victim to intermittent shortages and delays.

“I never imagined that we’d be here in October 2021 talking about supply-chain problems, but it’s a reality,” said Vivek Sankaran, chief executive officer of Albertsons Cos., who echoed the laments of other retailers. “Any given day, you’re going to have something missing in our stores, and it’s across categories.”

‘Whack-A-Mole’

In Denver, broken parts at the milk supplier’s plant affected shipments of half-pint cartons, on top of disruptions at one time or another in cereal, tortillas and juice.

“We’ve been struggling with supply-chain issues with different items since school started,” said Theresa Hafner, the executive director of food services at Denver Public Schools. “It just continues to pop up. It’s like playing whack-a-mole.”