Goldman Sachs, in another sign that banks may be turning around, beat Wall Street's earnings expectations as it reported April 13 a profit of $1.66 billion for the first three months of this year. The bank also said it planned to raise $5 billion in stock to help it pay back government bailout funds.

The New York-based bank had a huge improvement over the $2.29 billion it lost in the fourth quarter.

Goldman's news, released a day earlier than anticipated, came days after another top-performing bank, Wells Fargo & Co., said it expected to report record first-quarter earnings of $3 billion, well above Wall Street estimates.

Goldman executives such as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein have said for months that the company wanted to repay the $10 billion in bailout funds this year.