Goldman Sachs Third-Quarter Revenue Slumps 20 Percent

@AFP
Goldman Sachs Third-Quarter Revenue Slumps 20 Percent

New York City (AFP) – U.S. investment banking titan Goldman Sachs posted Thursday a 2 percent profit fall for the third quarter as revenues dived 20 percent.

Goldman, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, said it had net earnings of $1.4 billion attributable to shareholders in the July-September quarter, or $2.88 per share.

That was slightly better than the $2.85 reported for the third quarter of 2012, but well below the $3.70 a share for the second quarter of this year.

Net revenue was $6.7 billion, down from $8.4 billion a year ago and $8.6 billion in the previous quarter.

New York-based Goldman’s profit topped Wall Street expectations of $2.43 earnings per share, but the slump in revenue widely missed the $7.4 billion average estimate.

Chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said the results reflected “a period of slow client activity,” but he noted “various signs that our clients are prepared to act on significant transactions.”

“As longer term U.S. budget issues are resolved, we could see an improvement in corporate and investor sentiment that would help lay the basis for a more sustained recovery.”

Net revenues in institutional client services dropped 32 percent from a year ago, to $2.86 billion.

The decline was led by a 44 percent slump in fixed-income revenues, the bank said, citing “significantly lower” revenues in mortgages and interest rate products, as well as in currencies.

Investment banking revenues were essentially flat at $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, operating expenses at $4.6 billion were down 24 percent compared with a year ago, as the bank slashed employee compensation and benefits by 35 percent.

Shares in Dow member Goldman dropped 2.5 percent to $158.14 after the first half hour of Wall Street trade.

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Fox News Deceives Viewers About Its Own Reporter's Question To Biden (VIDEO)

Lucas Tomlinson

On the November 26 edition of Fox News Sunday, Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson declared, “The oldest president in U.S. history also continues to face questions about his age, even here in Nantucket,” followed by video of President Joe Biden reacting to a yelled question — “Mr. President, are you too old to be running for reelection?” — which was clearly Tomlinson’s own voice. In reporting the story to his Fox audience, however, Tomlinson did not make it clear that he was the one who asked the question.

Keep reading...Show less
Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Many liberal and progressive pundits have been predicting a "brain drain" from red states — skillful, college-educated doctors, university professors and teachers leaving because of oppressive MAGA policies. OB-GYNs are worried about draconian anti-abortion laws; teachers and librarians are under attack from the far-right Moms for Liberty.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}