A sign is displayed on the Morgan Stanley building in New York U.S., July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
October 16, 2018
(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley <MS.N> beat estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday as higher revenue from trading in stocks and strong equity underwriting outweighed weakness in its bond trading and advisory businesses.
The bank’s sales and trading revenue rose 7.5 percent to $3.13 billion, with equities revenue rising 7 percent. Bond trading revenue was up just 1 percent.
Uncertainty in global markets due to an escalating U.S.-China trade tariff war and a rout in the Turkish lira kept market volatility elevated through most of the third quarter.
Bond trading revenue at top Wall Street bank JPMorgan <JPM.N> declined in the third quarter.
Morgan Stanley’s direct competitor, Goldman Sachs <GS.N>, is due to report results later in the day.
Morgan Stanley’s total revenue rose 7.3 percent to $9.87 billion.
Net income attributable to Morgan Stanley rose to $2.11 billion, or $1.17 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $1.78 billion, or 93 cents per share, a year ago.
Analysts were expecting $1.01 per share, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru and Matt Scuffham in Toronto; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
