Goldman Sachs Hands Clients Losses in ‘Top Trades’

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Bloomberg

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. racked up trading profits for itself every day last quarter. Clients who followed the firm’s investment advice fared far worse.

Seven of the investment bank’s nine “recommended top trades for 2010” have been money losers for investors who followed the New York-based firm’s advice, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from a Goldman Sachs research note sent yesterday. Clients who followed the tips lost 14 percent buying the Polish zloty versus the Japanese yen, 9.4 percent buying Chinese stocks in Hong Kong and 9.8 percent trading the British pound against the New Zealand dollar.

The struggles for analysts at Goldman, which is fighting a fraud lawsuit from U.S. regulators who accuse the company of misleading investors in a mortgage-linked security, show the difficulty of predicting market movements as widening budget deficits, a fragile global economic recovery and tighter financial regulations increase volatility. Stock and currency fluctuations rose to the highest in a year this month as Europe pledged about $1 trillion to stop a debt crisis in the region.

“This says that Goldman’s guys are only human,” said Axel Merk, who oversees $500 million as president and chief investment officer of Merk Investments LLC in Palo Alto, California. “No one is always right. There are a lot of cross currents in this market.”

Gia Moron, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment.

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Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aq1TZHxNGpWU&pos=3

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Scandalous!

[Donnachaidh]

1. so if being *only human* is the excuse for failing their customers

WHY was GS able to post profits for ITSELF *every day* last quarter? Did they suddenly become Superman when it was their money?

[JDPriestly]

2. Great point, Donnachaidh.

Goldman's clients lose. Goldman wins. Go figure.

[Kablooie]

4. Being only human means they will cheat others every chance they get. That's just human.

[Demeter]

3. Revenge Is a Dish Best Eaten to Excess

[safeinOhio]

5. Ah, those Gods of "free market absolutism"

work in mysterious ways.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. "cross currents"?

Do you think that term was inspired by the oil spill?

It's not BP's fault that the oil is spreading in the gulf. It's the fault of the cross currents.

It's not Wall Street's fault that everyone is not enjoying the same profits from the same risks. It's the fault of the cross currents.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Goldman Sucks...

"Trust Me" means Fuck You in Wall Street lingo.

[indepat]

8. Goldman seems to always be right when trading for itself as evidenced by a trading profit

every day of the quarter. Surely there are no conflict here even when the clients coterminously take it on the chin, so move on: there is nothing to see here. :P