Investing.com - Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) logged a rare miss on earnings in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, due to a steep rise in provisions against possible credit losses, although the blow was softened by a blowout quarter for the bank's bond and currency traders.
The firm reported earnings per share of $4.69 on revenue of $9.96 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com forecast EPS of $5.56 on revenue of $8.53 billion.
The bank said it booked provisions of $336 million in the quarter, up 51% from a year earlier. That drove total provisions against loan losses up to $1.09 billion for the full year, a leap of 58%.
Revenue from its fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading rose 63% from a low base in the fourth quarter of 2018 to $1.77 billion.
Return on tangible equity, a key measure of profitability, slipped to an annualized 9.2% in the quarter, the bank said. For the year as a whole, ROTE fell to 10.6%. It would have been 12.2% had it not been for litigation provisions of $1.24 billion, chiefly in regard of the Malaysian 1MDB development bank scandal.
Goldman Sachs follows other major Financial sector earnings this month
On Tuesday, JPMorgan reported fourth quarter EPS of $2.57 on revenue of $29.21B, compared to forecasts of EPS of $2.35 on revenue of $27.87B.
Bank of America earnings beat analysts' expectations on Wednesday, with fourth quarter EPS of $0.74 on revenue of $22.35B. Investing.com analysts expected EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $22.22B
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