Morgan Stanley outperformed rival Goldman Sachs in M&A advisory and its traders fared better than expectations, helping the investment banking powerhouse beat first-quarter profit estimates by a wide margin.
The bank’s dealmakers nearly doubled advisory revenue even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unsettled equity markets and forced companies to hold off on dealmaking and stock market listings.
The war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special military operation”, and the prospect of multiple interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, however, boosted volatility in markets, helping the bank clock in a smaller-than-expected 6 percent fall in trading revenue.
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