1.In a switch from the downturn of 2000, retail investors have actually increased their trading volume, a panel of analysts told participants at the annual meeting of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. in Boston. Finra is based in that city and New York.Retail investors in buying mood despite downturn.

2.With his 401(k) in ruins, our correspondent visits investment gurus, hedge fund managers, and a freakish Arizona survivalist with one question in mind: How can the ordinary investor recover? Why I Fired My Broker

3.Entrepreneur Reid Hoffman describes how he built one of the Web’s leading social networks.The Man Behind LinkedIn

4.Legislation introduced by Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., would dramatically revamp the ground rules for offering investment advice to participants in defined contribution plans.Pension lobbyists wary of investment advice change

5.The tenets of capitalism are being called into question as the banking sector scrambles through unchartered territory.Into the unknown

6. China’s strengthening of its gold reserves still leaves those holdings as a very small fraction of both its total monetary reserves and US holdings of the precious metal. It nevertheless points to a strategic trend that other surplus nations can be expected to follow. The biggest winners will trade their dollars for gold before there’s a rush for the door. China stirs a pot of gold