Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Thursday it earned $4.79 billion in the fourth quarter as the bank's trading business again outdistanced the rest of the financial industryGoldman, which has outperformed other financial companies for years, has been the strongest bank throughout the financial crisis. It had less exposure to toxic mortgage-backed securities than other companies and also has been more aggressive in its trading.
For the full year, Goldman earned $13.4 billion, almost as much as $15 billion earned by the five other big national banks combined. 2009 was a difficult year for the banking industry, as companies with big lending operations lost money in those businesses. JPMorgan Chase & Co., earned $11.73 billion for the year on the strength of its investment banking business, and Wells Fargo & Co. turned a $7.99 billion profit. But Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. lost a combined $3.81 billion. And Morgan Stanley, whose problems have been attributed in part to a lack of aggressiveness in its trading business, lost $907 million.
Goldman Sachs received $10 billion in bailout funds, and was one of the first to repay the money last year. Once again, aggressive trading drove Goldman's earnings. The bank earned $6.41 billion in revenue from its trading and principal investments unit, down from $10.3 billion in the third quarter of 2009. That's in line with earnings reports from Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which also saw a slowdown in trading in the fourth quarter.
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