Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square builds up major stake in ADP

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management built up its position in Automatic Data Processing Inc. to 8.8 million shares at the end of September from 179,394 three months earlier as part of Ackman’s failed proxy battle. Earlier this month, shareholders of ADP sided with the management and rejected the hedge-fund manager’s attempt to secure three seats on the board. Pershing, however, trimmed its stake in Restaurant Brands International to 26.5 million shares versus 39.2 million at the end of June and cut its holding in Mondelez International Inc. to 13.93 million versus 14.5 million shares previously. The hedge fund’s positions in other companies, including Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. , were mostly unchanged.

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Carl Icahn’s portfolio little changed under conflict-of-interest questions

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did very little trading in the past quarter as he fell under conflict-of-interest scrutiny for his time as an adviser to President Donald Trump. In a late Tuesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Icahn’s holdings were virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, save for a 14-million-share reduction in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. to 77.2 million shares and a reduction of about 21,000 shares in American International Group Inc. in a position of about 43 million shares. Recently, Icahn faced questions from federal prosecutors over his advisory role to Trump. In August, Virginia Rep. Don Beyer accused Icahn of “profiting off of the public trust and taxpayer dollars.”

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Soros sells Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Snap

George Soros’s hedge fund, Soros Fund Management LLC, eliminated or reduced investments in some of the biggest names in tech last quarter, including Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. Soros divested a 1,700-share stake in Apple as well as 1.55 million shares of Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. , according to a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The hedge fund greatly decreased its holdings in Facebook and Twitter Inc. , cutting Facebook shares from 476,713 shares to 109,451 and chopping investments in Twitter’s stock and debt. Among the new investments Soros opened in the quarter were General Electric Co. , General Motors Co. , Campbell Soup Co. and Oracle Corp.

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Lam Research to buy back up to $2 billion in stock, hikes dividend

Lam Research Corp. on Tuesday said it will buy back up to $2 billion in shares over the next 12 to 18 months. Its board also approved raising the quarterly dividend by 11% to 50 cents a share. The dividend will be paid on Jan. 10 to shareholders of record on Dec. 6. Shares of Lam Research gained 1.7% after hours.

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Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital cuts stakes in GM, Apple

David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital reduced its stakes in iPhone maker Apple Inc. and automaker General Motors Co. in the third quarter, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing. Greenlight’s stake in Apple stood at 2,192,900 shares as of Sept. 30, reducing its stake by nearly 1.74 million shares, or 44%, compared to the end of the second-quarter, according to filing tracking service Whalewsidom.com. Greenlight cut its stake in GM by nearly 20.2 million shares, or 36%, to 34,561,500 shares, but also bought 2 million call options, which give a holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security at a set price by a certain date. Greenlight bought 3.6 million shares of mattress maker Tempur Sealy International , while new stakes included nearly 8.4 million shares of Exela Technologies Inc. and 1.7 million shares of Venator Materials PLC .

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Apple faces U.S. ITC inquiry in patent dispute

The U.S. International Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Apple Inc. for patent infringement, the USITC said late Tuesday. Aqua Connect Inc. and Strategic Technology Partners LLC lodged a complaint Oct. 10 and requested the USITC issue a temporary exclusion order, the USITC said. If the order is granted, the agency could block the import of
“certain Apple Mac computers, iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Apple TVs” but it was not immediately clear which gadgets the probe targets. Apple stock was down a fraction in late trading to $171.11. Apple shares have gained 48% this year, with the S&P 500 index gaining 15%.

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API data reportedly show an unexpected jump in U.S. crude supplies

The American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies climbed by 6.5 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 10, according to sources. The API data also showed a rise of 2.4 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles, while inventories of distillates fell by 2.5 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report declines of 1 million barrels each for crude and gasoline inventories. They also forecast a fall of 2 million barrels distillate supplies. December crude was at $55.08 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the settlement of $55.70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Achillion shares drop as J&J to sell large stake

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares fell in the extended session Tuesday after the drug developer reported promising early data on one of its kidney-disease treatments but said a large stakeholder was selling shares in a secondary offering. Achillion shares fell 9.2% to $3.35 after hours. Achillion said Johnson & Johnson Inc.’s venture capital arm, Johnson & Johnson Innovation-JJDC Inc., will sell 18.4 million shares of Achillion in a public offering and that Achillion would not receive proceeds. Achillion has 136.9 million shares outstanding. Separately, the company said early data from its mid-stage clinical trial for ACH-4471 showed the drug reduced protein in the urine by more than 50% in patients with C3 glomerulopathy, a rare disease where protein deposits build up in the kidneys.

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U.S. stocks close lower as tax reform uncertainties weigh; GE extends losses

U.S. stocks retreated Tuesday, with all three main indexes closing lower, as uncertainties over whether the Trump administration will be able to deliver sweeping tax reforms weighed on investors’ confidence. Analysts had largely credited anticipation over imminent corporate tax cuts for fueling much of the market’s record-setting rally this year. Shares of General Electric Co. also extended losses, slumping 5.9%, in the wake of disappointment over the company’s restructuring plan that included slashing dividends. The S&P 500 fell 5 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,578 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 30 points, or 0.1%, to end at 23,409. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 19 points, or 0.3%, to close at 6,737.

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Wells Fargo to pay $5.4 million for unlawful service member car repossessions

Wells Fargo will pay $5.4 million to the Justice Department to compensate approximately 450 service members whose cars were repossessed by the bank’s auto financing arm, Wells Fargo Dealer Services. The government found that the repossessions were unlawful under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which requires that a court must review and approve the repossession if the loan was taken out, and a payment made, before the owner entered military service. This is the second such settlement for the bank, which previously compensated 413 service members in September 2016. It also follows a long string of misdeeds by the bank, which over the span of several years opened millions of accounts for customers without their knowledge, including some for auto insurance. Wells shares are down about 2% for the year to date, lagging the 12% gain for the Financial Select Sector SPDR and the 18.6% gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average .

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