Goldman's quarterly profit was $1.19 billion, far short of analysts' estimates of nearly five-and-a-half billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

One analyst, Octavio Marenzi, put it bluntly: "Widely expected to be awful, Goldman Sachs' Q4 results were even more miserable than anticipated."

Wall Street banks are making deep cuts to their workforce and streamlining their operations as dealmaking activity, their major source of revenue, stalls on worries over a weakening global economy and rising interest rates.

Goldman's investment banking fees fell 48% in the latest quarter, while revenue from its asset and wealth management unit dropped 27% due to lower revenue from equity and debt investments.

Last week, a source told Reuters the bank would lay off 3,000 employees in an attempt to rein in costs.