Goldman’s $100m a day profits haul
GOLDMAN Sachs lost money on just one day in the third quarter and made more than $100m in profits on 36 of the 65 days.
The stellar performance indicates that the drive to revive markets following the financial crisis is continuing to trigger huge windfalls for some institutions. The Wall Street bank made at least $50m on 53 of the 65 trading days in the period, or 82 per cent of the time, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman’s trading revenue surpassed that of rivals JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. In the previous quarter, Goldman reported record trading revenues earning more than £100m on 46 days.
Goldman’s $8.8bn in third-quarter trading revenue fell short of the record $10bn in the second quarter, partly because the company has reduced risk taking. After betting huge amounts of their own capital prior to the financial crisis, banks are now taking advantage of higher margins, reduced competition and government-provided liquidity to make money in less risky activities.
The filing also revealed gains and losses from Goldman’s fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading division. Credit trading doubled from $1bn in the second quarter to $2bn in the third while the firm also grew profits in equities by about 25 per cent to $3.4bn.
The filing also revealed Goldman lost $3.6bn in currency trading – more than double the $1.4bn lost from that division in the second quarter.