
Goldman Sachs stock hit its lowest level in more than five years today, after analysts predicted that the company may post a fourth-quarter loss — which, if it happens, would be the company’s first loss since going public ten years ago. Last week, Goldman, arguably the most powerful firm on Wall Street, laid off almost 3,300 people as part of its transition into a bank holding company; today it announced it had laid off six 13 analysts. “Banks that thought they had cryptonite [sic] power all of a sudden come back to earth,” Oppenheimer analyst and Queen Bear Meredith Whitney told Reuters. “That’s costly and humbling and disruptive.” [Bloomberg, Reuters]