Morgan Stanley has bounced into profit on a surge in equity sales and trading as well as strong margins at its wealth management business.
The US investment bank yesterday reported income from continuing operations of $573 million (£360m) in its fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $222m a year earlier.
Revenue from sales and trading rose 43 per cent to nearly $3 billion. Wealth management business grew 8 per cent to $3.5bn.
Chief executive James Gorman said: “Our firm is now poised to reach the returns of which it is capable on behalf of our shareholders.”
Compensation expense, typically the biggest cost for Wall Street firms, fell 5 per cent to $3.6bn from a year earlier. Rival Goldman Sachs cut its Q4 compensation costs by 11 per cent.