Goldman Sachs announced earnings today, and they have posted a $1.8 billion profit for the first quarter of 2009, so there. Their first order of business, they say, now that they’re feeling confident, is selling $5 billion worth of stock, so they can pay off the damn TARP and CEO Lloyd Blankfein will stop having to go to Washington and pretending to be sorry about being rich. “If permitted by our supervisors and if supported by the results of the stress assessment,” of course. Analyst Dick Bove knew they were going to do this, and he thinks it is a crap idea: “I have continually believed that extreme measures are being taken in this current financial crisis because hysteria has replaced sound thinking,” he wrote in a research note earlier today. “If Goldman Sachs makes the decision to bend to this hysteria by selling 80 million shares of stock it would be a black mark against management.” Whatever, Bove. Lloyd is a Neil Young man and he’s decided it would be better to burn out than to fade away.
Goldman to Raise $5 Billion to Pay Back TARP [Dealbook/NYT]
