00:00Yeah, it looks fairly strong. I think once we start digging into it, I mean, the first thing
00:04that I see is, you know, equities trading a sizable beat, fixed income trading, looks like
00:09a pretty sizable miss actually outweighing the beat in equities. And I think, you know,
00:14the main focus heading into the first quarter results was going to be how did the capital
00:17markets business perform? Particularly for Goldman and Morgan Stanley, these are the,
00:21you know, the large businesses in these franchises that drive, you know, drive the units. And so
00:27when you look at Goldman Sachs, about half of revenue comes from trading. What we saw in the
00:32first quarter was a pretty active market, right? Particularly on the equities side. So the broad
00:36expectation heading into results was pretty robust for the trading side of the business. And what
00:42we're seeing now is, you know, maybe a little bit of a confluence here where we have equities
00:46beating those expectations, fixed income a little bit lighter. On the fee side of the business,
00:51it looks like we had broad beats across M&A, ECM, and debt underwriting.
00:56So I got to interrupt. Yep. Here's the headline I've been looking for, folks. And our team does a
01:01great job. Return on average shareholders equity, 19.8%. Are they basically, and this is to begin the
01:10earnings season, and we're hugely advantaged to have Neil Seif's leadership here. Basically,
01:15these firms are trying to hide how much money they're making. They really don't want whoever,
01:2319.8% ROE. That's stunning. Yeah. And it's not in my textbook.
01:30And when you look at these businesses, you know, particularly on the fee side,
01:34things like that can generate pretty robust returns, especially you think about Goldman's
01:39strategy or returning to the core of the capital markets while simultaneously building out the even
01:44higher ROE business in terms of asset and wealth management. So when you have, you know, I know markets
01:50are in flux right now, but when you take a step back, we're still only just a handful of percent
01:55off of all-time highs. And that's really a support to those asset and wealth businesses that are,
02:00you know, helping prop up that 19% ROE that you noted. And so I think as we really move
02:06into
02:06big bank earnings throughout the week, and we get onto the earnings call today for Goldman,
02:11I think the main investor focus is going to be what happened with clients at the end of the first
02:15quarter. And how has that, you know, trended in the first two weeks of April? Because that's really
02:19what's going to inform the outlook as we sort of work through these numbers that I think we see
02:24some puts and takes here where there was a high bar there for trading revenue. It looks like we
02:29might've come a little bit lighter on that, but on the investment banking side, it looks like the
02:33beat. But I'm confused. Trading of equities and bonds and currencies, commodities, or trading of
02:39bungalows out in the Hamptons? Which is it? Trading of equities, currencies, commodities,
02:44et cetera, right? And so that was, again, I think where we had a high bar heading into the quarter.
02:49The fees, of course, look pretty strong for the first quarter. But when you bring all this
02:53volatility and uncertainty into the equation related to war, related to AI, related to software,
02:58et cetera, you start to question what was expectations for a really strong 2026.
03:04Looks like first quarter is going to hold up. But what has happened in April?
03:08Alexis, jump in here, please.
03:09Well, I'm looking at Goldman's stock right now, down one and a third percent. So I guess even the
03:15showstopping $5.6 billion net earnings figure, not enough to get, I guess, investors excited about
03:22the stock here in the early going.
03:23Yeah. And I think that goes back to sort of what we're talking about here is we expected a pretty
03:28strong quarter for capital markets across trading and investment banking. And so I think when you have
03:33that high bar, the expectation is to meet or beat, right, especially when you think about some of the
03:39guidance that we got from peers like JP Morgan talking about mid-teens growth in the trading business,
03:44particularly late quarter volatility fueled by the war, you know, where are we there?
03:49Did you see the steam come out of my ear? I almost scorched Alexis over here.
03:53Neil Sipes with us, brilliant on the earnings as we dive into the banking season. We're going to have him
03:57on a lot here,
03:58we hope, in the next couple of days. Neil, you know, peers, but they're all different, aren't they?
04:04Describe how JP Morgan is the Park Avenue juggernaut is different from Fortress Solomon.
04:11How are those two businesses different?
04:13Yeah. And so when we when we look at Goldman, it's, you know, heavy focus on the capital market side,
04:19building out the asset.
04:20I'm not getting a Christmas Club account with Goldman, right?
04:22That's right. And so when you when you pivot to JP Morgan and Bank of America, like you're getting a
04:28much
04:28better gauge on the broader U.S. economy, how the consumer is doing. And I think that's going to be
04:34a big focus
04:35there as well. Of course, we know JP Morgan's a leader in the capital markets space. But when you look
04:40at the
04:40franchise as a whole, there's much larger drivers there. And so those will be in focus.
04:45Nicely said. Last 10 years, Alexis, it's been difficult. I mean, we go Apple, Apple, Apple, Microsoft, you know,
04:51whatever, NVIDIA, 20.4 percent per year total return Goldman Sachs over the last 10 years.
04:59Srinath Aranjan was telling me Mr. Solomon was really challenged here a number of years ago.
05:05He's turned that puppy around like nobody, right?
05:08Yeah. And so so I think, as we mentioned earlier, it's it's the return to that core, right?
05:13That what you think of when you got rid of you talk.
05:15Yeah. Yeah. And you think about the consumer franchise, that that sort of foray into the
05:21consumer franchise. Most of that has been winded down after, you know, a series of losses there.
05:27And I think what you see is Goldman Sachs not necessarily trying to press into those businesses
05:32that JP Morgan might have leadership in or Bank of America, rather focusing on deploying the capital
05:38into those businesses, particularly asset and wealth management that you talked about,
05:42those higher high ROE businesses. I think that's where I see Goldman heading in the future.
05:46Can you come back? Is it Tuesday? They're off tomorrow, right?
05:50Are there bank earnings tomorrow? No, there are. The JP Morgan and Wells Fargo tomorrow.
05:54That's tomorrow. And Citi and Citi as well. Yeah.
05:56OK, can you come back? We'll be here all week.
05:58This is great. My deepest sympathies.
06:00And you know what? I want to know what bank's going to talk about private credit because I don't
06:04see it yet in the Goldman. Nicely said. Nicely said.
06:07Info. But we'll see.
06:09I think we'll get some questions on that. I think we will.
06:12Oh, you know you'll get some questions.
06:12I'm curious what the answer shall be, but yes.
06:15Do you ask questions on the conference call?
06:17I won't be on this call this quarter.
06:19OK, we have someone else.
06:21But maybe we'll funnel in a question if we can.
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