Goldman Sachs Third Quarter is Gold

Goldman Sachs, the huge New York based investment bank, showed a $3.2 billion quarterly profit Thursday. This is the third consecutive quarter that the firm easily beat analyst estimates. Given that, one has to say, that at least for Wall Street, it seems the the stimulus and the bailout has worked well.

Goldman Sachs earned $5.25 a share, up from $1.81 a year ago and well above the $4.24 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial estimated. Meanwhile, revenue soared from $1.6 billion a year ago to $6 billion.

Coupled with the earlier report from JP Morgan Chase of better than expected earnings, the Goldman Sachs earnings indicate a recovery seems to be in full swing among financial firms. This Wall Street recovery may not sit so well with Main Street, as the public is not doing well at all.

Continued unemployment numbers show that companies are recovering by reducing expenses. At the same time, as they recover, companies continue to be reluctant to hire.

Additionally, the public, as well as members of Congress, continue to look askance at the large bonuses that executives and other members of financial firms continue to rake in. Naturally this is not isolated to Goldman Sachs, but there is also concern that the chance for true financial reform has already passed. A discussion panel on last week's Bill Moyers Journal noted that the chance for true reform was in the spring, when financial institutions were still crawling to the White House for help.

For Goldman Sachs, however, it's clear the bonuses are back, and back with a vengeance. It was reported that this hugely successful quarter allowed Goldman to add $5.4 billion for employee compensation, which brings its bonus pool to $16.7 billion through Sept. 30. That number screams to Main Street that once again Wall Street is back to its old tricks.

Despite these great numbers, some are not impressed. Undoubtedly not a result of Main Street's disdain for Wall Street bonuses, Goldman Sachs stock price has dropped today, currently at $188.36, down $3.92 or-2.04%.

It was a great quarter, yet still disappointing to investors, apparently. The guess around the water cooler is that there were "whisper numbers" had Goldman Sach earning $6 a share, which is possibly the source of some of today’s disappointment.

The drop in Goldman Sach shares, as well as a similar drop among Citibank shares (C), has pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average back below 10,000, after finishing above it yesterday for the first time in a year. Current numbers at the time of this writing show the DJIA at 9,979, down 37. All three indices are down today, as of this writing.