Morgan Stanley has today reported a better than expected quarterly profit.
The bank's profits were boosted by a surge in bond trading that followed Britain's surprise vote to leave the European Union and bouts of anxiety about monetary policy around the world.
Earnings applicable to Morgan Stanley shareholders rose 61.7% to $1.52 billion from $939m for the quarter ended September 30, while earnings per shares rose to 81 cents from 48 cents.
Earnings per share from continuing operations was 80 cents, far above the average analyst estimate of 63 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Adjusted revenue from sales and trading of fixed-income securities and commodities more than doubled to $1.5 billion, boosting total revenue by 14.7% to $8.91 billion.
Analysts had expected revenue of $8.17 billion.
Morgan Stanley wraps up a surprisingly strong quarter for big US banks.
Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley's closest rival, reported a stronger than expected 58% rise in third quarter profit yesterday, driven by a 34% rise in revenue from trading bonds, currencies and commodities.
"This quarter we saw record revenues in wealth management and a strong performance in our sales and trading business," the bank's chief executive James Gorman said in a statement.
The bank's compensation costs rose 19.2% to $4.10 billion in the quarter, while non-compensation costs fell 14.9% to $2.43 billion.
Morgan Stanley is in the midst of a cost-cutting programme that it hopes will save $1 billion by 2017.
The bank said that revenue from wealth management, an area Gorman has been focusing on, rose 6.6% to $3.88 billion, accounting for nearly 44% of total revenue.
Equities sales and trading revenue, a traditional bright spot for the bank, rose to $1.9 billion from $1.8 billion.
Revenue from investment banking, which includes fees from mergers and for underwriting equity and debt offerings, fell about 7% to $1.23 billion.
Morgan Stanley's annualised return on average common equity - showing how well it is using shareholder money to generate profit - was 8.7% in the quarter, compared with 8.3% in the second quarter.
Gorman, who took the helm at the bank in 2010, has an ROE target of 9-11% by the end of 2017.
Morgan Stanley ranked third to Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co in M&A fees collected during the quarter and fourth behind and JPMorgan, Bank of America and Goldman in fees from investment banking, which includes equity and debt underwriting, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The bank was exclusive financial adviser to Microsoft in its $26.2 billion deal to buy LinkedIn.
