Free Republic

Goldman Sachs reported significantly lower profit for the second quarter, hurt by write-downs in its consumer and asset-management businesses. The bank on Wednesday said quarterly profit was $1.22 billion, down 58% from a year ago. That amounted to $3.08 per share, which missed the $3.16 per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue was $10.9 billion, down 8% from a year ago. That still beat the $10.61 billion expected by analysts. Goldman is the only one among its big-bank peers to miss per-share earnings expectations. And while Citigroup and Morgan Stanley also reported profit declines, Goldman’s was the biggest....