Investor Leon Cooperman on the Breakdown in Market Structure

Omega Advisors CEO Leon Cooperman joined the "Halftime Report" today to discuss everything from Valeant, to politics, to the market.

A renowned value investor, he is pessimistic on how the market is currently structured. A lot of his pessimism stems from the prevalence of high-frequency traders.

"In the world we live in, in 15 minute intervals the S&P should not go up or down 30 or 40 S&P points. There's something wrong and we should tackle it and try to figure it out," Cooperman argued.

According to Cooperman, recent regulation such as the elimination of the uptick rule has done nothing but harm the market. Its reversal "aided the growth of the high-frequency crowd." A crowd which, in Cooperman's opinion, is already favored by the New York Stock Exchange.

One of the most common arguments in support of high-frequency trading is that it makes the market more liquid and efficient. Cooperman doesn't buy that. He believes that "they [high-frequency traders] go home flat, and come in flat, so they're just providing liquidity during the day. It's not quality liquidity."

Trader disclosure: On March 15, 2016 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Halftime Report" were owned by the "Halftime Report" traders:

Josh Brown: Long AAPL, BABA, DE, DNKN, JMBA, LOW, LNKD, SAM, SHAK, SPWR, TWTR, XLE, XON

Stephanie Link: Long AAPL, AVGO, BAC, CB, CCL,COST, CRM, CSCO, CVX, DAL, DLPH, DOW, ESRX, GOOG, GOOGL, GS, HDS, HON, JPM, LOW, LPX, LRCX, LULU, MCD, MGM, MSFT, PF, PG, PH, PM, PPG, PRU, QCOM, RTN, SLB, STI, SWK, SYF, TJX, UNH, URI, V, WFC, WHR.

Pete Najarian: Long AAPL, BAC, BMY, DIS, DISCA,GE, KMI, KMI-A, KO, MRK, PEP, PFE, SAVE, VIAB. Long calls AAL, AMJ, BAC, BAX, CLF, CMCSA, CNX, CX, DAL, EGO, EMR, EWZ, FDX, FIT, GDX, GE, GM, HAIN, HOG, KSS, LC, LUV, LVS, MDLZ, MET, MXIM, NRF, SCHW, SLV, SLW, SWN, UAL, USG, WYNN, ZIOP. Long puts DB, EWH, RIG, RY, VLO, XME

Joe Terranova: Long VRTS

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