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Goldman Trading Desks: Tracking Performance

March 2, 2011

Goldman Sach is at risk to $3.4bn in legal costs.  Goldman also used the 10-K filing to put out performance statistics for its trading desks.  

  • there were 25 [bad] days in 2010 when it either made no money or lost money. 
  • there were 68 [great] days when it had trading gains of $100 million or more.
  • firm’s lackluster Q4 results are a symptom of the few trading opportunities at year-end.
  • firm reported that Q4 earnings fell 53% from one year ago, due to increased competition and depressed client activity amid economic uncertainty.
  • firm's 2010 daily value-at-risk (V-a-R) fell to $111mn from $153mn one year earlier - fewer opportunities in profitable areas like equity and interest rate trading. 
  • V-a-R is a yardstick of how much in losses could be suffered in one trading day.
  • [NYT Dealbook, 3/1]