'It's still a pretty challenging environment': Goldman Sachs president talks down trading (GS)

A view of the Goldman Sachs stall on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange July 16, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc President Harvey Schwartz said on Tuesday conditions for fixed-income trading have not improved much since the beginning of the year.

"The market environment in the third quarter feels like the first and second quarter," Schwartz said at a Barclays Group PLC financial conference in New York. "For FICC, it's still a pretty challenging environment."

Schwartz's comments are similar to remarks made by Goldman Chief Financial Officer Marty Chavez in August.

In the second quarter, Goldman reported a 40 percent drop in bond trading revenue and the weakest commodities results in its history as a public company.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum)