Goldman Sachs beats trading haul record by $1bn after Iran volatility
Goldman Sachs equities traders have beaten their all-time quarterly high as the Wall Street titan revealed a major market haul amidst the volatility triggered by the Middle East.
The banking giant’s stock division reaped $5.3bn (£3.9bn) in revenue for the first quarter of the year, surpassing the previous record of $4.3bn secured by the bank in the final quarter of 2025.
The figures came after markets were rocked by the war in the Middle East as investors sought to dump their equity exposure after inflationary fears sparked a widespread sell-off.
The market frenzy helped Goldman pocket $5.6bn in pre-tax profit, up 19 per cent cent.
Investment banking as a whole enjoyed an increase of nearly a fifth to $12.7bn, compared to the same period in 2025. This was largely driven by a 48 per cent surge in fees from higher M&A volumes.
Wealth management revenue also rose 10 per cent to $4bn, with the bank pointing to higher management fees from increased assets under supervision.
But some figures failed to excite with fixed-income, currency and commodities traders missing expectations at $4bn in revenue. This marked a drop of around ten per cent from the same period last year.
Has Goldman Sachs reached ‘peak’ earnings?
Headline revenue came in at $17.2bn, up 14 per cent. Still, shares in the bank slid 4.1 per cent in pre-market trading amid a wider market sell-off.
Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG, said: “In this environment ‘solid’ isn’t quite enough to keep investors interested.”
Goldman’s stock has risen over 85 per cent in the last year to around $908.
“After such a strong run in the share price, investors were clearly looking for something exceptional, not just good,” Rudolph added.
“The bigger issue is that Goldman’s results feel like a snapshot of a world that may already be fading.”
Rudolph said the numbers ran the risk of being seen as “peak earnings” following the volatility-fuelled boom in market trading.
David Solomon, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said the bank had delivered “even as market conditions became more volatile”.
“The geopolitical landscape remains very complex – so disciplined risk management must remain core to how we operate.”
Solomon said in March that momentum in M&A activity was set to continue despite any disruption caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. He added that a change in the regulatory environment had led to “greater likelihood” for boards to execute strategic transactions and scale.
But the bank warned on Monday that its backlog of fees had decreased slightly compared to the previous quarter.