Goldman Sachs earnings drop 67% on $1.5bn legal charge

Goldman Sachs reported a big drop in second-quarter earnings Thursday following a large jump in legal and regulatory costs and weak bond trading results.

Net earnings in the quarter ending June 30 fell to $1.05 billion from $2.04 billion in the year-ago period.

Adjusted earnings were $916 million, down 67 percent from the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings translated into $1.98 per share, much below the $3.89 projected by analysts.

The investment bank had $1.45 billion in legal and regulatory costs, up from $284 million last year.

Revenues slipped 0.6 percent to $9.07 billion, topping market estimates of $8.78 billion.

Goldman cited mortgage-related litigation as a source of the elevated costs. Goldman is in talks with regulators to pay $2-3 billion to resolve issues related to the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the matter.

Goldman reported a 28 percent drop in trading revenues for fixed income, currency and commodities to $1.6 billion. That was partially offset by a 63 percent rise in equity trading revenues to $787 million.

Revenues in three of four Goldman's operating divisions rose. This included increases for financial advisory services amid strong merger and acquisition activity.

Revenues also rose for both equity and debt underwriting.

"We are pleased with our performance for the quarter," said Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein in a statement.

"While uncertainty in the EU weighed on investors' level of conviction, many of our businesses continued to benefit from generally improving economic conditions and healthy client activity."

Shares in Dow member Goldman fell 0.8 percent to $211.25 in pre-market trade.