Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers helped lift the gloom on Wall Street yesterday when both reported smaller-than-expected profit declines, easing fears that the liquidity crisis that sank Bear Stearns could spread to other investment banks.

Beyond the results themselves, which easily surpassed expec-tations, investors cheered comments from both banks about their liquidity positions as well as the absence of any big surprises on leveraged loan or mortgage-related writedowns.