Big Expectations at Goldman

Big brokerage houses are ready to roll out some big numbers.

Bear Stearns (BSC), Lehman Brothers (LEH), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) are due to post fiscal first-quarter earnings this week.

Investors are expecting a continued run of robust results, though they'll be on the lookout for any signs of losses tied to the swooning subprime mortgage business.

Revenue from M&A advisory services and private equity continued to be strong across the board. And despite a bit of recent stock market slippage, trading -- the biggest profit-maker for all the brokers -- was solid during the quarter.

First-quarter earnings for the brokers "will in fact be strong," writes Lauren Smith, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. "Concerns over big brokers' exposures to subprime, while they are not totally immune, are overdone. Ultimately they will navigate through this storm in good shape. Given the size of the balance sheets and the capital positions, direct mortgage exposures to subprime are relatively modest in the grand scheme of things."

Brokers including Lehman, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch(MER) have a hand in subprime -- the business of lending to homebuyers with spotty credit histories -- because they recently bought into the business. Brokers also are involved in selling mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations backed at least in part by subprime mortgages.