Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) shares are stuck in neutral as the news cycle is making investors jittery.



Chart Courtesy of StockCharts.com



Sometimes being clever can hurt you. In the case of Goldman Sachs, its Midas touch over the last decade is attracting lots of unwanted attention. Specifically, the company is now in hot water over the credit and currency swaps that it engineered for Greece and that now have threatened the stability of the European Union.

To be sure, this is a very murky situation. At the center of the whole thing is whether Goldman commited any crimes by setting up the swaps, and whether it was just investing smartly when it sold the swaps to a Greek bank several years ago.

Those are questions better left for the legal system and to the Federal Reserve's investigation to answer. What is clear is that Goldman Sachs is in a down cycle, as a company, and that its stock is not what it was even a few months ago, as investors are concerned about what's next for the company.

In our opinion, the real question is whether this is a buying opportunity or whether the shares are better left alone.

And if you look at the chart, it's not clear just yet whether Goldman shares are attractive or otherwise. The company continues to do business, and will likely make money in its upcoming quarters.

Yet, if the Fed's investigation reveals something ultra nasty, there is no telling what could come next, especially with the heavy populism gripping the country and Congress. For now, watching Goldman may be better than owning Goldman.

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