Goldman Sachs (GS) Sees Shares Rally

Goldman Sachs (

) shares rallied over 3.4% to end the day at $139.66. Shares traded up in the after hours market to cross over the $140 level. Bank stocks rallied on news of a financial reform bill. The financial reform bill is not nearly as tough on investment banks as previously anticipated. Investment banks can still maintain stakes in hedge fund companies which means that trading will still be profitable for them. There was much fear that the big banks would be forced to sell off huge portions of their profitable trading operations in the wake of financial reform. These fears turned out to be largely unfounded. While banks do have to slash some trading operations, they have seven years to do so. Banks are still able to generate huge fees from managing hedge funds. Does anyone doubt that banks will have come up with new ways to generate revenue before they have to seriously reduce their proprietary trading operations?