For the first time since the advent of the financial meltdown, and for only the second time since 1999 when it became a publicly traded company, Goldman Sachs has — Gasp! Horror! Shock! — lost some money.

Reuters reports that Goldman Sachs posted a rare $428 million loss in the quarter. After years of go-go financing, Wall Street is finally having to scale back its operations and ambitions. “Trading operations are muted. Risk-taking is tempered. And boring businesses are back in vogue,” writes Dealbook.

“These firms are going back to the traditional investment banking model of the 1980s and early 1990s,” Tom Marsico of the mutual fund firm Marsico Capital Management told Dealbook.

It seems like the new regulations are finally having an effect. By not being allowed to participate in outsized risks that threaten the fabric of our economy, the bank is being forced to do the unthinkable: make less money.

Goldman Loss Offers a Bad Omen for Wall Street [NYT]

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