Goldman Sachs shares fall for a second straight session on Thursday, bank further downsizes commodities trading division

According to a report by Reuters on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) has eliminated 10 roles, further shrinking its global commodities trading division, as expenses rose and earnings dropped.

The sources said that the job reductions were announced earlier this week after the Wall Street bank had conducted an annual review of its workforce across all regions and divisions.

Goldman Sachs shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Thursday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since March 4th. The stock went down 1.01% ($1.97) to $192.77, after touching an intraday low at $190.20, or a price level not seen since February 14th ($189.44).

Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc have risen 15.40% so far in 2019 compared with a 9.66% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Goldman Sachs’s stock went down 34.43%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

Goldman Sachs embarked on a profound review of its commodities division in order to assess the use of capital and profitability. The review was initiated under the bank’s prior CEO Lloyd Blankfein and was finalized under its new Chief Executive David Solomon.

Last month the Wall Street Journal had reported that the review concluded the business was utilizing too much capital for generating too little profit.

According to one of the sources, the bank would not exit any commodity businesses.

According to CNN Money, the 24 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Goldman Sachs’s stock price, have a median target of $226.00, with a high estimate of $302.00 and a low estimate of $190.00. The median estimate represents a 17.24% upside compared to the closing price of $192.77 on March 7th.

The same media also reported that 14 out of 29 surveyed investment analysts had rated Goldman Sachs’s stock as “Hold”, while 10 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $198.57
R1 – $201.13
R2 – $204.06
R3 – $206.62
R4 – $209.18

S1 – $195.64
S2 – $193.08
S3 – $190.15
S4 – $187.22