During the June 5 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, Jonathan Hoenig, managing member of Capitalistpig Asset Management LLC, asserted that bombing Iran would raise the Dow Jones industrial average. Hoenig stated: "[F]rankly, if you want to see the Dow go up, let's get the bombers in the air and neutralize this Iranian threat. We've gone to the negotiating table, we have danced around with these people" and “that's not going to help this country nor the stock market.” Hoenig's comments came during a discussion led by host Neil Cavuto, who asked whether “investors [are] worried more about interest rates than a nuclear Iran.” Cavuto was referring to Federal Reserve Chief Benjamin S. Bernanke's suggestion that the Federal Reserve Board's Federal Open Market Committee may continue to raise short-term interest rates, as well as Iran's threat to cut its oil output if the United States interferes with its nuclear program.

During the discussion, Cavuto stated that “the message is just, 'Avoid people with beards,' ” after airing a split-screen shot of Bernanke and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both have beards.

From the June 5 edition of Your World with Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: This is a Fox News Alert. There, you can read that as well as I can -- the [Dow Jones] industrials, INDU down about 200 points, 11,048.72. So, just remember that old record of 11,722 when we were in, what, 40 or 50 points away from it. That was then, a little more than three weeks ago. This is now, barely clinging to the 11,000 level. Stocks tanking under assault from a lot of threatening words from abroad and even from our own government. First, the Iranians say they might cut off their oil from the world if the U.S. threatens their nuclear program. Oil spiking, stocks falling on that threat. And then Fed chief Ben Bernanke saying that inflation was still a very big worry. Wall Street took that to mean more big interest-rate hikes are coming, and stocks continued to spiral downward. So, are investors worried more about interest rates than a nuclear Iran? With us now, the “Cashin' In” crew: Jonathan Hoenig, Jonas Max Ferris, Terry Kennan, and Rebecca Gomez. What do you think, Rebecca?

GOMEZ: Well, I think if you just look at the numbers on -- with the Dow today, when we had the markets open, they did open lower, but by double digits. And you know, that factored into the threat we received over the weekend from Iran. But once Bernanke started speaking over there in Washington, D.C., boy, downward -- triple digits. So, I think, yes, Wall Street more worried about the interest-rate hikes, possibly, in the near future. We have the Fed meeting, the end of this month. It's more tangible. It's something that's more immediate. The threat with Iran, that's going to be around for a long time.

CAVUTO: Yeah, I think the message is just, “Avoid people with beards.”

[...]

CAVUTO: Well, Jonathan, that's what exactly they were contemplating at the last meeting, and that's what world traders to think they were going to hike maybe as much as half a point. Do you think that's likely at the next meeting at the end of this month? A half a point?

HOENIG: I think it is, Neil. I don't see the trend towards higher interest rates changing any time soon. So many of the interest-rate-sensitive securities are still terribly weak. I think when it comes to Iran, the problem is we haven't been forceful enough. I mean if you -- frankly, if you want to see the Dow go up, let's get the bombers in the air and neutralize this Iranian threat. We've gone to the negotiating table, we have danced around with these people. That's not going to help this country nor the stock market.