Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) reported first-quarter earnings results on Monday and the results were a disappointment to investors.Analysts were expecting the company to earn $4.74 per share on revenue of $8.97 billion. The stock fell 3.82% on the day as investors processed the information.

Despite a 9% drop on the quarterly earnings, Morgan Stanley, the sixth largest U.S. bank, managed to marginally beat analysts’ estimates. Morgan Stanley's wealth management business salvaged earnings for the quarter, as it accounts for almost half of the bank’s revenue and helps maintain stability during weak periods for trading and investment banking -- the two segments that suffered during the first quarter due to subdued volatility.Despite this scenario, Morgan Stanley’s wealth management profit margin and its return on equity of 13.1% were comfortably within the targeted range.

Morgan Stanley reported a 9% drop in quarterly earnings, but managed to beat analyst estimates through growth in its wealth management business. “This quarter ... shows the resiliency of wealth management, which is an important indicator of the health of our business,” Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Pruzan said in an interview.  Overall, Morgan Stanley reported a quarterly profit of $2.34 billion, or $1.39 per share, down from $2.58 billion, or $1.45 per share, in the year-earlier period.Excluding items, the company earned $1.33 per share.

Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Monday, following a rally in the previous session that put the S&P 500 within striking distance of its record high, as underwhelming results from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup pressured financial stocks. Read More...

Shares of Finnish telecommunications firm Nokia dropped around 3 percent on Monday after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from “neutral” to “sell.” Read More...

Morgan Stanley is lining up buyers for 4 million shares in Lululemon Athletica Inc. on behalf of its second-largest holder, people familiar with the matter said.Read More...

This is the first ever credit card to be offered by Goldman Sachs. According to a memo obtained by CNBC, David Solomon, CEO at Goldman Sachs said, “This partnership is a major step in the growth of our consumer franchise, furthering our vision to create the leading digital consumer platform.” Customers will be eligible for cashbacks, including 2% cashback on all Apple Pay purchases made with the card and 3% upon buying at the Apple Stores or at the App Store.These cashbacks would be added to the users Apple Cash card daily and could be put to use instantly. 

A global benchmark for emerging markets is set to surge as much as 8 percent this year, according to Morgan Stanley. Read More...

On Monday, Barrick Gold Corp. announced its formal bid for acquiring Newmont Mining Corp. to create the world’s largest gold mining company. Barrick Gold’s proposed merger would be an all-share deal of close to $18 billion, involving an exchange ratio of 2.5694 Barrick shares for each Newmont share.According to Barrick, the merger if approved would lead to an estimated 14% increase in Newmont's current net asset value per share. Bristow is apparently hoping that the deal would not only result in creating the world’s “best gold company”, but also boost the overall gold industry’s prospects.

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is doubling down on its bullish outlook for oil. The bank still forecasts that global benchmark Brent crude will hit $67.50 a barrel next quarter, driven by healthy demand and supply curbs by OPEC and its allies such as Russia, analysts including Damien Courvalin said in a Feb. 12 report.Goldman’s estimate is about 7 percent higher than current price levels. READ MORE...

When America sneezes, the world catches cold, the saying goes.Now Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists are asking whether the reverse also holds true. Read More...

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported fourth-quarter earnings results yesterday morning and the results disappointed investors.Wealth management revenue fell 6% while equity trading revenue and investment banking revenue came in flat. Looking at the daily chart of Morgan Stanley we see that the stock has been trending lower within the confines of a downward sloped trend channel.

Expectations for a decreased oil supply, potential Chinese stimulus and political uncertainty are buoying hopes for gains in the commodities sector, according to Goldman Sachs.Read More...

Shares of the American multinational investment bank and financial services company, Goldman Sachs, rose nearly 7.1% on Wednesday after the firm posted a fourth-quarter profit that convincingly exceeded analyst expectations. Strength in its investment banking and investing and lending divisions contributed most to the quarter's results.  The bank reported an EPS of $6.04 per share for the fourth quarter, far outstripping analysts’ estimate of $4.45 per share. Giving a much needed boost to a strengthening banking sector, the New York-based bank posted a net revenue of $8.08 billion, beating the analyst estimate of $7.55 billion.Total interest income for the quarter stood at $991 million, after an increase of ~16% from Q3 and 10% from the year-ago quarter. Driven by a 56% surge in advisory revenue to $1.20 billion, the bank reported revenue of $2.04 billion in its investment banking division compared to analysts’ estimate of $1.88 billion.

Morgan Stanley is shifting its focus from defensive stocks to cyclical stocks as Wall Street starts pulling away from bear market territory, chief U.S. equity strategist Michael Wilson told CNBC on Tuesday. READ MORE...

Windstream Holdings Inc. announced recently that it sold its EarthLink consumer internet business to private equity firm Trive Capital for $330 million in cash.Regarding the company’s decision to sell its EarthLink consumer internet segment, Tony Thomas - president and CEO of Windstream - announced, "This transaction enables us to divest a non-core segment and focus exclusively on our two largest business units.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Morgan Stanley $10M for compliance failures and anti-money laundering.The lapse impaired the firm's overall tracking of tens of billions of dollars of wire and foreign currency transfers, FINRA said. Those transactions included transfers to and from countries known for money laundering risk, FINRA said.

A second former Goldman Sachs banker was charged by the Malaysia government in connection with an alleged money-laundering scheme at the state-run fund 1MDB. This week, the government also filed charges against Goldman Sachs in connection with its role as underwriter of bond sales that raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB.Tim Leissner, a former partner for Goldman Sachs in Asia, was also charged this week. For its part, Goldman Sachs denies wrongdoing and on said certain members of the former Malaysian government and 1MDB lied to the bank about the proceeds of the bond sales.

Goldman is already under investigation in the U.S., and now Malaysian authorities claim that Goldman misled investors when the bank knew sales from a 1MDB (a state investment fund) bond offering it arranged would be misappropriated. “Their fraud goes to the heart of our capital markets,” Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas said in a statement.“If no criminal proceedings are instituted against the accused, their undermining of our financial system and market integrity will go unpunished.” The government is seeking fines for the $2.7 billion of allegedly misused funds and the $600 million in fees received by the bank.

Goldman Sachs faces criminal charges from officials in Malaysia, over the investment banks’ role in the misappropriation of multi-billion dollars from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. Goldman had arranged and underwritten bond sales for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2012 and 2013.Two former Goldman Sachs employees, and two others connected to 1MDB, will face the criminal charges.  Goldman Sachs, however, said in in an emailed statement to TheStreet, "We believe these charges are misdirected, will vigorously defend them and look forward to the opportunity to present our case," while adding,  "the firm continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating these matters.