Goldman Sachs has posted its best ever quarter as its dealmaking revenues surged amid a boom in blank cheque companies and the trading bonanza on Wall Street continued.

Goldman Sachs more than doubled revenues to $17.7bn in the first quarter, way ahead of the $12.5bn expected by analysts, on the back of surging performance within its traditional business lines, despite a shift towards new products under chief executive David Solomon. Net income of $6.84bn was up by 464% on the same period in 2020.