Wall Street’s dealmaking boom didn’t slow at Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and Morgan Stanley ( MS ) in the fourth quarter, with both firms ending one of the strongest years for investment banking since the pandemic.
Goldman reported fourth-quarter net income of $4.6 billion, or $14.01 in earnings per share, a 12% year-over-year increase. At Morgan Stanley, net profit rose 18% to $4.4 billion compared with the fourth quarter last year, driven by a 47% jump in deal-making revenue.
The year 2025 was a good one for these Wall Street banks.
Goldman recorded its best year ever in stock trading fees. Those Goldman market unit fees jumped 23%, while total trading for the full year rose 16% from 2024.
Full-year profits, deal fees and net income also climbed to the second-highest level ever, just behind the boom in 2021, SEEbiz reports.
Goldman’s prominent M&A advisory business grew 41% to $1.36 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, also roughly in line with analysts’ expectations. The bank’s equity trading fees rose 25% during the fourth quarter to $4.3 billion.
“I think the world right now is set up to be incredibly constructive in 2026 for M&A and capital markets activity,” Goldman’s Solomon told analysts on Thursday.
The M&A boom levels of 2021 will eventually “be exceeded,” Solomon also said.
“They could be exceeded in 2026.”
Morgan Stanley reported record net revenues and net profits for the full year. Its equity trading unit also generated fees that exceeded all previous levels. Equity trading fees rose 10% in the fourth quarter and 28% for the full year compared to 2024.
Goldman’s deal-making fee revenue jumped 25% to $2.57 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations.
A deal-making boom swept Wall Street through most of 2025, but activity weakened during the final quarter of the year for some of the firms’ competitors.
Shares of Goldman rose more than 2% after the open on Thursday, while shares of Morgan Stanley rose more than 4%.
“We continue to see high levels of client engagement in our franchise and expect momentum to accelerate in 2026, activating a flywheel of activity across our firm,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in a statement.
“Our institutional securities business served as a trusted advisor to clients as investment banking activity accelerated and global markets remained strong,” Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said of his bank’s 2025 results.
On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase said investment banking fees fell 4% from the same period last year, below analysts’ and the bank’s own expectations in early December. JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum said one factor contributing to the weaker dealmaking period was “the timing of some of the deals being pushed back to 2026.”
