Morgan Stanley reported $1.53 billion in profit

Morgan Stanley, one of the biggest investment banks has its first quarter profit of $1.53 billion after dividend. It was better than Wall Street projected. Morgan Stanley did much better than other investment banks for the past three months.

Many investment banks have suffered because of the credit crisis. Last Sunday, Bear Stern Cos agreed to sell to JPMorgan Chase at a bargain price. Morgan Stanley has better managed its liquidity problems. Morgan Stanley hasn’t bought any stock back this fiscal year. Its share price raises $3.57 after Tuesday’s rally. Its security business including investment banking and trading had revenue of $6.2 billion.

Overall, Morgan Stanley is doing better than expected. However, there are a few signs that show its vulnerability. First of all, $1.53 billion profit was much lower compared to profit this quarter last year. Last year, it had a profit of $2.66 billion. Secondly, Morgan Stanley had reported a write-down of $2.3 billion-including $1.2 billion from mortgage-backed securities and $1.1 billion from loans.

Experts say that we will still have some more challenging times ahead. How long, we don’t know yet. The market will be volatile for the near future. However, for now, investors can take a short break since major investment banks have shown its capability of managing its funds during a depressed market condition. Consumers’ confidence toward the economy is still low. The future is going to be very interesting for all of us.





http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Business/Detail?contentId=6075397&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=4.1.1

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080319/earns_morgan_stanley.html