FT Alphaville " Revenge of the muppets? This isn't ideal, in any case: Net revenues in Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Client Execution were $3.46 billion, 20% lower than a solid first quarter of 2011, as higher net revenues in interest rate products were more than offset by lower net revenues in the other major businesses. Not just "lower than a solid first quarter of 2011″, but also lower than both JP Morgan's $4.664bn in Q1 fixed income revenue and (gasp!) Citigroup's $3.65bn in what was once Goldman's bailiwick. Meanwhile, we found out how much Goldman will be hiking its dividend in the aftermath of the stress tests: The Board of Directors of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. increased the firm's quarterly dividendto $0.46 per common share from $0.35 per common share. Which sounds nice, until you come across this from the sharp-eyed crew at Deal Journal: But that boosted payout rate comes as the company repurchased 3.3 million shares in the first quarter for $362 million. If that pace is kept up, it would be a marked slowdown from 2011, when 47 million shares were bought for $6.04 billion. But yeah, sure, put a "beat consensus" gloss on it if you wish, but it looks like Goldman might be showing signs of vulnerability here. Full release here, FT writeup here, conference call coming up in a few minutes at 9:30am. This entry was posted by Cardiff Garcia on Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 at 14:30 and is filed under Capital markets. Tagged with first quarter earnings, goldman sachs.