Soros buys gold despite dubbing it 'ultimate bubble' - papers

George Soros doubled his investment in the world's largest gold fund just weeks before claiming investing in the precious metal is now the "ultimate bubble".

Soros - a legend in investing circles for his $10bn (£6.37bn) bet against the pound in 1992 which forced sterling out of the European exchange rate mechanism - increased his stake in the SPDR Gold Trust in the last quarter of 2009, writes the Telegraph.

Regulatory filings show that his $8.8bn investment vehicle, Soros Fund Management, raised its stake in exchange-traded fund SPDR by 3.7m shares to 6.2m shares in the three months ending December 31, 2009. Full story...

FACING A SCEPTICAL public and an implacable opposition, Barack Obama insisted the $787bn (£498bn) fiscal stimulus plan signed into US law a year ago had been worth the money.

Marking the anniversary with a renewed effort to show the everyday benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the President predicted it would save or create 1.5 million US jobs this year on top of 2 million last year.

Other members of his administration fanned out across television studios to highlight public works projects funded by the stimulus Bill, in a public relations battle that has implications beyond Mr Obama's own popularity. Full story...

BARCLAYS WAS TAKEN by surprise last night after one of the Middle Eastern investors that helped it avoid resorting to taxpayers' cash during the banking crisis took a 5.2% stake in the bank, according to the Guardian.

A day after Barclays reported record profits of £11.6bn, an Abu Dhabi investment vehicle exercised some of the ¬warrants it bought during the complex recapitalisation of Barclays in October 2008. Full story...