Goldman bullish on business conditions after strong quarter

• Key Insight: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says clients are moving forward with long-term business decisions, including mergers, now that U.S. trade policy has become stabler than it was in the spring.
• Forward Look: Goldman expects an uptick in M&A activity through the end of 2025 and into 2026.
• Expert Quote: “Many CEOs have shifted their focus back to long-term and strategic decision making, particularly amid a more supportive regulatory environment,” Solomon said.

UPDATE: This story includes quotes from Goldman Sachs’ third quarter earnings call and commentary from an analyst.

David Solomon’s view of the U.S. economy has ebbed and flowed in 2025. But after a storm of tariff uncertainty in the spring, the Goldman Sachs CEO now sees a rising tide.

On Tuesday, Goldman reported third quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, buoyed by rising net revenues in all its major businesses. And according to Solomon, Goldman is not alone: Many companies, he said, are being lifted by more “constructive” political and economic conditions.

“It’s clear from our conversations in boardrooms that after a period of heightened uncertainty and volatility early in the year, many of our clients have navigated and adapted to the current state of play,” Solomon said Tuesday during an earnings call with analysts. “Though near-term policy considerations are still relevant, many CEOs have shifted their focus back to long-term and strategic decision making, particularly amid a more supportive regulatory environment.”

Since the start of the year, Solomon’s assessment of the macroeconomic environment has fluctuated from quarter to quarter. In January, the CEO told investors he was “optimistic” that the new Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda would provide a tailwind for Goldman’s businesses.

But in April, after President Trump unveiled steep tariffs against almost 90 countries, Solomon lamented the uncertainty of U.S. trade policy and its chilling effect on major business decisions, saying the risk of a recession was increasing.

On Tuesday, the CEO appeared to return to his previous optimism. The spring’s uncertainty had abated, he said, and clients were thinking about the future again. For Goldman, he predicted, that could mean a significant boost to mergers and acquisitions.

“I think that we are going to see a very constructive M&A environment through the end of the year into 2026,” Solomon said. “So I think there’s been a meaningful improvement of where we are in the cycle.”

During the call, Solomon also discussed Goldman’s own recent M&A activity. On Monday, the investment giant announced that it had reached a deal to acquire Industry Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with $7 billion of assets under supervision. Goldman plans to pay $665 million for Industry Ventures at closing, and then up to $300 more based on the firm’s performance by 2030.

“This transaction complements our market-leading secondaries investing franchise,” Solomon said. “Industry Ventures’ deep relationships across the VC ecosystem have the potential to drive new opportunities for the firm, particularly in investment banking and wealth management.”

In the third quarter, Goldman outpaced many of Wall Street’s forecasts. In the three months that ended on Sept. 30, earnings per share for the firm rose to $12.25, well above analysts’ estimates of $11.10, according to S&P.

Net income climbed to $4.10 billion, up 37% from the same period last year and beating analysts’ forecasts of $3.48 billion, per S&P.

“While the market has been anticipating strong results and we don’t expect a big stock reaction, these results should likely keep investors in the stock as the pipelines continue to produce,” Glenn Schorr, an analyst for Evercore ISI, wrote in a research note.

Revenue for the quarter reached $15.18 billion, a 20% increase from last year and surpassing S&P analysts’ predictions of $14.13 billion. In an earnings release, Goldman credited this growth to “higher net revenues across all segments.”

One of those segments was Goldman’s global banking unit, which took in revenue of $10.12 billion, up 18% from the third quarter of 2024. That included a 42% jump in investment banking fees, which reached $2.66 billion.

Revenue for wealth management rose to $4.40 billion, a 17% increase from the same period last year. Goldman credited this partly to an uptick in management and other fees, which rose 12% from last year.

Even the unit encompassing Goldman’s ill-fated foray into consumer banking showed improvement. Net revenues for the segment known as Platform Solutions came out to $670 million, a 71% increase from the same period last year.

In the third quarter of 2024, the Platform Solutions unit took a hit in connection with its General Motors credit card, which Goldman ultimately sold to Barclays just two years after launching it. At the end of that quarter, Goldman reported a $415 million charge in connection to the GM card portfolio.

Another headache for Goldman during that period was the Apple Card, which had been launched in 2019. In October 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Goldman to pay at least $19.8 million to the card’s users, along with a $45 million civil money penalty, over multiple violations regarding refunds and disputed charges.

On Tuesday, when an analyst asked when Goldman would finally exit the Apple Card, Solomon said he had nothing new to report.

“We’ve been we’ve been clear that credit cards are not a go-forward focus for Goldman Sachs,” he said.

Solomon was more eager to talk about the future. As the uncertainty around tariffs recedes and the Trump administration renews its focus on deregulation, Goldman sees brightening prospects for itself and its clients.

“I absolutely think that the regulatory direction of travel is improving our competitive position significantly,” Solomon said.