Goldman Sachs Group reported its first quarterly loss since going public nine years ago as the plunging value of stocks, debt and real estate caught up with a Wall Street leader that had largely avoided fallout from the global credit crisis.
Goldman posted a net loss of $2.12 billion, or $4.97 a share, for the fourth quarter ended November 28th, compared with record net income of $3.2 billion, or $7.01 a share, a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, had expected a loss of $3.73 a share, according to Reuters Estimates. It was the firm's first loss since the fourth quarter of 1998, when the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management and the Asian debt crisis roiled markets.
The company reported negative net revenue of $1.58 billion as writedowns outstripped revenue. A year earlier, net revenue totalled $10.7 billion.
Goldman shares rose 4.1 per cent in premarket trading.
Analysts warned in recent weeks that falling prices of equities, fixed income and other investments would generate up to $9 billion in writedowns at Goldman. November put an exclamation point on Wall Street's worst year since the Great Depression.
Goldman's shares have fallen nearly 70 per cent this year, and nearly two-thirds since September, as investors lost confidence in Wall Street's lightly regulated, highly leveraged broker-dealers.
Reuters