Goldman Sachs announced a stunning 51% increase in its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings, ending eight consecutive quarters of decline.。The strong performance this time came mainly from asset and wealth management, rather than the traditional investment banking and trading business.。Full-year profit fell 24%, but fourth-quarter results show Goldman Sachs is succeeding in its transformation plan to reduce its reliance on volatile businesses。Market upbeat on Goldman's 2024 outlook, shares up 0.7%。

Goldman plans to end its partnership with credit card partner General Motors (GM) and exit the GM credit card business as part of Goldman's continued exit from the Main Street lending business。Still, Goldman has been successful in expanding its lending operations to wealthy individual and institutional clients.。

Goldman Sachs and other big banks are starting to see deals grow after signs of recovery in M & A activity。Although Goldman's investment banking business underperformed its peers, its asset and wealth management business performed brightly。

Overall, Goldman's fourth-quarter earnings reached about $2 billion on revenue of $11.3 billion, up 7 percent from a year earlier.。However, the bank's full-year profit fell 24 per cent and there was also a decline in return on equity.。Investors are optimistic about Goldman's transformation plans, but there are also comments that 2023 will be a disappointing year for management。