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Equities traders at Goldman Sachs delivered their best quarter on record in the first three months of 2025, as market volatility following Donald Trump’s return to the White House boosted profits at the Wall Street bank.
Goldman reported net income of $4.7bn, up 15 per cent from a year ago and beating analysts’ estimates for $4.3bn.
Trading — and equities in particular — was the standout performer in the quarter, making Goldman the latest Wall Street bank to report strong gains in business following JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley on Friday.
Equities revenues were 27 per cent higher than a year ago, at $4.2bn. Revenues from the bank’s fixed income, currencies and commodities division were only 2 per cent higher, at $4.4bn.
The increases highlight why banks were keen to preserve their trading divisions despite years of weak returns following the 2008 financial crisis.
The business struggled as a result of a stricter regulatory regime, which made proprietary trading much more difficult, as well as rock-bottom interest rates that muted market volatility.
But trading has returned to the fore as the Trump administration’s abrupt policy moves have sparked a frenzy in markets.
“It’s been a long road to get back to where they were,” said Jason Goldberg, banking analyst at Barclays.
“The US banks have all stuck with it and retooled and restructured. It certainly has benefited them in the last several years as interest rates and volatility have increased.”
Although some volatility is beneficial to banks’ trading units, too much uncertainty can lead to markets seizing up.
Volatility has also curtailed investment banking. Investment banking fees at Goldman fell 8 per cent to $1.9bn. The number of new deals unveiled since the start of January is the lowest in more than a decade.
Goldman said its investment banking fees backlog had increased from the end of 2024.
But chief executive David Solomon cautioned that the bank was “entering the second quarter with a markedly different operating environment than earlier this year”.
Goldman’s asset and wealth management division, which is central to Solomon’s efforts to make the bank’s earnings less reliant on investment banking and trading, reported revenues of $3.7bn.
This was down 3 per cent, dragged lower by smaller gains from its public and private equity investments.
Goldman, whose stock is down about 14 per cent so far in 2025, said its board had approved a $40bn share buyback programme, up from $30bn previously.
Goldman shares were up about 1.5 per cent in pre-market trading.
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