Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) traders made money every single day of the first quarter, a feat the firm has never accomplished before. Daily trading net revenue was $25 million or higher in all of the first quarter’s 63 trading days, New York-based Goldman Sachs reported in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. The firm reaped more than $100 million on 35 of the days, or more than half the time. Goldman Sachs, which is facing a fraud lawsuit from the SEC related to the firm’s sale of a mortgage-linked security in 2007, generated $9.74 billion in trading revenue in the first quarter, exceeding all of its Wall Street competitors. Trading accounted for 76 percent of first-quarter revenue. “This is the first time we have reported zero trading loss days in a quarter,” Samuel Robinson, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, said in an e-mail today. “We believe it shows the strength of our customer franchise and risk management.” –Bloomberg
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares are undervalued, Barron’s wrote in Monday’s edition, considering its robust cash flow and the absence of debt and the fact it’s trading at a lower forward p/e than Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO). In other news, Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) reported Monday that its first-quarter net income fell 26% to $230.9 million, or 52 cents per share, even as it gained new subscribers with promotions and revenue rose 5% to $3.06 billion. Results topped Wall Street’s expectations for profit of 50 cents per share on revenue of $3.05 billion. –Daily Finance
Fannie Mae Says Its Long-Term Viablity May Be At Risk, Needs $8.4 Billion. Admitting what the market already knows, Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) said in its 10-Q that Accordingly, there continues to be uncertainty regarding the future of Fannie Mae, including whether we will continue to exist in our current form after conservatorship is terminated. The options for reform of the GSEs include options that would result in a substantial change to our business structure or in Fannie Mae’s liquidation or dissolution. The cause of the statement is the $11.5 billion loss that the company posted in its first quarter. Most of the losses were due to the deteriorating housing market. Credit-related deficits consist of provision for loan losses, provisions for guaranty losses and foreclosed property expense. The most important figure in the filing may be the average default rates for the quarter were .46% up from .17% in the period a year ago. 24/7 Wall St.
The cost of insuring Greek, Portuguese and other peripheral euro-zone government debt against default plunged from historic levels Monday after the European Union unveiled a nearly $1 trillion back-up plan for the region and the European Central Bank said it would buy government bonds. The spread on Greek credit default swaps narrowed from 954 basis points Friday to 525 at midday Monday, according to Markit. That means it would now cost $525,000 a year to insure $10 million of Greek debt against default, a drop of $429,000. The Portuguese CDS spread narrowed 192 basis points to 240, while the Italian CDS spread narrowed 89 basis points to 140. The Spanish spread came in 88 basis points to 155, while the Irish spread narrowed 85 basis points to 175. –MarketWatch
The three-part international effort to stave off a debt crisis in the euro zone sent the euro sharply higher on Monday. The unexpectedly large size of the European Union emergency package and the joint efforts with the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund helped to lift hopes that immediate threats to the single currency have been removed. The euro was trading at $1.3045 from $1.2732 late on Friday in New York, according to EBS. The single currency was also up at ¥121.75 from ¥116.71. –The Wall Street Journal
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