Morgan Stanley’s profit has slumped for the second straight quarter with the net profit falling by 42% from $1.63bn to $939m.

The global markets have felt turbulence following uncertainty of a U.S. interest rate hike and concerns of China’s cooling economy, which has led to many U.S. banks to report drops in quarterly earnings, with rival Goldman Sachs reporting last week a sharp fall in profits as the trading activity stalled. Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) is the only of the US six major banks to achieve an increase in revenue.

Chief executive, James Gorman has said “The volatility in global markets in the third quarter led to a difficult environment, impacting in particular our fixed income business and our Asia merchant banking business,”

Shares of Morgan Stanley have fallen by more than 4 percent in premarket trading following the report and 12.5% this year.

Chris Kotowski, analyst at Oppenheimer has commented, “We don’t think this quarter says anything negative about Morgan Stanley’s safety and soundness, but it looks like one they’d like to forget ASAP,”

 

Safiya Bashir on 19/10/2015