Goldman profit slides 53 percent, shares drop

Goldman Sachs Group Inc posted a 53 percent decline in quarterly profit on Wednesday, in part reflecting lower results in fixed-income trading.

Goldman shares fell 2.7 percent to $169.90 in premarket trading.

Fourth-quarter net income after payment of preferred stock dividends totaled $2.23 billion, or $3.79 per share, compared with $4.79 billion, or $8.20 a share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected $3.76 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Goldman said net revenue fell 10 percent to $8.64 billion, compared with the average analyst forecast of $9 billion.

Net revenue in fixed income, currency and commodities slid 39 percent from the third quarter to $1.64 billion, reflecting what Goldman called generally low client activity levels.

Still, Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein in a statement said the bank is seeing signs of growth and more economic activity following difficult market and economic conditions for much of 2010.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by John Wallace)