An investment banking surge at Morgan Stanley (MS) solidified a dealmaking revival across Wall Street, as the firm’s profits in the third quarter exceeded analyst expectations.
Fees from investment banking jumped 56% from a year ago, the largest leap among big banks, to nearly $1.4 billion.
The pick-up in investment banking and an increase in trading helped Morgan Stanley push its net profit up by 32% from a year earlier, to $3.2 billion.
The results cement a broad rebound across the Wall Street operations of the country’s biggest banks. Investment banking fees and equity trading revenue also jumped at JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C).
Executives at these banks have been optimistic that the start of an interest rate-cutting cycle at the Federal Reserve — which last month reduced its benchmark rate by 50 basis points — will mean more deals in the near future.
“The Firm reported a strong third quarter in a constructive environment across our global footprint,” Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said in statement, citing “momentum in the markets and underwriting businesses on solid client engagement.”
