Billionaire investor George Soros told a German publication that the U.S. economy requires hundreds of billions of dollars in additional bailout funds to successfully weather the ongoing financial crisis. Reuters’ Kerstin Gehmlich wrote Saturday:

The U.S. economy needs additional support measures of between $300 billion and $600 billion to help it withstand the financial crisis, U.S. billionaire investor George Soros was quoted as saying by a German weekly.

Soros, one of the world’s first and best-known hedge fund managers, told Der Spiegel magazine the United States needed an infrastructure programme, as well as a large economic stimulus package to provide its cities and states with sufficient cash.

“It has exceeded my most daring expectations,” Soros told Spiegel weekly in an advance copy of an interview due to be published on Monday.

He was referring to the scale of the international financial crisis.

Unlike his former partner in the Quantum Fund, Jim Rogers, the Hungarian-born investor believes that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is capable of rescuing the American economy. Gehmlich noted:

Soros said he had high expectations of the ability of President-elect Barack Obama to take appropriate measures.

“The duration of the crisis depends on the success of his policies,” Soros said, according to Der Spiegel. “I have high hopes on Obama.”

Despite the carnage in the global financial markets, Soros Fund Management has been pouring funds into energy-related investments. MarketWatch’s Steve Gelsi wrote this morning:

Consol Energy (CNX) rallied 15% to $23.92. Peabody Coal (BTU ) rose 13% to $21.28. Arch Coal (ACI) jumped 12% to $13.80 on Monday. Public filings disclosed investments in these and other coal producers. Soros Fund Management LLC, the investment arm of billionaire George Soros, bought 2.9 million Arch Coal Inc. shares in the last quarter, according to a 13F filing.

This latest action by Soros in the energy sector follows his investment in “food friendly” ethanol company Qteros and an increase in his stake of Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro (PRB) to 21.1 million American Depositary Receipts as of September 30 from 11.5 million back on June 30.

Sources:

“Soros says U.S. needs billions more in aid measures”
Kerstin Gehmlich
Reuters, November 22, 2008

“Coal producers rally as investors wade in”
Steve Gelsi
MarketWatch, November 24, 2008

This post is filed under Energy, George Soros, Jim Rogers, Natural Resources, Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.