Lethargic summer of trading expected to weigh on results
Two Wall Street titans, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, are expected to report lower earnings this week as an exceptionally weak summer of trading translates into disappointing results.
Goldman Sachs (GS 152.54, -1.16, -0.76%) is projected to report earnings of $2.28 a share in the third quarter, down 57% from operating earnings in the same period last year, according to a consensus survey by Thomson Reuters.
Morgan Stanley (MS 25.40, +0.38, +1.52%) is forecast to earn 15 cents a share, down 61% from a year earlier, Thomson says.
Goldman is scheduled to release results on Tuesday and Morgan Stanley is slated for Wednesday.
“We had hoped that September would be a ‘barn burner’ as institutional investors return from their summer vacation. It didn’t [turn out that way]. Trading volume was slow, retail investors stayed out of the market, merger and acquisitions didn’t boom, and IPOs were lackluster,” said Brad Hintz, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research, in an email interview....MORE
