Bill Ackman: The Fed is one of the biggest risks to the market right now

Yahoo Finance Live co-host Brian Sozzi details billionaire investor Bill Ackman's comments on the Omicron variant's impact on markets and the Fed's outlook.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Brian Sozzi's take of the day, he had a chance to talk to billionaire investor Bill Ackman about a charity endeavor. But knowing Sozz, he snuck in some market questions as well. Sozz.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, you just have to. I mean, you cannot have Bill Ackman on the phone for a few minutes, not ask about the markets. And it was earlier in the week that a tweet from Ackman caught a lot of people by attention. Ackman noting that if the cases of-- the omicron virus, if the symptoms were mild to moderate. And there's a tweet from Ackman there from earlier in the week, where if they were less severe, that would be bullish, not bearish for the markets. I mean, at least today, we're seeing the market sell off a little bit on that news you just mentioned, Julie, about a case in Minnesota.

But interesting tweet early in the week from Ackman. I asked him a little bit about this. He reiterated those comments to me in our phone chat, but also said one of the biggest risks to the market right now is, in fact, the Federal Reserve. And he mentioned that twice, so that was very interesting, given everything we've seen from the Fed this week, I would say, making that hawkish pivot, Fed Chair Jerome Powell making that hawkish pivot. Interesting takeaway from Ackman there as well.

But by and large, it's correct. New charity auction from Bill Ackman on the site right now on charity buzz that will support the David Lynch Foundation. It's a good cause. The foundation is all about transcendental meditation, big on Wall Street, which supports veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder. And Ackman's, this is the fourth year that he's auctioning off a lunch to-- with him. And the bidding on the site is up to, right now, about $14,500, six bids in, 14 days left in that auction. The auction in 2020 raised a high of $210,000 for Ackman, which he matches those donations.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, just a quick comment here. I mean, what's been pretty remarkable is just kind of Ackman's pivot over to SPACs. I mean, it's not necessarily a pivot, I guess, for a hedge fund manager to go into these types of businesses here, but I think that through the Renaissance of these SPAC products, he's really kind of emerged as one of those on the forefront with the Pershing Square Tontine-- I almost said Totino's pizza roll-- Tontine Holdings, I think it is. But of course, you know, he's really made a name for himself with the scale of these SPACs. And as we've seen, we had two SPAC merger deals on our show over the last two hours, still very much in vogue. And I think that Bill Ackman has really positioned himself at the front of that.

JULIE HYMAN: Ah yes, Bill Ackman's well-known SPAC, Totino's. Tontine, indeed. Yes, I love that.