The National Post reports in its Thursday edition that Goldman Sachs has notched one of its weakest quarters ever under chief executive officer David Solomon. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that second quarter earnings fell 58 per cent on an investment-banking slump, real estate markdowns and a goodwill writedown in the consumer business, which houses the Greensky lending business. Return on equity, a key measure of profitability, slid to 4 per cent -- the worst among the top United States banks. The firm had been actively tamping down expectations heading into the report, prompting analysts to slash their estimates for quarterly profit by almost half since mid-June. Goldman's management has been working to smooth the firm's sometimes volatile quarterly results, which featured big gains during the post-pandemic boom followed by a run of missed profitability goals. Bloomberg says investors are looking to see whether the second quarter represents a trough for the New York-based company, with a steadier run of earnings gains ahead. Neuberger Berman Group manager Sandy Pomeroy says: "This is clearly a battleground stock for investors. Probably more so than any other" peer in the financial-services space.