Analyst Richard Bove is not mystified by Goldman Sachs' ability to out-earn its peers. He tells TheStreet.com: "Goldman is just better, because they do it right. The people they put into the system have higher IQs, come through a much more vigorous training system--I mean who the hell trains people at Citigroup?" Goldman Sachs certainly has smart employees. In terms of prestige in the financial services industry, it is Google-like and Microsoft-like. But perhaps we should be a little less cheerleader-like.

Most of the action in the first quarter came in the fixed income, currencies and commodities unit. Some take that to mean trading, including proprietary trading. No doubt spreads are high, and Goldman's VAR is elevated. So we may be seeing a return to the days when Goldman Sachs relied on savvy prop trading and principal investment. We might soon see a day when Goldman books one major gain on a principal investment per quarter the way it used to.  

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