NEW YORK - October 18, 2011 - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. lost $428 million during the third quarter, only its second quarterly loss as a public company, hurt by sharp declines in the value of investment securities and customer trading assets.

The largest U.S. investment bank lost 84 cents per share, compared with earnings of $2.98 per share a year earlier.

Analysts had been expecting, on average, a loss of 16 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.