The war and the Fed's rate hike helped Goldman Sachs profit from stock trading

Goldman Sachs reported a rise in third-quarter profits on Tuesday: M&A and IPO activity remained steady, while market volatility stemming from the conflict in the Middle East and the Fed’s rate hike boosted the bank’s equity trading revenue, Reuters notes. As a result, the quarterly results of the bank’s equity trading division significantly exceeded expectations, which helped Goldman Sachs offset the decline in fixed-income trading seen across Wall Street, the Financial Times noted.

Goldman Sachs shares rose more than 4% in premarket trading on October 13.

The U.S. stock market was in turmoil throughout the quarter due to the Fed’s September interest rate hike, rising fuel prices linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East, and a sell-off in chipmaker stocks. Investors were actively rebalancing their portfolios, which generated additional revenue for the banks’ trading divisions, according to Reuters. For example, Goldman Sachs’ revenue from equity trading rose 72% year-over-year in the past quarter, to $6.44 billion. At the same time, revenue from bond, currency, and commodity trading totaled $3.47 billion—1% less than a year earlier.

The strong performance of the bank’s equity traders enabled Goldman Sachs to increase its net revenue for the past reporting period to $18.68 billion ( a 23% increase compared to the third quarter of 2025), and its net income to $5.29 billion, or $17.01 per share, which is nearly 30% higher than the same figure from last year.

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