Posted on 09/26/2025 5:07:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Henry McVey, KKR CIO of balance sheet, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the state of the economy, the Fed's interest rate outlook, latest market trends, opportunities in the Asian markets, and more.
There's a productivity boom in the U.S. similar to the 1990s, says KKR's Henry McVey | 9:06
CNBC Television | 3.23M subscribers | 38,798 views | September 25, 2025
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--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <-- 0:00 · world's debt. Back to you. 0:02 · >> Okay, Rick. Thank you. Very 0:05 · comprehensive right now, though, 0:06 · let's get a little more 0:07 · reaction to this latest 0:08 · economic data with Henry 0:09 · McVeigh. He's KKR balance sheet 0:11 · CIO. And, Henry, it's been a 0:13 · while since we've seen you. 0:15 · Thanks for coming in. 0:16 · >> It's great to be here. 0:17 · >> Let's talk. I know you just 0:19 · coming back from Asia, and I 0:20 · want to talk about that, but 0:22 · first let's focus on what's 0:24 · happening here in the United 0:25 · States. What do you think of 0:26 · these numbers? Better than 0:27 · anticipated on many levels. 0:28 · >> I think they really justify 0:30 · what we've been saying about 0:31 · KKR and our portfolio companies. 0:33 · Right. We typically own 150 to 0:34 · 200 businesses around the world. 0:35 · Really, when you think about 0:37 · the US, Rick hit on one huge 0:39 · point. There's a CapEx boom 0:40 · going on, and the big beautiful 0:42 · bill will accelerate that. But 0:43 · you're really seeing if you 0:44 · look at the first half of the 0:46 · year, I CapEx was actually grew 0:48 · more than all the growth in 0:50 · personal consumption, which is 0:52 · a massive thing to digest. 0:54 · Second, though, what we saw in 0:56 · the revisions is personal 0:57 · consumption came up. We've been 0:59 · talking about a lower 1:00 · unemployment this cycle. Some 1:01 · of that's demographics. Some of 1:03 · that is a less supply of labor. 1:05 · And so I think that was also 1:08 · echoed in the data. The one 1:09 · thing that's kind of noise is 1:11 · in the first quarter you had a 1:12 · negative GDP. That was because 1:14 · people were pre-buying. And 1:15 · then the second quarter you had 1:16 · a lot of exports. So we really 1:18 · focus on the investment and we 1:19 · focus on the personal 1:20 · consumption, which is about 70% 1:22 · of the economy. 1:23 · >> Mike Wilson was here earlier 1:24 · this week. And Joe, correct me 1:26 · if I'm wrong, I think he was 1:27 · saying that he thought things 1:29 · kind of bottomed out in April 1:30 · and that the economy has been 1:32 · picking up ever since. That's 1:33 · his view on where things stand. 1:35 · And as a result, he thinks 1:37 · equities will continue to climb. 1:38 · Do you share that view? 1:39 · >> He said something about that. 1:41 · Their long term case had been a 1:43 · rolling recession. That's now 1:44 · over and that we're going to 1:46 · start accelerating. But we need 1:47 · rate cuts for the 1:49 · re-acceleration to happen. 1:50 · >> Yeah. When we grew up the US 1:52 · consumer levered up and buy and 1:53 · it would lift the rest of the 1:55 · world. And what we've been in 1:56 · this cycle is kind of this 1:58 · asynchronous recovery where you 2:00 · have a manufacturing recession 2:00 · but services is doing well. 2:01 · Think about what's been 2:02 · happening in the manufacturing 2:03 · sector. The ISM has been below 2:05 · 50 for 30 out of 32 months, and 2:09 · we haven't had a recession, 2:09 · right. And so there are pockets 2:11 · of the world that are doing 2:13 · well, and there are pockets of 2:14 · the US economy are doing well. 2:15 · So every day you could come in 2:17 · and be bearish or bullish based 2:19 · on the data. Our base view. You 2:20 · know I think last time we 2:22 · talked this is like glass half 2:23 · full. This there's a 2:24 · productivity boom going on in 2:26 · the US that is very reminiscent 2:27 · of the 1990s that I think 2:29 · people don't fully appreciate. 2:30 · It allows you to pay higher 2:32 · wages. It allows you to endure 2:33 · the tariff hit to margins, and 2:35 · ultimately it drives revenue 2:36 · growth. And we're that's really 2:38 · from the Covid hangover from 2:39 · digitalization and automation. 2:41 · And now what we're seeing in 2:43 · our companies is some 2:44 · acceleration in AI productivity. 2:45 · >> Does it also mean that the 2:47 · jobs market could suffer 2:48 · because you're going to pay 2:49 · your existing employees more to 2:51 · get squeeze a little more 2:52 · productivity out of them and 2:53 · not necessarily take on new 2:55 · employees? 2:55 · >> I think there's let's 2:57 · separate the macro from the 2:58 · micro, the macro level. The 2:59 · government data is going to 3:01 · look poor because of two things. 3:02 · One is the government jobs have 3:04 · been a huge contributor to jobs, 3:05 · and that's probably going 3:06 · negative. And then second is 3:08 · we've had a huge, narrow focus 3:10 · on just health care and 3:11 · education. Outside of that, 3:13 · most sectors are actually flat 3:14 · to negative. And so I think 3:15 · there's going to be a lot of 3:17 · volatility just based on those 3:18 · two sectors. What we see and is 3:20 · kind of corroborated by what 3:21 · Rick said. And what you see in 3:23 · the ADP report is our 3:25 · businesses are doing fine. 3:26 · Maybe there's a little bit 3:27 · slower hiring, but there's no 3:29 · there's no firing boom going on 3:30 · the way that you've seen that 3:32 · kind of predated past 3:34 · recessions. And that's why I 3:35 · get back to this view. I think 3:38 · the fed needs to they've 3:39 · shifted their mandate from 3:40 · inflation to employment. I 3:41 · think if you think about it, if 3:43 · President Trump hadn't slowed 3:45 · the supply of labor, the 3:46 · unemployment rate would be 3:47 · closer to 5% and the fed would. 3:50 · >> Be the immigration. Yes, yes, 3:51 · yes. 3:51 · >> Right. And so there's there 3:53 · are a lot of statistical quirks 3:55 · that are going on right now. 3:56 · What I would say from our perch 3:58 · is things are doing fine. 3:59 · They're a little bit slower. 4:01 · You have to appreciate that 4:02 · most CEOs and CFOs are trying 4:03 · to figure out one tariffs. And 4:05 · then two is the benefits of the 4:06 · tax bill. Our base view at KKR 4:08 · is, is that we will continue to 4:10 · go through, and the economy 4:11 · will be one and a half to 2%, 4:13 · maybe a little bit of upside 4:15 · based on the revision today, 4:16 · but I think we'll be fine. I 4:18 · think the. 4:18 · >> Meaning that the fed doesn't 4:20 · need to cut rates. 4:21 · >> No, I think the fed does. 4:23 · The housing market is very weak 4:24 · right now. You were just 4:25 · reporting on that, that that is 4:28 · true. About 21% of states 4:29 · actually have negative HPA home 4:29 · price appreciation right now. 4:31 · The low income consumers 4:32 · feeling the impact of higher 4:33 · inflation. And ultimately there 4:35 · are levered entities in the 4:37 · community that borrowed when 4:38 · rates were super low and 4:40 · they're feeling some of that 4:41 · pinch. So we have two more cuts 4:43 · this year and we have three 4:44 · next year. 4:46 · >> Your view, though, from the 4:48 · KKR portfolio perspective, with 4:50 · 150 to 200 businesses that 4:51 · you're managing, is that 4:53 · businesses are continuing to 4:55 · spend, CapEx is continuing to 4:57 · go up, consumers are doing okay. 4:59 · And so maybe the market looks 5:02 · pretty pretty safe at these. 5:04 · >> Levels and it's starting to 5:06 · broaden out. I mean, we could 5:07 · have some pullback here because 5:08 · we've had a pretty big run as 5:10 · you guys had mentioned earlier. 5:12 · But ultimately you're seeing 5:13 · some broad now broadening out 5:15 · biotechs performing better. 5:15 · Some of the small caps are 5:17 · performing better. I just got 5:18 · back from Asia Asia Korea is up 5:20 · 60% year to date. China's up 5:23 · 35%. Japan's up another. Last 5:24 · time we were here we talked 5:26 · about Japan. Nobody owns these 5:27 · markets and the dollar is 5:29 · weakening. They're cheap. You 5:30 · know 70% of Korea trades less 5:32 · than 70% of the market trades 5:34 · at less than book value. And 5:36 · Japan three years later after 5:37 · we've been highlighting this, 5:39 · it's still 40% of that. That 5:40 · market trades at less than book 5:42 · value. And from a private 5:44 · equity standpoint, there's huge 5:46 · opportunity where these big 5:47 · companies are shedding 5:49 · unprofitable or non-strategic 5:51 · subsidiaries. And so activism 5:52 · is going to Japan. It's 5:54 · corporate reform has come to 5:56 · Korea. And even the Chinese, 5:57 · you're starting to see some 5:59 · things in that market where the 6:01 · market is performing better. 6:02 · That's kind of that's one half 6:04 · of the Asia story. The second. 6:06 · >> Opportunities for private 6:07 · equity, not necessarily for 6:08 · investors investing. 6:09 · >> But we we have this notion 6:11 · of kind of capital heavy to 6:13 · capital light when people are 6:14 · improving their corporate 6:15 · footprint, the stock goes up. I 6:17 · mean, look at we bought the 6:19 · receivables from Harley 6:20 · Davidson. The stock went up 20% 6:23 · that day. That technology and 6:24 · that structuring is going to 6:25 · Asia, and it's also going to 6:27 · Europe. And that's where you're 6:28 · seeing some pretty big 6:30 · opportunity sets, both for the 6:31 · private markets but also the 6:33 · public market. 6:33 · >> I hear you on the dollar's 6:36 · weakness and making part of 6:38 · that argument. Argument. But 6:40 · what about the tariffs that 6:41 · those countries are going to 6:42 · have to face with exporting 6:44 · things to the United States? 6:45 · >> I mean, look, if you take a 6:48 · country like China, it's 6:48 · redirected towards Southeast 6:50 · Asia, towards Africa and other 6:51 · markets. What's happening, 6:53 · though, bigger picture is that 6:55 · you're getting kind of this 6:56 · tripolar world where Canada, 6:58 · the US and Mexico are trading 6:59 · more, Europe is trading more, 7:01 · and then Asia is starting to 7:03 · trade more with itself. If you 7:05 · look at the data, about 48 to 7:07 · 50% of trade in Asia is with 7:09 · itself. We think that's going 7:11 · to go to 70%, which would be 7:14 · more akin to Europe and the 7:15 · Americas. And that's why you've 7:16 · seen a huge uplift in what's 7:18 · going on around logistics 7:20 · infrastructure. That's a 7:21 · booming business for us. And 7:22 · you see this when you talk to 7:24 · the executives there. They want 7:25 · to have their supply chains. 7:27 · They're uncertain about what 7:29 · the macro and the geopolitical 7:30 · environment is. So they're 7:31 · shortening their supply chains 7:32 · and they're trading more with 7:34 · themselves. And the second big 7:36 · theme is that consumption 7:37 · upgrade within Asia, Vietnam, 7:39 · India, some of the other big 7:40 · markets where we invest, 7:42 · they're starting to see their 7:44 · GDP per capita going up, and 7:46 · they're benefiting from traded 7:47 · goods and services in that in 7:49 · that market, Europe didn't 7:50 · really ever have a as much 7:52 · cross-border services, but 7:53 · we're seeing that in Asia grow 7:56 · faster. 7:57 · >> What, if anything, worries 8:00 · you? 8:01 · >> Look, the two things that 8:03 · the AI spending at the rate 8:04 · that it's growing is a huge 8:07 · positive influence on the 8:09 · economy, if that if we were to 8:11 · see return on capital in that 8:12 · sector fall off faster, that's 8:14 · a real cyclical boom that would 8:16 · affect GDP. The second thing is 8:18 · our our base view at KKR is 8:21 · that unemployment's not going 8:22 · to spike to 5.5%. If you saw a 8:24 · real change in the labor market 8:26 · that that change that really 8:28 · altered the employment 8:30 · landscape, that would be a 8:32 · shock to the system otherwise, 8:34 · I think. And then the final one 8:36 · is more structural. It's hard 8:37 · to measure on a day to day 8:39 · basis. But, you know, folks got 8:41 · to watch this productivity boom, 8:42 · right? And think about it. When 8:44 · we restate the data, right. The 8:46 · BLS is going to told us that 8:49 · they're going to take jobs down 8:50 · by 911,000. What's going to 8:51 · happen to the data? The 8:53 · productivity numbers are going 8:54 · to go through the roof, and 8:55 · it's going to further confirm 8:57 · our thesis. At the same time, 8:58 · it's going to tell you that 9:00 · Americans have a lower savings 9:01 · rate, and that's going to make 9:03 · people more nervous about low 9:04 · income credit. And hence
I think if you think about it, if President Trump hadn't slowed the supply of labor, the unemployment rate would be closer to 5% and the fed would.
>> Be the immigration.
Yes, yes, yes. Right.
A machine produces 1000x the wealth does not mean 1000x the income to the worker, assuming he is still working.
Are Henry and Roberts still alive ?
My uncle ran motel 6 chain for them in Dallas 80s I think
He did good with them
He compares the current productivity increases to the 90s. The 90s were the dotcom boom followed by a bust. Thirty years on we’re in an AI boom of capex and the start of productivity improvements. Enjoy the ride!
Yet, there was a story a few days ago saying that 95% of companies are getting zero ROI on their AI investments
This is also supposedly the third or fourth wave of AI/ML too.
I saw that, too. Its a steep learning curve.
AI my butt. Tariffs mean you can’t outsource. Immigration enforcement means fewer illegals working. Input costs rise in a way that the only solution is invest in improving productivity. That’s what’s supposed to happen.
Looks like both of them are.
Or hire Americans.
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