December 29, 2007 (LPAC) - Goldman Sachs, which has bragged that it is losing less than its competitors because it hedged against the sub-prime collapse, is now claiming its rivals lost $33 billion in the fourth quarter (double the previous estimate), according to The London Times today. The loss estimates were $18.7 billion for Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan. Goldman claims that Citigroup write-downs would rise from $11 billion to $18.7 billion, Merrill from $6 billion to $11.5 billion, and JP Morgan from $1.7 billion to $3.4 billion.

Goldman analyst William Tanona said in a research note to clients: "Although we have seen many firms take the appropriate actions in recent weeks as they relate to write-downs and capital raises, we still believe it will be a couple of quarters before the current credit crisis is fully digested by the markets." Of course, Goldman's "hedges" were likely taken through the "monoline" bond insurance firms, which are now themselves collapsing (uh-oh).