Goldman Sachs, which opened Wall Street's first quarter reporting season on Monday with results that suggested hopes of recovery, recorded a $1.4bn (€1.06bn) loss on its private equity-style investments for the first three months of the year.

The principal investment losses barely dented Goldman Sachs' overall fixed income, currencies and commodities division that posted net revenues of $7.15bn, up from $5.1bn in the same period last year.