Goldman Sachs sinks into red in third quarter

US bank Goldman Sachs on Tuesday reported a loss for the 2011 third quarter, only the second quarterly loss since the Wall Street investment giant went public more than a decade ago. Goldman posted a net loss of $428 million for the three months ending September, compared with $1.74 billion profit in the year-ago period.
By share, the loss was 84 cents, far steeper than the negative 15 cents forecast by analysts. The leading Wall Street firm had just one other losing quarter since it went public in 1999, a $2.12 billion drop in the fourth quarter of 2008, during that year''''s financial meltdown.