Goldman Sachs CEO: The US economy 'is chugging along pretty well'

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said Wednesday that the chances of the US economy entering a recession soon are lower now than at the beginning of this year.

"I do not see any kind of information, form or form that makes me believe that this opportunity is accelerating at this moment," Solomon told CNBC's television channel, Tanvir Gill, in Ningbo, China.

Goldman's boss told CNBC in January he saw a 50 percent chance of a recession in the United States by the end of 2020. Now, however, he said he believes the risk "feels less than that today."

That will come as a welcome assessment for investors worried about the reversal of the yield curve of US bonds last month. Many consider that this event, when long-term debt yields moved below short-term debt yields, is a reliable indicator of recession, so many in the market believe that development is worrisome.

Solomon, for his part, expressed little concern.

"I think the economy of the United States is going quite well, I think the US economy is growing in trend right now," he said.

"I think that, at the end of the year, there was a bit of a fear that we were really in a place where economic growth was really turning towards a very, very significant slowdown," Solomon added. "I think growth slowed around the world and I do believe that the growth trajectory slowed down in the United States when we finished in 2018 and it's pretty clear to me that while the first quarter was slow, the second quarter was pretty good and we are certainly in the trend. "

Central banks around the world have also become "much more accommodating," said the Goldman Sachs executive, adding that such development "augurs well for continued expansion."

'Problem child'
A difficult trading environment in the first quarter affected Goldman Sachs's revenues during the period, which, by 8.81 billion dollars, was below analysts' estimates.

The business of the investment banking giant in fixed income, currency and commodities, or FICC, continued to see declines in revenues. The Financial Times called the "problematic child" of FICC Goldman because the division performed worse than its peers at other banks in recent years.

When CNBC asked if the problems facing FICC are structural in nature, rather than cyclical, Solomon said: "I do not think there is a problem with the business."

"We are one of the leading firms in that business," he said, adding that the firm has expanded its market share in the segment since the global financial crisis about a decade ago.

"What has changed is the wallet available to all participants in that business, it has been greatly reduced in the last decade," said the CEO.

In a call made on Monday to discuss Goldman's first-quarter earnings, company executives shared some plans to improve their FICC business, FT said. Those plans include greater adoption of technology, cutting back on low-performing segments and investing in promising businesses, according to the report.