Goldman Sachs again showed its trading prowess, helping the Wall Street firm earn more than $3 billion in the third quarter.

Goldman Sachs is emerging as the king of post-meltdown Wall Street. Already the nation’s most powerful financial company before the credit crisis, the bank profited handsomely from Wall Street’s rally.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., long considered one of the strongest banks amid the credit crisis and ongoing recession, is expected to post a hefty second-quarter profit today.

Goldman Sachs, in another sign that banks may be turning around, beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations yesterday as it reported a profit of $1.66 billion for the first three months of this year. The bank also said it planned to raise $5 billion in stock to help it pay back government bailout money. The New York-based bank said it earned $3.39 per share, easily surpassing analysts’ forecasts for profit of $1.64 per share. That compares with earnings of $1.47 billion, or $3.23 per share, in the quarter that ended Feb. 29 of last year.