Goldman Sachs' distress trading desk lost $60 million

Even giant Goldman Sachs has been adversely affected by the stock market chaos, as its 2015 distress trading desk lost about $50 million to $60 million.

The unit lost with Verso Corp., a paper producer that lost two-thirds of its value in 2015, and on its debt of energy companies. Banks and Investors who bought debt from money managers that got rid of them found it hard to make profits this year.

They only have limited opportunities, and they are losing from the strategies that are usually successful. Debts that are linked to commodities have been under catastrophic.

Even investments dependent on litigation, which distressed-debt buyers are supposed to have an upper hand, haven't been very profitable.

Goldman Sachs' distressed-debt trading team is positioned inside the fixed income unit in the security division of the bank. The unit suffered losses in the energy sector and on Verso Corp. because energy bonds have been turbulent this year as steep downward slope on commodity prices pressure exploration, production companies, and oil field services firms.

In the Asset Management page of Goldman Sachs' website, they gave three takeaways for investors from the global market selloff. First, they say that they continue to believe that there is very low possibility for a U.S. recession.

Next is that the recent selloff is caused by the volatility of the Chinese Market, the devaluation of the Yuan, the multi-year low drop of oil prices, and the possible increase of interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

Finally, they recommend investors to be more patient and expect higher volatility, especially in equity markets.

So how is Goldman Sachs' doing after all this turmoil? Its stocks gained 3.5 percent closing at $184.40. The shares lost 4.9 percent in 2015 while the S&P 500 index went down 5.8 percent.