*

Tariffs, immigration policies are among Cohen's concern

*

Trump's measures could make it tougher to bring inflation

down

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Hedge fund investor said DeepSeek is a bullish event on AI

(Adds comments about markets, Point72's future plans from

paragraph 2)

By Carolina Mandl

MIAMI, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Point72 Asset Management's

founder Steven Cohen said on Tuesday that he would expect the

stock market to reach a peak soon amid inflation pressure and

uncertainties around U.S. President Donald Trump's policies on

tariffs and immigration.

Trump has threatened to impose a universal tariff on

foreign-imported goods and others aimed at specific sectors or

countries, while on the immigration front he has launched a

sweeping border crackdown.

Such measures would "actually slow growth, not increase

growth in 2025" and make it more difficult for the Federal

Reserve to tackle inflation, Cohen said at the investment

conference iConnection, in Miami.

"I don't think that's a great backdrop. In 2025, I would

expect the markets to top over the next couple of months," Cohen

said, adding that the peak may already have happened.

The S&P 500 surged over 23% last year.

Point72's founder expressed more concerns about Trump's

policies than about a rout in tech stocks on Monday triggered by

Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek, which revealed

that its model was on a par or better than industry-leading

rivals in the United States at a fraction of the cost, sending

shares in Nvidia ( NVDA ) down roughly 17%.

Asked about the selloff, Cohen said "great companies are

going to be expensive," in a comment that seemed related to

Nvidia ( NVDA ).

"There'll be new companies that will use these tools and

start hearing about that. And then another big advance comes

along and that's how it's going to come. And there are going to

be moments when people are going to doubt it like yesterday," he

told the audience of investment experts.

Cohen said AI is in the early stages of something that will

be transformational for the economy.

Point72 has a new artificial intelligence (AI)-focused fund

that posted a 14% gain after launching just three months ago,

Reuters reported earlier. The fund is expected to have raised

nearly $1.5 billion.

In a wide-ranging interview, Cohen spoke about his recent

decision to stop trading to focus on running the firm, driving

strategic initiatives and mentoring. Point72 manages $36.9

billion and has 200 portfolio managers around the world.

"I'm 68 and had this vision being 70, still behind screens.

I was like, that doesn't make sense," he added.

Among his plans for the firm, he said he believes it could

be more than a hedge fund.

"I can do more than that," mentioning as example the recent

hiring of Todd Hirsch, a former senior managing director at

Blackstone, to head a new strategy focused on the fast-growing

private credit business.