Paulson Stuck With Banks, Gold In First Quarter

SAN FRANCISCO -- Paulson & Co.'s big investments in banks and gold were little changed during the first quarter, a regulatory filing late Monday showed. The hedge fund firm, one of the world's largest, disclosed a new position in Hewlett-Packard Co. and sold a stake in Pfizer Inc. , according to the filing, which covers mostly U.S. equity holdings as of March 31. Paulson also increased investments in Transocean Ltd. and XL Group in the period, the filing showed. Paulson is a big shareholder in Bank of America and Citigroup and has other large stakes in financial-services companies including Wells Fargo , Popular Inc. SunTrust Banks and Hartford Financial . Those positions were either little changed or unchanged in the first quarter, according to the filing. Paulson's stake in the SPDR Gold Trust ETF was unchanged at 31.5 million shares, Monday's filing showed.