That marks a surge of +25% from the year-ago period, with more than half of the growth attributed to the tax cuts implemented under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.In the preceding quarter, banks made $56 billion in profit. The industry group American Bankers Association said that the “"real driver of earnings" was increased lending, while also acknowledging the role of lower taxes, deregulation and firming macroeconomic fundamentals.

For the first time, Goldman Sachs will start retail banking services outside of the U.S. Its online retail arm Marcus will offer savings accounts to U.K. customers, as announced in an internal memo to the bank’s employees on Thursday. By the end of 2017, Marcus had $17.1 billion in deposits and more than 350,000 customers. 

Buffett also has done some reshuffling in his airline holdings: they added to Delta Air Lines, Southwest Air and trimmed their holdings of United Continental. As we know, Warren Buffet is a big fan of Wells Fargo – or at least he has been for many years but ever persisting scandals apparently are starting to take tall even on the most religious believers – Berkshire trimmed their holdings of Wells Fargo and increased their holdings of iconic Goldman Sachs.Apparently, Mr. Buffet cannot forget these very profitable preferred convertibles he got from Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis.

Following corporate tax cuts in December, major U.S. banks have been reducing costs and planning hikes on shareholder payments. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, 23 banks regarded as most important by the Federal Reserve (and hence subject to the central bank’s stress tests) each saved $388 million on average in the first half of the year.The banks slashed 3,200 jobs in aggregate, while decided to boost shareholder payouts by more than $28 billion through mid-2019. JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc.,Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley – raked in more than $29 billion in net earnings in each of this year’s first two quarters – in large part due to lower corporate tax rates.

Last year's tax cut -- which featured a drop in rates across the board and a massive tax cut for corporations -- was seemingly not enough, as the Trump administration is now considering bypassing Congress to change how capital gains taxes are calculated. This move is still early stages and has not even been formally proposed yet.But early reporting indicates that under the executive action, investors would be able to adjust the cost basis for their asset/stock for inflation when calculating their capital gain. For example, if you bought a stock for $10,000 in 1980, and it grew to $80,000 today, under current law if you sold it you would have to pay capital gains taxes on the $70,000 gain.

Day traders and market watchers are often left wondering whether -- and by how much -- President Trump's tweets affect the market and stocks.As the president unabashedly wages trade threats and targets companies like Amazon in his Twitter feed, traders have eyed the market closely for reactions. Now, Goldman Sachs has compiled data to pinpoint just how much tweets affect market action.

Last summer, Tickeron's A.I.discovered a Three Rising Valleys bullish pattern and accurately predicted the stock price surge from the Breakout Price of $231.54 to the Target Price of $247.18 — a nearly +7% gain.     The Three Rising Valleys pattern forms when three minor Lows (1, 3, 5 on the chart) arrange along an upward sloping trend line.

After about two years of dormancy, volatility is back in the markets with the S&P 500 crossing into correction territory (-10%) for the first time since early 2016.The question on many investor’s minds is, what happens from here? History suggests a few outcomes may be possible. According to Goldman Sachs Chief Global Equity Strategist, Peter Oppenheimer, the average bull market 'correction' is about 13% over four months, with about a four-month period needed for stocks to recoup the lost value.