GS...Goldman Sachs: Conference call summary (149.07 -0.38) -Update-
On co's earnings conference call, GS mgmt says the competitive environment remained fragmented in Q2. Notes the strong performance in Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodity (FICC) was driven by higher contribution of credit and currencies. Co also had strong revs in equity underwriting and trading...
Notes that M&A advisory remains challenging, along with securities services...
Downward price pressure in commercial real estate led to $700 mln in fair value losses. Says commercial real estate is the only real writedowns, with marks in the low 50's...
Believes commodities will continue to be a strong business despite the regulation efforts being made, but says devil is in the details... The co continued to benefit from having no exposure to retail consumer businesses...
Mgmt is happy with the business mix it has right now... Notes it is too early to comment on Q3 as it is only two weeks old and one of the weeks was a holiday week...
Notes there are a lot of companies around the world that still need to fix balance sheets, so equity issuance should remain strong as long as the markets remain receptive (buyers willing to be involved)...
When asked about excess capital, co says they think there will be opportunities but the world is still a tough place and there are new capital regulations coming, so they're being conservative with capital...
Co would expect money to begin flowing back to hedge funds, as redemptions cycle appears to be over...
With regard to CIT, co says they are well secured and are in talks with the Treasury on warrants.