Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) revealed strong quarterly earnings, partly due to a rise in trading over a tumultuous year. With more people shifting around assets, investors may look to a broker-dealer related ETFs to capitalize on the activity.
Morgan Stanley saw second quarter earnings jump 39% year-over-year. MS shares rose 2.5% in response on Wednesday.
The bank pointed to a steady economic growth, lower taxes, an uptick in demand for loans and renewed volatility in the price of some securities as contributing factors to its success, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Despite the escalating global tensions and ongoing trade war concerns, investment fnds and corporations have not scaled back demand for Morgan Stanley’s services to trade securities, advise on deals and arrange financing.
“Corporations feel good, consumers feel good,” Morgan Stanley’s finance chief, Jonathan Pruzan, told the Wall Street Journal. “The pockets of volatility seem to be isolated and not rolling over into the broader market. If that changes, and it starts to put people in defensive mode, we’ll have different second half of the year.”
Morgan Stanley’s Return on Equity
Morgan Stanley’s return on equity, a measure of how profitably it invests shareholders’ money, was at 13% in the second quarter, which hit CEO James Gorman’s goals.