NEW YORK (AP) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares finished higher Tuesday, even as another analyst slashed financial forecasts for the bank amid the ongoing problems in the credit and equity markets.

Shares of Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) ended nearly 5% higher after sinking sharply earlier in the day. Weighing on shares was a research note from Fox-Pitt Kelton's David Trone, who became the latest analyst to predict the bank will post a fiscal fourth-quarter loss.
Trone estimated Goldman will report a loss of $1.55 per share for the quarter ending Nov. 30, compared with a prior estimate for earnings of $2.59 per share. Trone also slashed his 2009 earnings estimate to $9.08 per share from $12.15 per share.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, forecast earnings of $1.16 per share for the fourth quarter and $12.02 per share for 2009, though average estimates have sharply fallen in the past month.
A month ago, analysts, on average, forecast earnings of $2.71 per share for the fourth quarter and 2009 profit of $13.53 per share. In a research note, Trone said Goldman's results are heavily tied to global equity markets, which have plummeted during the past three months. The losses will be especially apparent in Goldman's principal investment portfolio, he added.
Those projected losses could change dramatically, though, in the three remaining weeks in the quarter, depending on the movement of markets, Trone said.
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein offered no insight as to how the company would finish the quarter in a presentation Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking at the Merrill Lynch Banking and Financial Services conference Tuesday in New York, Blankfein would only say that his firm was ""as well positioned as any financial firm out there.""
Blankfein stressed that the company remains largely committed to its investment bank business model even as it converted to a bank holding company in late September. He added that the company was looking to build up its deposit base, adding that it could come through acquisitions.