Goldman Lost $500MM Trading Stocks In Q4 As It Quietly Sold Even More Billions In Equities

While most analysts and traders were digging through Goldman's disappointing Q4 earnings report which missed on EPS and trading revenue, and focusing on the investment banking and markets (i.e., commission-based flow trading ) results as well as the ominous surge in expenses...

... which sent Goldman stock price plunging, for the second quarter in a row there was troubling disclosure in the bank's Asset Management division, formerly known as Goldman Prop.

Here, after a stellar Q2 in which Goldman generated a record $5.132BN, more than double the $2.1BN in Q2 2020 and driven by "significantly higher net gains from investments in private equities, driven by company-specific events, including capital raises and sales", and after a very disappointing Q3 which saw a $820 million loss from the trade of public equities, Q4 saw a continuation of this bizarre underperformance, with net revenues sliding 10% from a year ago, with revenue from Equity Investment plunging 20% Y/Y to just $1.417BN.

According to Goldman's investor presentation, for the second quarter in a row, "equity investments net revenues reflected significant net losses from investments in public equities compared with significant net gains in 4Q20, partially offset by significantly higher net gains from investments in private equities."