Ovunc Kutlu
14 October 2020•Update: 14 October 2020
ANKARA
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Goldman Sachs said Wednesday that its earnings nearly doubled in the third quarter.
Net income of the American multinational investment bank and financial services firm increased 89.5% to $3.6 billion in the July-September period from $1.9 billion at the same time last year, according to financial results that were released.
Revenues rose 30.1% to $10.8 billion from $8.3 billion. The announcement caused Goldman Sachs’ stock price to rise 2.2% on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in pre-market hours.
The company said the banking operating environment continued to recover in the third quarter from the impact of COVID-19 as global economic activity rebounded after a sharp decline in the second quarter.
"Global equity prices increased and credit spreads tightened compared with the end of the second quarter of 2020" in addition to the decline in market volatility, and monetary and fiscal policies remaining accommodative, it said.
The news was not as good for Bank of America, which saw net income and revenue fall in the third quarter.
Earnings came in at $4.9 billion, down 15.5% from $5.8 billion, while revenue was $20.3 billion -- falling 11% from $22.8 billion.
Shares of the bank were off 1.8% before market opened.
The bank said its credit losses increased to $1.4 billion due to the impact of COVID-19 in the commercial sector.
Wells Fargo saw a $2 billion net income in third quarter -- a major recovery from a net loss of $2.4 billion the same period of 2019.
Revenues, however, decreased 14% to $18.9 billion, from $22 billion.
The California-based multinational financial services company said the increase in earnings was a result of "aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus on the US economy," on top of strong mortgage banking fees and higher equity markets.
Its shares were down around 1.8% in pre-market hours.
