The Teflon is wearing thin, and the credit crisis is sticking it to Goldman Sachs hard. We noted this week that at least one analyst now predicts a fourth quarter loss, which would be the firm's first loss as a public company. The latest hit, of course, is the news that its much-hyped hedge fund, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, was down about 15 percent for the year. Which isn't that bad. It's faring only slightly worse than the average hedge fund this year and better than the average mutual fund. But 15 percent on $6 billion is a whole lot of dough. And the expectations were really high. The fund was supposed to wipe away memories of Goldman's troubled Global Alpha fund. Instead, it has revived the bad feelings. Goldman Sachs Investment Partners is managed by Raanan Agus and Kenneth Eberts, former heads of proprietary trading desks at Goldman. They have some time to right the ship. The limited partners agreed to a two year lock up.

For more:
- here's the FT article on the hedge fund

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End of an era: Goldman to post first loss?