Rough times ahead? Soros buys a lot of gold and Wal-Mart

George Soros’s investment firm took sizable positions in gold and the defensive stock Wal-Mart Stores in the second quarter.

According to SEC filings, the Soros Fund Management LLC acquired 564,850 shares on the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), increasing its total holdings to 884,400. The fund also picked up a lot of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 4.8 million shares roughly equivalent to $337 million.

As of last year, the Soros fund had $27.9 billion in assets under management.

Paulson & Co, run by billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, also bought 31.5 million shares of GLD.

The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is the top exchange traded fund for bullion based on asset size.

In the last year spot gold prices have dropped 8.26%.