Wall Street Roundup: Facebook’s other privacy issue. Before the ball drops.

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Gold: Trading now at $1,412 per ounce, up 0.4% from Tuesday. Dow Jones industrial average: Trading now at 11,605.20, up 0.3% from Tuesday.

Not out of the woods. While a number of banks that received bailout funds have bounced back, there are still many that are struggling, and the FDIC is having a hard time determining which ones to help.

Facebook’s other privacy issue. The Securities and Exchange Commission is becoming unhappy with the growing trading of shares in companies that have not gone public (having less than 500 official outstanding shareholders). The scrutiny could lead Facebook to make a public offering.

A challenge to Wall Street. The enormous asset manager BlackRock appears to be setting up its own trading system so that its clients will not have to go to a Wall Street dealer broker, potentially presenting a big challenge to Wall Street’s fee structure.

Before the ball drops. Some moves that every investor should consider before the New Year.

-- Nathaniel Popper