Goldman Sachs profit slumps for fourth straight quarter
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s profit slumped for the fourth straight quarter as market volatility hit the company's bond trading and investment banking businesses.
Goldman - the last of the big U.S. banks to release first-quarter results - reported a 56.3 percent fall in net income applicable to common shareholders to $1.2 billion, or $2.68 per share, for the three months ended March 31.
That compared to $2.75 billion, or $5.94 per share, a year earlier, when the Wall Street bank recorded its best quarterly profit in five years.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $2.45 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the figures reported on Tuesday were comparable.
Spooked by a fresh wave of defaults at state-owned enterprises, investors in China’s yuan-denominated company notes have driven up yields for nine of the past 10 days and triggered the biggest selloff in onshore junk debt since 2014. Local issuers have canceled 61.9 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) of bond sales in April alone, and Standard & Poor’s is cutting its assessment of Chinese firms at a pace unseen since 2003.
While all 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict that the the main rate will be kept unchanged at a record low of minus 0.5 percent on Thursday, the Riksbank may extend its government bond buying program
For the Bank of Japan, it is no longer if, but how. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda all but promised more easing in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Monday, saying, “without hesitation we would adopt additional monetary easing” if deemed necessary.
Fossil Fuel Companies Need to Become
Renewable Energy Companies
It seems clear that Exxon Mobil and other parts of the fossil fuel industry have tried to suppress the science of climate change. I am not surprised that these companies acted in their short-term self-interest, and I expect them to continue to advance those interests. Their deception is disappointing and may even be illegal, but blaming the fossil fuel companies for our addiction to fossil fuels is foolish. It’s a distraction from the daunting challenge of making the transition to renewable energy as quickly as possible. For some reason, a great deal of effort is being devoted to uncovering the role of Exxon Mobil in the history of climate science. As John Schwartz reported recently in the New York Times : It remains unfortunate that many fossil fuel companies have not redefined themselves as energy companies that lead the effort to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. If I […]
