New York, February 27, 2026, 17:53 EST — After-hours
- Goldman Sachs shares fell about 7.4% in Friday’s session, tracking a broader hit to financials.
- Investors zeroed in on fresh private-credit worries after a UK mortgage lender collapse rippled through bank and asset-manager stocks.
- The next test is next week’s U.S. jobs report and whether credit headlines keep spreading.
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. shares closed down 7.4% at $860.22 on Friday and were little changed after the bell, after a sharp selloff in banks and alternative-asset managers swept through Wall Street. 1
The pressure built as investors reacted to the collapse of UK mortgage provider Market Financial Solutions Ltd and tried to size up what it could mean for lenders and the private-credit ecosystem. “We’re starting to continue to see these types of things pop up,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading, adding he was worried about how deep the problems run. 2
The timing stung because February has already been defined by a jumpy, risk-off tape, with worries about AI costs and disruption piling onto sticky inflation and tariff noise. “To wrap up the month of February, we were reminded there are still some cracks out there,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, pointing to hotter inflation data as another drag. 3
Market Financial Solutions had focused on property-backed loans, and administrators working for creditors warned in court documents of possible “double pledging” and a collateral shortfall of 930 million pounds ($1.25 billion). Lenders mentioned in court documents included Barclays, Santander, Jefferies and Wells Fargo, among others.
For Goldman, the day’s slide landed on top of a separate debate playing out in private credit, a corner of finance where funds lend directly to companies rather than through public bond markets. Goldman’s asset management arm told investors in a letter that redemptions at GS Credit were running below peers, even as the firm flagged how fast AI is shifting the ground under software borrowers. 4
Goldman said the private-credit landscape is dealing with volatile macro conditions and “shifting flows” in traded and non-traded BDCs — business development companies, a type of lender that often finances smaller firms. It also disclosed GS Credit’s enterprise-software credit exposure was about 15.5% at the end of the third quarter.
The selloff was not just a Goldman story. Jefferies dropped sharply and other lenders with links to the UK mortgage provider also slid, while alternative asset managers with private-credit footprints took hits as investors questioned how quickly stress can surface in less-transparent lending.
Macro added to the strain. A stronger-than-expected Producer Price Index (a gauge of wholesale inflation) fed the view that the Federal Reserve may keep rates higher for longer, a backdrop that can squeeze risk appetite and weigh on financial shares when credit nerves are already elevated.
There is a big “but” hanging over the whole trade: exposure is murky. Some banks arrange loans and then sell pieces to other investors, and recoveries can vary widely depending on where a lender sits in the capital stack and how clean the collateral is.
Next week, the market’s AI narrative is set to stay in the foreground, with investors still debating which industries are helped by the technology and which get hurt. “There continues to be this … back and forth about who might be the victim and those that will actually emerge winners,” said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group, adding that the lack of clarity could keep volatility alive. 5
The next hard catalyst is Friday’s U.S. employment report for February, due March 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET — a print that could reset rate expectations again, and with them the tone for banks like Goldman into the new month. 6
