Who cares about dwindling trading revenues when you can do very nicely investing your own money? Goldman Sachs did just that in the second quarter of 2014, posting better than expected net profits. The Wall Street bank’s trading in stocks for its own account as well as its lending business generated $2.1bn in revenues, a hefty 46 per cent increase from a year ago. Pity, though, that the gains – coming mainly from private equities – are unpredictable. So, there is little to be euphoric about.
The fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading business – which accounts for about a quarter of revenues – is not getting better any time soon. Goldman is playing the long game here, hanging in while rivals retrench. Its hope is that it will gain market share during the lull and that its
patience will pay off once the cycle turns. That is, if it turns. FICC revenues were widely expected to collapse by as much as 25 per cent in the second quarter. Instead Citigroup, JPMorgan and Goldman all did better than expected (although revenues are still falling). A pick up in volatility and credit volumes did the trick. But analysts warn that it was just a blip.