Banks, Goldman Sachs | featured news

Ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc trader Matthew Marshall Taylor has turned himself in to federal authorities in connection with charges that he defrauded the Wall Street bank out of $118 million in 2007, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Goldman Sachs says its net income fell 11 percent in the April-to-June period after the investment bank's clients made fewer deals and avoided volatility in global financial markets. The New York bank said its net income fell to $962 million, or $1.78 per share, for the quarter. That compares with $1.09 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year ago. It's also far more than the $1.17 per share that analysts were expecting.

Moody's Investors Service lowered the credit ratings of 15 major banks Thursday, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, saying their long-term prospects for profitability and growth are shrinking. The ratings agency said it was especially concerned about banks with significant financial markets businesses because those markets have become so volatile. Some of the largest European banks were also downgraded, including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and HSBC.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings thanks to aggressive cost-cutting and strong investment banking and trading revenues, and the Wall Street bank raised its dividend.

An executive resigning from the investment bank Goldman Sachs says other executives there referred to clients as "muppets." Greg Smith wrote a blistering essay about the company that was published Wednesday in The New York Times.

The ratings firm Fitch downgraded a cluster of the world's largest banks Thursday, pointing to trading challenges facing international markets. The banks included Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, as well as Europe's Barclays, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas. Germany's Deutsche Bank and Switerzland's Credit Suisse were also downgraded.

The Wall Street firm run by former Goldman Sachs Chairman and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine filed for bankruptcy Monday morning, making it the first big American casualty of the European debt crisis.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc may cut $1.45 billion in expenses by year's end, $250 million more than it indicated in July, in a move that could lead to more job cuts, according to The New York Times.

Goldman Sachs isn’t the only bank to rip-off its clients and America. But because it is the best at what it does it is the most profitable bank in the world, for now.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc could release documents to counter a Senate subcommittee report that said the bank misled clients about mortgage-linked securities, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.