Bill Ackman is Bullish on both America and Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C)

Noted hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman, who operates Pershing Square Capital Management, said that he believes that the U.S. markets have healed from their issues in 2008 and 2009 and is very optimistic about shares of Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C).

Ackman commented to Yahoo Finance that “I think the market’s not particularly expensive. Look at large-cap, very high quality businesses today and they seem pretty cheap to me.”

The interview with Ackman followed a report from the Ira Sohn Conference on Wednesday that Ackman recently purchase 150 million shares in Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C).

Ackman believes that Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) “is probably one of the best capitalized banks today, ironically” thanks to the government’s 2009 conversion of its preferred stake in Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) to common stock.

The invsetor also noted that because of the Federal Reserve’s policy of extended low interest rates, Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) and other banks are effectively getting free money since they can borrow money at ultra low interest rates and earn spread revenues by investing in investing in U.S. Treasuries or by making loans.

Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) also has a “great deposit franchise” and a “very well capitalized balance sheet”, according to Ackman.

“It’s really a great time to be in the banking business,” commented Ackman.