Goldman Sachs' Earnings Miss Estimates

With the $550 million settlement with the SEC behind it, Goldman Sachs can get back to doing what it does best: trading, advising, and then trading ahead of its advice. The problem is, even if you are the best at front-running, picking-off, and lobbying, there's not much you can do about lackluster markets.

Earnings for the investment banking giant were pretty weak, $0.78 a share to be exact, which was a far cry from the $4.93 a share GS earned in last year's second quarter or the $5.59 per share it earned in the first quarter of 2010. Even when adjusting for the impact of the UK payroll tax and the SEC settlement, earnings of $2.75 per share are pretty paltry, yet somehow the stock is only down around 3% on the news pre-market. Given the size of the miss, I would've expected a bigger hit. Maybe investors were prepared by the lousy investment banking results out of the big banks. Or maybe nobody's awake yet.