It’s only the second time in over a decade the bank spills red ink
Goldman Sachs announced a third-quarter net loss of $428 million on Tuesday, only the second time the bank hasn’t reported a quarterly profit since 1999. The results were worse than many analysts had predicted, but did not seem to surprise investors, who’d been expecting a weak performance after the market turmoil this summer. Goldman’s revenues dropped for the third consecutive quarter to $3.59 billion, or 60 per cent lower than the same quarter last year. The decline reflected a slowdown in the bank’s activity underwriting stocks and bonds, as nervous investors held off on new stock and bond offerings. More red ink came from a loss of nearly $3 billion on investments in stocks, bonds and a stake in a Chinese bank.