Pershing Square

Bill Ackman had a $1Bn shortfall to cover (allegedly) in his Pershing Square Fund. 

"Hillary Clinton will propose a revamp of capital-gains taxes that would hit some short-term investors with higher rates, part of a package of measures designed to prod companies to put more emphasis on long-term growth," WSJ reports. Interested to know who might be pulling the strings behind the scenes? Read on...

Ten months after we asked whether "The SEC Is Asking These Hedge Funds Why They All Rushed Into Allergan Last Quarter?" we find that the US market regulator indeed reads this website on a regular basis. As the WSJ reports the SEC has answered our question, and yes: the  SEC is finally asking not only "these" hedge funds why they all rushed into Allergan, but into every other collusive activist take out target.

• Samaras Says He’d Join Alliance to Keep Greece in Euro (BBG)
• Tensions with Warren camp could loom over Clinton campaign (Reuters)
• Ackman Report on Herbalife in China Figures in Probe (WSJ)
• Al Shabaab storms Kenyan university, 14 reported killed (Reuters)
• Iraq’s Four-Mile Line of Supertankers Fuels Shipping-Rates Surge (BBG)
• Menendez's fate could sharpen Republicans' edge in Senate (Reuters)
• IRS Chief Chides Ted Cruz Over 'Abolish the IRS' Mantra (BBG)
• Yemen Houthi fighters backed by tanks reach central Aden (Reuters)

Herbalife stock is up over 5% after hours after WSJ reports Bill Ackman (among others) made false statement about Herbalife's business models to regulators - in order to spur investigations into the company and lower its stock price. This comes just months after Ackman kinda-sorta-didn't-really insider-trade in the Allergan 'scam' that we detailed here. We suspect Whitney Tilson (and his Lumber Liquidators positions) is getting a little nervous now... and Carl Icahn is quietly laughing to himself.

Love Bill Ackman or hate him, whether or you think that his outlier "investment" of the year, one which generated nearly half of his P&L in 2014 namely the collusive hostile bid with Valeant on whose balance sheet he piggy-backed in an attempt to acquire Allergan with lots and lots of debt and whose public announcement he front-ran with even more leverage in the form of hundred of millions in call options, was more criminal than the alleged Herbalife pyramid scheme or perfectly legitimate, one thing is beyond dispute - of all the prominent hedge funds, Ackman's Pershing Square was the best performing hedge fund of 2014.

2014 was a challenging year, and perhaps for nobody more than the marquee hedge fund names of the past several years, which for the 6th year in a row underperformed the S&P 500 despite once again raking in billions in "performance" fees.

• Banks to Pay $3.3 Billion in FX-Manipulation Probe (BBG)
• Symbolic being the key word: U.S., China sign symbolic emissions plan, play down rivalry (Reuters)
• Europe (so really Russian sanctions) is the new "snow in the winter" - Carney Sees Europe Stagnation Impact as Growth Outlook Cut (BBG)
• Eurozone Industrial Output Points to Weak Third Quarter Growth (WSJ)
• Not everyone around Abe is insane: Kuroda Ally Flags Warning on Delaying Sales-Tax Increase (BBG)
• Hong Kong to scrap daily yuan conversion limit to boost stock investment (Reuters)
• Barclays Falls After FX Settlement Delay Reduces Discount (BBG)
• Some unhappy Yahoo investors asking AOL for rescue (Reuters)

• From Yes We Can to Probably Not (BBG)
• How Mitch McConnell did it (Politico)
• Tough road ahead for Obama after Republicans seize Senate (Reuters)
• Election 2014: Who were the big winners and losers? (USA Today)
• GOP Senate Takeover Puts Fed on Hot Seat (WSJ), and other fables
• GOP Won by Recruiting the Right Candidates (WSJ)
• McCain could shake up U.S. defense in powerful new Senate role (Reuters)
• Investors Pulled Record Amount From Pimco’s Flagship Fund in October (WSJ)
• Taliban group threatens to attack India following border blast (Reuters)
• Oil Import Decline to U.S. Revealed by Louisiana as Truth (BBG)

• White House questions new Ebola rules, nurse plans to sue (Reuters)
• States stand firm on Ebola quarantines despite White House pressure (Reuters)
• Rousseff Naming Brazil Finance Minister Key to Regain Trust (BBG)
• Ukraine leader wins pro-West mandate but wary of Russia (Reuters)
• Single Firm Holds More Than 50% of Copper in LME Warehouses (WSJ)
• Treasury Liquidity Squeeze Seen as Dealer Shut Off Machine (BBG)
• CVS follows Rite-Aid, shuts off Apple Pay (USAToday)
• Oil Speculators Bet Wrong as Rebound Proves Fleeting (BBG)
• Draghi Sets Stimulus Pace as ECB Reveals Covered-Bond Purchases (BBG)
• German Ifo Business Confidence Drops for Sixth Month (BBG)

The market environment is turning sour...

• No Happy Ending for Investors in Central Bank Fairy Tale (BBG)
• Ebola Response Strains Hospitals (WSJ)
• Obama, foreign military chiefs, to thrash out Islamic State plans (Reuters)
• Draghi’s ‘Whatever It Takes’ Plan on Trial at EU Court (BBG)
• Too-Big-to-Fail Banks Face Up to $870 Billion Capital Gap (BBG)
• Iran’s Message to World: You Need Us to Fight Islamists (BBG)
• Facing new oil glut, Saudis avoid 1980s mistakes to halt price slide (Reuters)
• Ukraine Grannies Outprice Banks on Hryvnia Black Market (BBG)
• HK police use sledgehammers, chainsaws to clear protest barriers, open road (Reuters)
• Gazprom Quarterly Net Rises 13%, Misses Estimate on Ukraine Debt (BBG)

• Turkey says Syria town about to fall as Islamic State advances (Reuters)
• Only now? Growth worries grip stocks, oil (Reuters)
• Hong Kong Protest Leaders ‘Furious’ at Agenda for Talks (BBG)
• Earthquake Damages Thousands of Homes in Southern China (BBG)
• Keystone Be Darned: Canada Finds Oil Route Around Obama (BBG)
• Where Is North Korea's 31-Year-Old Leader? (BusinessWeek)
• Australia to Revise Employment Data (WSJ)
• Americans Living Longer as Fewer Die From Heart Disease, Cancer (BBG)
• A 401(k) Conundrum: Can You Make Cash Pile Last for Life?  (BBG)
• China Services Sector Slows in September (WSJ)

• As we warned in May 2013... Gross Exposes $42 Trillion Bond Market’s Key Flaw in Exit (BBG).... hint: no liquidity
• WTI Crude Slips Below $90 for First Time in 17 Months (BBG)
• Traders Thank Fed for Once-in-Decade Surge in Profit (BBG)
• Islamic State committing 'staggering' crimes in Iraq: U.N. report (Reuters)
• Philippine Islamist militants threaten to behead German on October 17 (Reuters)
• Draghi’s Buying Spree for the ECB Might Start Modestly (BBG)
• Russian Officials Say No Plans for Capital Controls (WSJ)
• Indians Join the Wave of Investors in Condos and Homes in the U.S. (NYT)
• Leader of Mexican drugs cartel captured (FT)
• Dallas Ebola patient vomited outside apartment on way to hospital (Reuters)

It is not a good morning for Bill Ackman's Pershing Square or Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital, or the US government for that matter, of course, which happen to be the three largest investors in Fannie Mae. The reason: FNM stock, which at last check, was crashing by nearly 60%.