Goldman Sachs yesterday reported net revenues of $9.43 billion and net earnings of $1.81 billion, or $3.39 a share, for the quarter ended March 27th 2009. This compares with a $3.23 earnings per common share for the first quarter endedFebruary 29 2008.
Goldman said it planned to raise $5 billion of common shares to help pay back government funds. The bank also lost $1 billion in December 2008 in trading and investment losses.
The New York-based bank has managed to sidestep most of the worst of the financial crisis, having posted just one quarterly loss since the middle of 2007.
Goldman's income came in part because of strong client trading activity in fixed income, currencies and commodities, where the company posted $6.56 billion of revenue.