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Wall Street Buzzes about Goldman's Senate Testimony

After their public grilling by U.S. senators, how did Goldman Sachs executives fare at the hearing on Capitol Hill?

After their public grilling by U.S. senators, how did Goldman Sachs executives fare at the hearing on Capitol Hill? Called to talk about its mortgage-linked investment, Goldman faced brutal questioning from senators, but have been criticized for coming across as evasive and arrogant.Today's New York Post is reporting that Wall Street traders debated the impact of the hearing yesterday in their offices yesterday.

One anonymous hedge fund manager was cited in article. He described the debate within his circle as "90 percent for Goldman and 10 against." "In my opinion the debate is settled," the trader said. "Goldman didn't do anything wrong and if they did, it wasn't intentional."

Yesterday, as reported by Bloomberg News, President Bill Clinton came to Goldman's defense in a speech that said he was skeptical that Goldman Sachs broke the law.

Here's an excerpt from the Bloomberg story: "I'm not at all sure they violated the law, but I do believe that there was no underlying merit to the transaction and that's what I think we need to look at," said Clinton, who was attending an economic summit.

Clinton was referring to the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Goldman alleging it sold a complex collateral debt obligation linked to mortgages without telling the investors that a hedge fund client, John Paulson, had a role in picking the mortgage securities that were in the portfolio.

Clinton said it wasn't "self-evident that Goldman Sachs broke the law because investors had "access to the same information as Paulson," according to the Bloomberg article.

While Clinton didn't weigh in on the hearing and how the Goldman testimony was perceived, he did suggest that derivatives used by farmers, have "legitimate economic purpose, and should be treated differently than those that don't."

Meanwhile, Joe Connolly, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal broadcasting on WCBS Radio88, said that Goldman Sachs employees are not happy with the way they were portrayed in the hearing and that Goldman's CEO and other executives should have listened to the PR professionals more than the lawyers.After their public grilling by U.S. senators, how did Goldman Sachs executives fare at the hearing on Capitol Hill? Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio

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