GOLDMAN WHIFFS: What you need to know on Wall Street today
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
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Goldman Sachs was the last major Wall Street bank to report first-quarter earnings, and it was a big whiff.
Profit crashed 59.9% from a year ago, and revenues were down 33%.
CEO Lloyd Blankfein cited a challenging operating environment and said virtually every business faced headwinds during the quarter.
But some analysts have started to ask when investment banks like Goldman Sachs will stop "waiting for the tide to come in" and start proactively seeking out alternatives, like acquisitions, to grow revenues and earnings.
To that, Goldman says, it is "open-minded."
In deals news, JPMorgan and a tiny boutique bank are advising Saudi Arabia on what could be the biggest deal of all time.
And the Chinese company behind the biggest takeover of the year also tried to bust up Shell's megadeal for BG Group.
Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday:
Everyone's an activist investor these days — The line is blurring between who is an activist investor and who isn't. Whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen.
This is what's holding global markets together right now — Why did markets find a sickly looking new home? In part, we'd argue, because of Chinese property markets.
Yahoo's former exec who lost his job to Marissa Mayer is now trying to buy the core business — Ross Levinsohn is trying to get back in the company as part of a group of investors placing a bid for Yahoo's core business.
GUNDLACH: If Trump wins the Republican nomination, he'll win the White House — "Bond king" Jeff Gundlach thinks Donald Trump is just a nomination away from the White House.
The US Treasury thought about getting rid of the penny and putting Susan B. Anthony on the $10 bill — According to a memo from March 2015, Secretary Lew suggested both changes to President Obama.