Ahead of earnings week, analysts had reduced their expectations significantly. According to Financial News Online, the average analyst estimate for Bear Stearns is down by 50 percent. Morgan Stanley's average fell by nearly 20 percent, as did Lehman Brothers. What about Goldman Sachs? The average estimate fell by just 1 percent, even with lots of hedge fund turmoil. The idea seems to be that its diversified revenue stream is a huge differentiator. Indeed, it derives a lot of revenue from proprietary trading, which benefits from volatility. Then again, there is still a lot of suspense ahead of Thursday. The wrong bets could have been made. Such earnings are hard to predict.  

For more:
- here's the Financial News Online article