Goldman Sachs profits beat expectations
STEVE CHIOTAKIS: Investment bank Goldman Sachs said today its profit over the last three months was down by more than 70 percent. For the bank, it doesn’t sound like much to celebrate.
But Marketplace’s Janet Babin is with us live to tell us the report has actually proven a bit brighter than expected. Good morning, Janet.
JANET BABIN: Good morning Steve.
CHIOTAKIS: So, you’ve been looking at the report. How did Goldman Sachs do?
BABIN: Yes — the firm said its pleased it said with its first quarter results and they were better than most analysts had anticipated. But that is after you read that headline, because the company did post that huge decrease in first quarter profit. But the company explained that happened for a number unique reasons, including the bank buying back 5 billion of preferred shares from legendary investor Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway. And those were the shares that Buffet bought in the height of the financial crisis.
CHIOTAKIS: All right, so what does the Goldman report Janet, mean for the rest of us?
BABIN: Well, management consultant and venture capitalist Peter Cohen says the positive leaning report should steer us regular everyday investors back to confidence in stocks:
PETER COHEN: Investors will expect other banks to exceed expectations and that could basically help restore some positive momentum.
And other banks have been reporting higher earnings today. Bank of New York Mellon and U.S. Bank both reported positive results, so this good news may help investors move past some of the lower earnings that came out earlier this week from Citigroup and Bank of America. And they were associated with bad mortgage investments.
CHIOTAKIS: Marketplace’s Janet Babin. Janet thanks.
BABIN: Thank you.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
