Goldman Sachs (GS) Stock After the Bell on December 9, 2025 – And What to Watch Before the Market Opens on December 10

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) closed at a fresh record high on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, then drifted sideways in after-hours trading as investors digested bullish comments on deal-making from management and braced for Wednesday’s pivotal Federal Reserve decision. ^[1]

Below is a detailed look at how the stock traded “after the bell,” what the latest research and forecasts are saying about GS, and the key catalysts to watch before the market opens on December 10.

Quick snapshot: Goldman Sachs after the bell

Record close: GS finished Tuesday at $876.58, up roughly 1.1% on the day, after trading between about $864 and $884. ^[2]
After-hours action: Post-close trading was essentially flat, with the stock hovering around $876.5–$876.6 by just after 6 p.m. ET. ^[3]
New all‑time high: Data from CompaniesMarketCap shows $876.58 is Goldman’s highest end‑of‑day price on record, capping a year in which the stock has gained roughly 55% in 2025 alone. ^[4]
Rich but not extreme valuation: At the close, Goldman traded at a price/earnings ratio near 17.8, with a dividend yield around 1.8% and a market cap near $263 billion. ^[5]
Short interest creeping up: A new Benzinga update shows 7.02 million GS shares sold short, about 2.28% of the float, up 7.04% from the prior report, with ~3.4 days to cover—below the 4.39% peer average but clearly rising. ^[6]
Street views diverge from the price: Traditional Wall Street analysts still see limited upside (or even downside) from here, even as Zacks again highlighted Goldman Sachs as a Focus List stock for long‑term investors. ^[7]

All of this is playing out against a macro backdrop where markets are pricing in an 87% chance of another Fed rate cut on Wednesday, December 10, a key event for all bank stocks. ^[8]

How Goldman Sachs stock traded on December 9, 2025

Price action and volume

According to Google Finance, Goldman Sachs shares: ^[9]

Opened: around $866.7
Day’s range: roughly $864.31 – $883.72
Closed:$876.58
After hours: about $876.52 as of just after 6:05 p.m. ET

This put GS within the very top of its 52‑week range of $439.38–$883.72, meaning the stock is trading essentially at the high end of a near‑doubling from its 12‑month low. ^[10]

CompaniesMarketCap data confirm that $876.58 is the highest end‑of‑day print for Goldman Sachs since 1999, and the stock is up nearly 55% year‑to‑date in 2025, easily outpacing the broader market. ^[11]

A recent 24/7 Wall St. piece highlighted GS as one of the three best‑performing Dow components in 2025, noting that the stock is up “over 49% year to date” and has surged on the back of robust earnings and a revival in deal activity. ^[12]

Fundamentals underneath the move

Goldman’s fundamental momentum gives investors some justification for paying up:

Q3 2025 revenue: about $14.8–$15.2 billion, up roughly 20% year over year, according to Google Finance and MarketBeat. ^[13]
Q3 EPS: around $12.25, crushing consensus estimates near $10.27. ^[14]
Net income: approximately $4.1 billion in Q3, with net margins expanding. ^[15]

A MarketBeat note published December 9 also pointed out that Goldman’s quarterly dividend stands at $4.00 per share, or $16.00 annualized, for a yield of about 1.8% at current prices and a payout ratio near 32.5%. ^[16]

What moved Goldman Sachs: CFO’s upbeat message on M&A and capital markets

The single clearest catalyst for GS on December 9 was CFO Denis Coleman’s commentary at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference in New York.

M&A is back – and management thinks it stays that way

In remarks first reported by Reuters and carried via Investing.com, Coleman said: ^[17]

2025 is on track to be the second‑biggest year in history for announced mergers and acquisitions industrywide.
There have already been 63 “megadeals” worth $10 billion or more announced this year, exceeding the prior all‑time record.
Dealmaking led by financial sponsors (private equity and similar buyers) has risen by roughly 40%.
Goldman’s outlook and visibility on M&A into 2026 is “very encouraging”, with strong pipelines on both the advisory and financing sides.

He also highlighted a renewed equity underwriting calendar, helped by a wave of large IPOs in 2025, which he expects to remain active into 2026. ^[18]

Wall Street knows that Goldman Sachs lives on capital markets cycles, so a CFO publicly leaning into a multi‑year M&A and underwriting upturn is exactly the kind of commentary that can justify the stock pushing to new highs.

Strategic pivot: asset and wealth management expansion

Coleman’s optimism builds on a series of strategic moves that investors have been tracking:

On December 1, Goldman announced a roughly $2 billion cash‑and‑stock acquisition of Innovator Capital Management, a provider of “defined outcome” ETFs with over $28 billion in assets across 159 funds. ^[19]
Earlier this fall, the bank also agreed to acquire Industry Ventures, a venture capital firm managing about $7 billion in assets, further expanding its alternatives platform. ^[20]

These deals are aimed at scaling recurring fee‑based revenue in asset and wealth management and reducing reliance on more volatile trading and investment banking cycles.

A Finviz‑linked analysis summarizing the Innovator acquisition notes that the move should strengthen Goldman’s ETF options in one of the fastest‑growing corners of the market and aligns with management’s stated goal of building more stable income streams. ^[21]

Fresh research and forecasts on December 9, 2025

Zacks: Goldman is a long-term “Focus List” name – but currently rated Hold

A new Zacks article, “Why Goldman Sachs (GS) Is a Top Stock for the Long-Term”, published December 9, dug into why GS remains part of the Zacks Focus List—a curated portfolio of 50 stocks expected to beat the market over the next year. ^[22]

Key points from Zacks:

GS has been on the Focus List since July 2018, when it traded around $226.85; since then, the stock has gained over 280% to roughly $866–$877. ^[23]
For fiscal 2025, six analysts have raised earnings estimates in the last 60 days, and the consensus EPS estimate has climbed by $1.83 to $48.87, implying strong profit growth. ^[24]
Zacks expects earnings growth of about 20.6% for the current year and notes that GS has delivered an average earnings surprise of 21.3% historically. ^[25]

Interestingly, Zacks currently assigns GS only a #3 (Hold) rank, even while arguing that its fundamentals make it a solid long‑term anchor for portfolios. ^[26]

Street consensus: price targets lag the stock

Despite the bullish narrative, the average analyst price target now sits below the current share price:

StockAnalysis aggregates 13 analysts covering GS and finds an average 12‑month target of $748.77, with a consensus rating of “Hold”. That implies about ‑14.6% downside from Tuesday’s close. The target range runs from $560 on the low end to $870 on the high end. ^[27]
MarketBeat’s compilation of brokerage research shows 4 Buy, 16 Hold and 1 Sell ratings, with an average target of $786—roughly 10% below the current price—and a similar overall consensus of “Hold.” ^[28]

This disconnect—record price, but muted or negative implied upside from published targets—is one reason short interest is quietly rising (more on that next).

Quant/technical models: modest near-term pullback, still bullish overall

A widely followed algorithmic forecast from CoinCodex, updated late on December 9, offers a more technical view: ^[29]

Current price used: about $876.56.
5‑day prediction: around $847.23.
1‑month prediction: about $875.00, essentially flat versus today (‑0.96%).
Over the last 30 trading days, GS logged 18 “green days” out of 30 (60%) with 2.75% volatility, and the 14‑day RSI sits near 57.9, a “neutral” reading (not yet overbought).
The forecast labels short‑term sentiment as “Bullish”, even though its models expect only marginal price movement over the next month.

Taken together, fundamental analysts see GS as fairly valued or slightly expensive, while quant models see a bullish but consolidating trend after a huge year‑to‑date rally.

Preferred-share investors urged to be patient

On the income side, a new Seeking Alpha analysis titled “Goldman Sachs: Here’s Why You Should Hold Off On Adding Preferred Shares” cautions investors about diving aggressively into Goldman’s preferred stock classes right now. ^[30]

While the author notes that Goldman stands to benefit from a lower‑rate environment, the piece argues that certain GS preferreds already price in much of that upside and that yields may not be compelling enough relative to risks and call features—especially with common shares hitting record highs.

What rising short interest is signaling about sentiment

Benzinga’s latest short‑interest report, published Tuesday afternoon, flagged a notable shift in positioning around GS: ^[31]

Short interest as a percentage of float:2.28%
Total shares sold short:7.02 million
Change since last update:+7.04%
Days to cover: roughly 3.44 based on recent trading volumes

That is still lower than the peer‑group average of 4.39% of float sold short, so Goldman is less heavily shorted than many comparable banks. However, the trend is upward, which suggests:

Some investors are betting on mean reversion after a 50%+ year‑to‑date run.
Others may be hedging long financial exposure or using GS as a liquid proxy for the sector ahead of the Fed meeting.

Rising but still moderate short interest can cut both ways:

It adds a pocket of skepticism to an otherwise bullish story.
It also creates potential fuel for short‑covering rallies if Wednesday’s Fed decision or GS‑specific headlines come in better than feared.

Macro backdrop: the Fed looms large over Wednesday’s open

Goldman’s after‑hours trading on December 9 can’t be understood without looking at the broader market.

An Investopedia “Dow Jones Today” wrap‑up describes a mixed session on Tuesday: ^[32]

Dow Jones: ‑0.4%
S&P 500: ‑0.1%
Nasdaq Composite: +0.1%
Russell 2000: +0.4%, closing at a new record high

The same report notes that markets are pricing in an 87% chance that the Federal Reserve will cut its policy rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, taking the federal funds target range down to 3.5%–3.75%. ^[33]

Kiplinger’s live coverage of the December Fed meeting emphasizes that investors will also scrutinize the new “dot plot” of rate projections and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for clues about the pace of cuts in 2026. ^[34]

For Goldman Sachs, this matters because:

Lower rates can stimulate capital markets activity—more M&A, more equity and debt issuance—supporting advisory and underwriting fees, which Coleman explicitly celebrated. ^[35]
However, repeated cuts also compress net interest margins and can flatten the yield curve, which may weigh on certain lending and trading businesses.
A hawkish surprise (either fewer cuts implied for 2026 or more intense dissent among Fed officials) could trigger a risk‑off reaction in financials even if one more cut is delivered tomorrow.

All of this means Wednesday’s pre‑market tape could be choppy, particularly for rate‑sensitive sectors like banks and brokers.

What to watch before the market opens on December 10, 2025

Here are the key factors investors in GS will likely be watching overnight and into the pre‑market session:

1. Futures and sector ETFs

S&P 500 futures, Dow futures and financial-sector ETFs (like XLF) will set the tone for GS before the bell. A strong risk‑on move ahead of the Fed could help Goldman extend its breakout; a cautious or risk‑off tone could reverse some of Tuesday’s gains.

2. Bond market moves

Watch the 2‑year and 10‑year Treasury yields. Any significant overnight move in yields—especially a sharp drop at the front end—will shift expectations for GS’s trading conditions, funding costs and rate‑sensitive businesses. ^[36]

3. New headlines from the Goldman U.S. Financial Services Conference

More presentations from big banks at Goldman’s own conference are scheduled, and we’ve already seen JPMorgan’s Marianne Lake warn of a “little more fragile” economic environment, which dragged JPM shares lower on Tuesday. ^[37]
Additional cautious commentary from peers could temper enthusiasm for the whole sector, while upbeat remarks might validate Goldman’s M&A optimism.

4. Pre-market trading in GS

Traders will be watching whether GS holds above the mid‑$870s in pre‑market action.
Tuesday’s range between roughly $864 and $884 now forms a short‑term support/resistance zone; sustained trading above that band would indicate momentum is intact, while early weakness below ~$865 could hint at profit‑taking after the record close. ^[38]

5. Any shifts in Fed expectations

If late‑night speeches, leaks or economic data tweak the market’s view of Wednesday’s Fed decision or 2026 outlook, financial stocks could move aggressively even before New York opens.

6. Additional institutional‑ownership filings

The same day that MarketBeat highlighted Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosting its GS stake by 75.6%, it also published a separate piece about State Street trimming its position in the bank. ^[39]
Any more large‑holder filings hitting the tape overnight might offer a hint about how big money is positioning into year‑end.

Is Goldman Sachs stock a buy before the open?

Whether GS is attractive right now, at a record high on the eve of a major Fed decision, depends on how you weigh the bull and bear cases.

Bull case highlights

Earnings momentum: Double‑digit revenue growth and substantial EPS beats in 2025. ^[40]
Powerful M&A and capital‑markets cycle: CFO Denis Coleman sees deal and underwriting activity staying strong into 2026, with 2025 already near historic highs. ^[41]
Strategic diversification: Deals like Innovator Capital Management and Industry Ventures deepen Goldman’s asset and wealth management franchise, building recurring fee income. ^[42]
Supportive research: Zacks continues to feature Goldman on its Focus List, citing rising earnings estimates and strong long‑term prospects. ^[43]

Bear case and risks

Valuation versus targets: Most published 12‑month price targets sit below the current share price, with implied downside in the 10%–15% range. ^[44]
Crowded trade: GS is one of the best‑performing Dow stocks in 2025, up around 50% YTD; that leaves less margin for error if the macro or deal environment disappoints. ^[45]
Rising short interest: While still modest, short interest is increasing, suggesting more investors are either hedging or outright betting against the stock at these levels. ^[46]
Macro uncertainty: A hawkish‑leaning Fed on Wednesday could trigger a broad sell‑off in financials, regardless of Goldman’s own fundamentals.

Given those cross‑currents, many institutional and research shops are effectively saying: great company, strong momentum, but the easy money may already be behind it for now.

For individual investors, it’s important to remember:

This article is for informational purposes only and is not personal investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Your decisions should be based on your own objectives, risk tolerance and, ideally, discussion with a qualified financial adviser.