BOCA RATON, Florida/NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Citadel's founder Ken Griffin said he would like to hear more about U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposals before supporting him in the elections, when asked about his backing on Tuesday.
"I want to hear what Trump's going to do for the United States. I want to see what the policy platform looks like," he told a conference hosted by the Futures Industry Association in Boca Raton, Florida. "I have a bit more optimism that we're going to see a bit more thoughtfulness in policies and a little less in the realm of just rhetoric."
Griffin is a Republican mega donor, having donated some $67 million in the 2020 election cycle, making him the third largest individual Republican donor that cycle, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics.
In January, he gave $5 million to an outside group supporting Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. "Can I just have a moment to be sad," he told the audience when asked about his future support.
Still, Griffin complimented some of Trump's past achievements as president, saying he believes the former president pursued policies that were "incredibly" pro-growth.
U.S. ECONOMY
When asked about the state of the U.S. economy, Griffin said the pace of increase of consumer prices in February, as revealed by data on Tuesday, was close to market expectations, but that he expected the central bank to be slower in cutting interest rates than what the market projects.
Traders on Tuesday were betting the Fed would start cutting rates in June this year.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in Boca Raton; Additional reporting by Davide Barbuscia, in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Josie Kao)
