By Simon Atkinson
Business reporter, BBC News

<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45137000/jpg/_45137352_cebe1752-8d30-43d2-a1ef-457852a3716a.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”File with Goldman Sachs written along spine” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

When Goldman Sachs unveils its latest results, they are are widely expected to reveal a hefty profit.

Reports suggest it will have made more than $2bn (£1.23bn) between March and June – pretty staggering given that just six months ago it was seeing its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999.

Along with its rivals, it had been battered by an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression and the Wall Street institution was forced into taking $10bn in federal aid.

That loan, under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP), has now been paid off as Goldman begins to operate free from state shackles.

"It is, in many respects, business as usual at Goldman"

Roger Freeman, Barclays Capital

Conspiracy theories abound about how it has managed to turn things around.

But after a fairly successful first three months of the year, it seems that it has continued to capitalise on the turmoil in the markets – making bets in the right direction on commodities and volatile currencies as well as shares – and profiting handsomely.

And its share price, while still well off its high, has gained about 75% in 2009.

"It is, in many respects, business as usual at Goldman," Barclays Capital analyst Roger Freeman told The Boston Globe.

Too much risk

But while the business model and the tales of success may be familiar, the context in which it is trading is quite different.

While once there was little but applause for huge returns, Goldman and its rivals are operating in a different sphere from 18 months ago.

Today, if profits are too good, the bank is likely to be criticised for taking too much risk – gambles that may have paid off this time but which could have left them vulnerable.

There will be complaints too that they are now operating in a much smaller marketplace – that the likes of Lehman Brothers were allowed to fail, while other institutions could prosper and now profit thanks to the taxpayer.

However investors – who have come to expect Goldman to outwit its rivals – are unlikely to be impressed if they see profits as being too low.

"They are between a rock and a hard place," said Walter Todd, of Greenwood Capital Associates, which owns shares of rival Morgan Stanley.

Headline grabbing

There is also inevitably going to be a backlash form those who saw their investments crumble because of the actions of big banks, especially when it comes to bonus time.

Analysts have estimated that Goldman is going to split about $18bn between its 28,000 employees – something that it would have struggled to do had it not got approval to exit the TARP scheme – after raising cash through the sale of debt and equities.

And if that is not controversial enough, there has been plenty of other publicity in recent weeks – including allegations of employee theft and an unflattering feature of the firm in Rolling Stone magazine accusing it of playing an important role in market bubbles.

All this ensures that while JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America will also be revealing more about their financial performance in the coming days, it will be Goldman that is likely to grab the headlines.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.