Morning Roundup: Gold Metalists Set New Record

Mike Taylor — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:48:37 -0400

Waddell & Reed's $27 billion Asset Strategy Fund has been blamed for the May 6 "Flash Crash," during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 700 points in mere minutes. So is the Kansas-based firm a corn-fed, wholesome asset manager or a fearsome, market moving hedge fund? [WSJ]
A Goldman Sachs economist thinks the Basel III capital requirements for banks will reduce U.S. GDP growth by 1.5 to 2 percent. Two non-Goldman Sachs economists find this line of reasoning questionable. [NYT]
Our economy is so bad that retailers like Wal-Mart and Kroger are seeing heightened activity once a month at midnight -- the exact time when food stamps and other government benefits transfer into people's accounts. [AP]
The Bank of England kept interest rates at 0.5 percent. Economists expected the central bank to stand pat, but there's a growing expectation that it will eventually fire up the printing presses for another round of quantitative easing. [Reuters]
Precious, glittery, beautiful gold reached another record high today, because investors expect the Fed to undermine the dollar's value by pumping more cash into the economy. [Reuters]

mtaylor@observer.com

Twitter: @mbrookstaylor

Observer » Morning Roundup: Gold Metalists Set New Record