Instant view: Goldman Sachs posts its second ever quarterly loss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc lost $428 million during the third quarter, its second ever quarterly loss as a public company, hurt by sharp declines in the value of investment securities and customer trading assets.

Below are comments from analysts and investors:

TODD SCHOENBERGER, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT LANDCOLT TRADING IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

"My immediate reaction is that the results weren't a big surprise. Goldman said investment banking is lagging, and without market volatility revenue would probably be even worse. But the underlying cancer on all these reports is Europe, all these banks have risk from Europe and that region will continue to have a negative impact.

"We have to assume financial revenue will continue to be constrained. The group is facing so many regulatory hurdles, in addition to lower trading volumes and less M&A activity and a weaker economy. Earnings for banks are going to continue to suffer. The biggest question is, how are these stocks at two-year lows if we're in a recovery?"

TIM GHRISKEY, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER OF SOLARIS GROUP, WHICH DOES NOT OWN GOLDMAN SHARES:

"It is a pretty amazing miss by Goldman. You don't see misses like this from other major money center banks. Goldman Sachs is really sticking out here."

MICHAEL HOLLAND, FOUNDER OF HOLLAND & CO., WHICH DOES NOT OWN GOLDMAN, AND OVERSEES MORE THAN $4 BILLION IN ASSETS:

"These are surprisingly ugly numbers for Goldman, even given the horrible backdrop of the quarter.

"That compensation number decline of 59 percent is a management message that maybe things are not going to get better in the near term.

"When you have all of these lines of business declining simultaneously it just shows you what a truly ugly environment we have."

(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Compiled by Dan Wilchins)