Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, July 16th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn.

Our top story so far, Goldman Sachs traders ranked in a historically strong haul in Q2.

Amid a volatile but rising market following the

Liberation Day tariffs announcement and subsequent retreats, Goldman posted the biggest quarterly

equity trading revenue in Wall Street history. Equity trading revenue rose 36% from the year ago

period to $4.3 million, more than $600 million above expectations. The big drivers were intermediation,

the bank working as a middleman for trading, in both cash products and derivatives, and equity

financing, lending to institutions, mainly for portfolio financing. For perspective, that was

$1 billion more in equity trading revenue than J.P. Morgan Chase reported for its Q2 just yesterday.

Overall, Goldman's Q2 earnings and revenue easily beat estimates,

with a strong increase in net interest income and solid gains in investment banking fees also helping.

Q2GAP EPS came in at 1091, topping the average analyst estimate of 963.

Total revenue of $14.6 billion beat the 13.6 billion consensus.

Moving to the markets, in today's trading, there was some midday drama

as the prospect of the Federal Reserve losing its independence for world markets.

Just before 11 a.m. Eastern Time, CBS reported that President Donald Trump asked a group of Republicans

whether he should fire Fed Chairman J. Powell, and the group expressed approval of such a move.

CBS also reported that Trump indicated he was inclined to do so.

Bloomberg then reported that Trump was likely to fire a Powell soon, signing a White House official.

CBS said the president had been floating the possibility of firing the head of the central bank for cause in public and private remarks,

but the White House hasn't yet built its formal legal predicate.

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