Goldman Sachs handily beat Wall Street expectations when it reported first quarter results Monday, despite a drop in advisory revenue. CEO David Solomon also expressed worries about “material risks for the U.S. and global economy” created by President Trump’s trade war.
Goldman said Monday that Q1 net earnings rose 15% to $4.74 billion compared to $4.1 billion for the same period in 2024. The bank posted diluted earnings per share of $14.12, roughly 15% more than Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $12.31 a share.
Total net revenue rose 6% to $15.06 billion in Q1, versus $14.2 billion for the same period in 2024.
News of the Q1 beat caused Goldman shares to rise nearly 2% to $501.95 in early afternoon trading Monday.
Goldman economists have "meaningfully” cut their expectations for U.S. growth to 0.5% from over 2%, Solomon said Monday in a call with analysts. Significant near and long-term uncertainty is constraining Goldman clients, including corporate CEOs and institutional investors, from making important decisions, he said. “This uncertainty around the path forward and fears over the potentially escalating effects of the trade war have created material risks for the U.S. and global economy,” Solomon said on the call.
The Trump administration’s focus on trade barriers and strengthening the U.S. competitive position was commendable, Solomon said. The Goldman CEO said he was encouraged by Trump’s 90-day pause on most tariffs that will “allow for considered negotiations with many countries. But how policies will evolve is still unknown,” he said. In the meantime, market volatility will continue “until we have further clarity,” Solomon said.
Last week, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chairman and CEO, also warned about the prospects for the U.S. economy, which he said was facing “considerable turbulence.”
Dealmakers had expected U.S. mergers and IPOs to rebound in the first quarter with the change in presidential administrations. That didn’t happen. M&A dropped nearly 24% in the first quarter, Fortune has reported. Then, on April 2, President Donald Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs, which caused the U.S. stock market to plunge while many deals and IPOs went on pause.
Solomon also spoke about the impact on M&A. Dialogues between companies aren’t freezing but it will take a while for these conversations to turn into deals and play through, Solomon said. The Goldman CEO said he expects a “significant amount of M&A activity through the rest of the year. But obviously, if the landscape got more constrained, you know, there's a risk of it slowing.”
Earlier Monday, Solomon, in a statement, warned that "[Goldman was] entering the second quarter with a markedly different operating environment than earlier this year, we remain confident in our ability to continue to support our clients.”
Goldman, a top M&A advisor, said that advisory revenue in Q1 dropped 22% to $792 million. Equities trading revenue jumped 27% to $4.19 billion for the quarter. Global banking and market net revenue rose 10% to $10.7 billion.
