Goldman Sachs on Friday was contributing the lion’s share of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s rally in early trade. Goldman Sachs Group’s shares were climbing 3.2%, to add about 50 points to the Dow , representing the biggest contributor to the price-weighted blue-chip gauge, which was up about 135 points, or 0.7%, higher at 20,021. Goldman’s rally comes as President Donald Trump’s administration begins a rethink of the way big American financial firms are regulated, with a focus on repealing many of the Dodd-Frank bank reform rules implemented in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Critics say the rule hampers banks’ ability to be competitive in international markets. A pledge to roll back regulations had been among the centerpieces of Trump’s presidential campaign platform. Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council and former president of Goldman, told The Wall Street Journal Thursday that the administration would review some of the main mechanisms that have shaped how financial firms have been governed. Goldman’s gain comes amid a broad rally for the banking sector and comes even as yields of benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds declined in the wake of a jobs report that showed that wage growth, a negative for bonds, is rising only modestly. Tepid inflation can be supportive for bonds because rising inflation erodes their fixed payments. But lower rates can undercut a bank’s business model. Investors are betting that deregulation will be a bigger driver for bank’s future profits. Other banks contributing to the Dow’s climb include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. , up about 2.4% to add about 14 points to the benchmark and Visa Inc. , whose 4.4% rise was adding about 25 points to the Dow. The S&P 500 index was up 11 points, or 0.5%, at 2,292, led by a 1.5% gain in the financials sector.
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