<p>Goldman Sachs Group Inc dwarfed Wall Street estimates as its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, powered by another blowout performance at its trading business and a surge in fees from underwriting a string of blockbuster IPOs.</p>.<p>Revenue from global markets, which houses the bank's flagship trading business, registered its best annual performance in a decade. Sales at the unit surged 23% to $4.27 billion in the quarter, raking in $21.2 billion in the full year.</p>.<p>Investment banking revenue jumped 27% to $2.61 billion during the quarter, driven mainly by equity underwriting, which was up 195% from the same period last year.</p>.<p>The bank's shares surged 2.6% in early trading, adding to a 20% gain in the past year.</p>.<p>Total revenue climbed 18% to $11.74 billion. The bank's net earnings applicable to common shareholders rose to $4.36 billion, or $12.08 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31.</p>.<p>Analysts had expected a profit of $7.47 per share on average, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv.</p>.<p>"We hope this year brings much-needed stability and a respite from the pandemic, but we remain ready to handle a wide range of outcomes," Chief Executive David Solomon said, as the bank reiterated the three-year targets it set for profitability and expense savings last January.</p>.<p>Goldman's performance was in line with broader gains for trading units across Wall Street banks, with JPMorgan Chase also reporting stronger-than-expected results as financial market volumes remained consistently high.</p>.<p>Record levels of capital markets activity during the quarter helped the Wall Street giant generate handsome underwriting fees from a number of high-profile IPOs including Airbnb, Doordash, Lufax and Root.</p>.<p>Goldman's latest performance was all the more impressive, as it comfortably absorbed a $3-billion hit to its annual profits, after reaching a settlement with the US Department of Justice and other US and overseas regulators over its role in Malaysia's 1MDB corruption scandal.</p>.<p>Unlike larger peers JPMorgan and Bank of America, Goldman has a relatively small consumer business, which has limited its exposure to loan defaults amid the pandemic and allowed it to focus on its core strength of closing deals.</p>.<p>Even so, the bank has stuck with a plan to build its consumer loans and credit card business.</p>.<p>Consumer banking revenue rose 52% in the quarter to $347 million and jumped 40% to $1.21 billion on an annual basis. The business is still minuscule compared to other large revenue-generators at the firm, representing just a fraction of the total in 2020.</p>.<p>Goldman's most comparable peer, Morgan Stanley, will round off the earnings season for large banks on Wednesday. </p>
<p>Goldman Sachs Group Inc dwarfed Wall Street estimates as its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, powered by another blowout performance at its trading business and a surge in fees from underwriting a string of blockbuster IPOs.</p>.<p>Revenue from global markets, which houses the bank's flagship trading business, registered its best annual performance in a decade. Sales at the unit surged 23% to $4.27 billion in the quarter, raking in $21.2 billion in the full year.</p>.<p>Investment banking revenue jumped 27% to $2.61 billion during the quarter, driven mainly by equity underwriting, which was up 195% from the same period last year.</p>.<p>The bank's shares surged 2.6% in early trading, adding to a 20% gain in the past year.</p>.<p>Total revenue climbed 18% to $11.74 billion. The bank's net earnings applicable to common shareholders rose to $4.36 billion, or $12.08 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31.</p>.<p>Analysts had expected a profit of $7.47 per share on average, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv.</p>.<p>"We hope this year brings much-needed stability and a respite from the pandemic, but we remain ready to handle a wide range of outcomes," Chief Executive David Solomon said, as the bank reiterated the three-year targets it set for profitability and expense savings last January.</p>.<p>Goldman's performance was in line with broader gains for trading units across Wall Street banks, with JPMorgan Chase also reporting stronger-than-expected results as financial market volumes remained consistently high.</p>.<p>Record levels of capital markets activity during the quarter helped the Wall Street giant generate handsome underwriting fees from a number of high-profile IPOs including Airbnb, Doordash, Lufax and Root.</p>.<p>Goldman's latest performance was all the more impressive, as it comfortably absorbed a $3-billion hit to its annual profits, after reaching a settlement with the US Department of Justice and other US and overseas regulators over its role in Malaysia's 1MDB corruption scandal.</p>.<p>Unlike larger peers JPMorgan and Bank of America, Goldman has a relatively small consumer business, which has limited its exposure to loan defaults amid the pandemic and allowed it to focus on its core strength of closing deals.</p>.<p>Even so, the bank has stuck with a plan to build its consumer loans and credit card business.</p>.<p>Consumer banking revenue rose 52% in the quarter to $347 million and jumped 40% to $1.21 billion on an annual basis. The business is still minuscule compared to other large revenue-generators at the firm, representing just a fraction of the total in 2020.</p>.<p>Goldman's most comparable peer, Morgan Stanley, will round off the earnings season for large banks on Wednesday. </p>