Morgan Stanley jumps after reporting better than expected fourth-quarter earnings (MS)

pulse

January 18, 2018 2:02 PM

Morgan Stanley reported fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday and beat analysts' expectations despite taking a big hit on trading revenues.

Shares of
The bank still took a net $1.2 billion loss from the new tax law, and suffered from a weak quarter in trading.

Morgan Stanley edged higher on Thursday after it reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations.

The Wall Street bank reported adjusted earnings of $0.84 a share compared to an expected $0.77 adjusted earnings per share.

In line with Wall Street's expectations of a short-term impact from the new tax law, Morgan Stanley also took a net $1.2 billion loss as a result of the law, primarily from deferred tax assets that declined in value. The loss still came in below Wall Street estimates.

The bank also had a weak quarter for fixed income sales and trading, taking a 46% decline in revenues from that sector. This is on par with rival Goldman Sachs, which saw a 50% decline in revenue from its trading unit, a historically bad quarter for bond trading.

Morgan Stanley's stock was trading up 1.39% at $56.12 per share before the opening bell. It was up 8.08% for the year. Shares of other major banks were flat on Thursday morning.

Some of the banks are listed below with their current trading prices. Click on each name to go to its real-time chart. You can also see when each bank reports its earnings here.