Good Morning! Eli Lilly became the first healthcare company to hit a $1 trillion market cap, thanks to a rally fueled by record demand for its weight-loss drugs. Private equity firms are flooding the junk-debt market to pay themselves, and more buyout professionals are debating leaving the industry as deals and exits stall.

Bitcoin is headed for its worst month since 2022, but permabull Tom Lee is doubling down on his $200,000 target by year-end. And Morgan Stanley’s OpenAI ties are showing how the Wall Street bank courts the hottest startups.

Plus: VCs are funding an AI-powered robot revolution, Fannie and Freddie shares are trading like meme stocks, and investors are asking for a peek behind the private-markets curtain.

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SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

May I IPO?

Bill Ackman has become one of the most outspoken figures on Wall Street. And this week, he’s back in the headlines but not for his dating advice, rather for his plans to take his hedge fund public.

Ackman is prepping a dual IPO that would take both his management company and a new U.S. investment vehicle public as early as Q1 2026. If he pulls it off, it will be one of the wildest restructurings in hedge fund history.

Ackman has been preparing for the move for some time. Last year, he sold a 10% stake in Pershing Square in a private deal that valued the firm at more than $10 billion, which many read as a pre-IPO test run.

At the same time, the London-listed closed-end vehicle Pershing Square Holdings (~$19.3 billion in size), has returned strongly (~17% through mid-November),and stands as proof that a “permanent-capital” model can scale.

The harder lift has been Pershing Square USA, the planned $25 billion closed-end fund Ackman first filed in 2024. Investor demand fell flat, and he withdrew the listing after raising only $2 billion.

The relaunch now includes a kicker: investors in the new vehicle will receive shares of Pershing Square’s management company, with partners offering up to ~10% of their equity to seed the fund. It is a very Ackman move, literally handing investors a piece of the management company to jump-start demand.

Strategically, Ackman is shifting from traditional activist investing toward building a long-duration, compounding platform similar to Berkshire Hathaway. The idea: create a concentrated holding company with permanent capital and an insurance‐float engine embedded.

With Pershing owning almost 47% of Howard Hughes Corporation, Ackman intends to launch insurance operations within the platform and use the insurance float (the premiums received before claims are paid) as long-term investment capital.

Takeaway: Very few hedge funds have gone public, and even fewer have attempted a structural reinvention at the same time. But Ackman has a massive online presence, strong performance, a management company valued at $10 billion, and a London-listed vehicle already running at scale. Let’s see if Ackman’s IPO or his dating advice is more successful in 2026.

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HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Eli Lilly hits $1 trillion market value, first healthcare company to do so (CNBC)

• PE firms flood the junk-debt market to pay themselves (BB)

• More buyout professionals are weighing leaving private equity as exits stall (WSJ)

• Bitcoin heads for its worst month since 2022 (YF)

• Tom Lee says Bitcoin could hit $200,000 by the end of January (BB)

• Morgan Stanley’s OpenAI ties show how the bank reels in hot startups (BB)

• VCs are funding the AI-powered robot revolution (Axios)

• Fannie and Freddie shares mimic meme-stock mania with wild swings (BB)

• Investors clamor for a peek behind the private-markets curtain (WSJ)

• Founder of India’s top stockbroker becomes a billionaire (BB)

• Why so much is riding on the data center boom (BB)

• Amazon cuts thousands of engineers in its largest-ever layoff round (CNBC)

• Private-credit defaults expected to drive broader stress in 2026 (BB)

• Billionaire financiers warn of rising risks in the private-credit market (BB)

• One Fed official may have saved the market from a rout, why John Williams’ remarks matter (CNBC)

• A hedge against an AI crash emerges among retail and institutional investors (YF)

• Global markets fall as tech-bubble jitters resurface (WSJ)

• The dividend yield on the S&P 500 hits its lowest since the dot-com era (CNBC)

• Jamie Dimon hosts birthday bash for King Charles III at bank’s NYC HQ (NYP)

• Global markets fall as tech-bubble jitters resurface (WSJ)

• Berkshire’s Alphabet buy “doesn’t sound like Buffett” BB)

• Wall Street doubts Trump on policy ideas (Axios)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• Stocks rebounded on Friday, with all major indexes ending higher after Thursday’s sharp selloff.

• The S&P 500 regained most of its losses, bouncing off a 5% pullback from October highs—its first in nearly 150 trading days.

• Fed comments supported sentiment, as NY Fed President Williams said further rate adjustments were possible “in the near term.”

• Bond yields fell, with the 10-year Treasury yield dipping after Williams’ remarks.

• All 11 S&P sectors finished higher, led by communication services and health care.

• Oil prices declined on reports of a potential U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine peace plan, though losses were limited after European and Ukrainian leaders rejected key elements of the proposal.

Economic Data Highlights

• NVIDIA’s strong results earlier in the week weren’t enough to stop a broader revaluation in AI and tech stocks, as investors reassess profitability and valuations.

• Corporate earnings remain robust, with tech fundamentals solid but enthusiasm moderating—suggesting markets are shifting from euphoria to realism.

• The pullback in AI stocks may mark a healthy correction rather than a structural shift.

Federal Reserve Outlook

• FOMC minutes showed divisions among policymakers: some favored holding rates steady in December, while others supported another cut.

• The delayed September jobs report suggested a stabilizing labor market, reducing the urgency for immediate easing.

• With no October jobs report and limited new data before the December 10 meeting, the Fed may rely on private indicators.

• Rate-cut odds rebounded to about 60% after NY Fed President Williams’ comments, up from 35% the day prior.

• The trend toward lower rates through 2026 should support growth and financial markets.

Earnings Today

• Zoom Video (ZM) – Focus on enterprise demand and AI integration into collaboration tools.

• Symbotic (SYM) – Watch for trends in warehouse automation and retail-partner growth.

• Fluence Energy (FLNC) – Key to monitor margins and energy-storage project pipeline.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Gap, Inc. ($GAP) +8% after the retailer posted strong revenue.

• (+) Alphabet ($GOOGL) +3% because of positive momentum after a new generative AI model was released.

• (–) Oracle ($ORCL) -6% after investors weighed Oracle’s heavy debt load.

Prediction Markets

• Following the Trump visit, markets are anticipating a more crowded NYC

• Trade on real-world events with Kalshi. Use code OWS to get a $10 bonus when you trade $10.

Private Dealmaking

• Veolia Environment will buy Clean Earth, a waste management and processing company, for $3.04 billion

• GE HealthCare will buy Intelerad, a medical imaging software provider, for $2.3 billion

• Physical Intelligence, a developer of AI software for robots, raised $600 million

• Genspark, a developer of agentic AI for knowledge workers, raised $275 million

• Aspen Neuroscience, a personalized cell therapy company, raised $115 million

• Scribe, a workflow documentation startup, raised $75 million
  

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BOOK OF THE DAY

Invest Like a Billionaire

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Book Length: 304 pages

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DAILY VISUAL

Declining Population in Paris

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DAILY ACUMEN

Standards

People think their life will transform when they set bigger goals, but the real shift happens when they raise their standards.

Standards determine what you tolerate, what you prioritize, and what you refuse to accept anymore.

Goals are directions, but standards are boundaries, the rules of engagement for your own behavior.

Once you refuse to break your own rules, your identity starts catching up to your aspirations.

The fastest personal growth comes not from saying “I want to do more,” but from saying “I no longer allow this version of myself to run the show.”

Change becomes easier when the old you feels incompatible.

You rise to the level of your standards and sink to the level of your excuses.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• How to get 100% cashback

• The art of leadership under pressure

• The best destinations to destress between holidays

• Which alternative milk is the healthiest?

• 5 traits of highly-successful people

• 8 calm responses emotionally intelligent people use

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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