Wall Street giants take major profit hit

Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers saw a significant fall in profits, despite results for the first quarter of 2008 exceeding analysts' expectations. Wall Street had feared poor results from either firm could result in a knock-down sale, as happened at the weekend to Bear Stearns which was bought for $2 per share by JP Morgan Chase after it was forced to seek a loan from the Federal Reserve. Today, Goldman Sachs reported losses of $1bn on mortgage loans and securities, and a further $1bn from non-investment grade loans, for the three months to the end of February. Profits for the bank fell 53% ...