Wall Street Roundup: Bank of America layoffs loom. ‘Flash crash’ report coming soon

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

Housing starts are up. Construction of new homes and apartments, as well as applications for building permits, rose last month, but analysts still see a weak housing market.

BofA layoffs are expected. Bank of America is set to hand out pink slips to hundreds of employees from its Wall Street operations, the first of many such announcements that is expected after the bad trading conditions of recent months.

Hedge fund liquidations. Analysts anticipate that as many as 20% of hedge funds could close in the next year due to uneven returns and nervous investors.

‘Flash crash’ insight on its way. The physicist who has been investigating the origins of May’s ‘flash crash’ is getting ready to release his report and promises new insights into what happened.

Vatican Bank investigation. Italian authorities are investigating potential money laundering at the bank, which some experts say is ‘the most secretive bank in the world.’

-- Nathaniel Popper