Goldman reports huge profit in early earnings announcement

Goldman Sachs (GS), once Wall Street's largest and most profitable investment house and now the sixth-largest bank in the United States, posted first-quarter profit of $1.81 billion, or $3.39 a share, far exceeding most analysts' expectations.

The company will also sell $5 billion in stock and use the proceeds to help it repay $10 billion in capital it received from the government's bank bailout program.