As you might imagine given the volatility on display at the beginning of the quarter, Goldman’s traders put up big numbers in Q2 results released Wednesday.
The standout was equities, where the bank’s trading haul was a record $4.30 billion, up a silly 36% YoY. Revenues were “significantly higher” across the business, the bank remarked, touting a 45% jump in intermediation and a 23% increase in portfolio financing.
The FICC beat was less impressive. Revenue there was $3.47 billion, up a mere 9% as a big jump on the financing side was overshadowed by a more subdued showing in intermediation, where a slowdown in mortgages and commodities offset a good quarter for currencies and credit products.
Note that this was the second quarter in a row during which Goldman’s equities business scored a record windfall. So far in 2025, they’ve raked in $8.5 billion for the firm.
The equities haul drove another big beat for overall Global Banking & Markets revenues, which at $10.12 billion were up 24% YoY, easily topping the $9.03 billion consensus.
The IB beat ($2.19 billion versus $1.8 billion expected) came courtesy of advisory, where fees rose 48% from Q1 and 71% (!) YoY to $1.174 billion. That was an impressive 37% ahead of the consensus.
That’s really all you need to know about Goldman’s Q2 results. Those businesses — IB and trading — are the firm’s bread and butter. And when equities trading’s doing that well on the markets side and advisory’s that strong in IB, the fact that FICC was mediocre (in markets) and debt underwriting lackluster (in IB) is more or less irrelevant.
Firmwide revenues for Q2 were $14.58 billion, up +15% YoY and a billion ahead of estimates. EPS was $10.91, a $1.25 beat. David Solomon — who’s really thanking himself now for ditching that ill-fated mass market consumer idea to refocus on Goldman’s core competencies — credited “healthy client activity” and the firm’s superior “talent” for the solid results.
As for the macro outlook, Solomon said that although the economy and markets are “generally responding positively to the evolving policy environment,” it’s important to remember that “developments rarely unfold in a straight line.” As such, Goldman’s focused on risk management. And if you ask Solomon, the firm’s “well positioned to perform for shareholders” going forward.
