Morgan Stanley to cut 1600 jobs due to 'market conditions'

US bank Morgan Stanley is planning to eliminate 1,600 jobs in its institutional securities trading business in the coming weeks, a person close to the situation said Wednesday. The job cuts, due to "market conditions," will occur half in the United States and half abroad, the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. The cuts will eliminate six percent of the positions in the Institutional Securities unit as well as support areas, the person said, and come on top of the bank's plan to cut seven percent of payrolls announced last year. The Wall Street investment bank's Institutional Securities unit had a pre-tax loss from continuing operations of $1.9 billion in the third quarter of last year, compared with income of $3.4 billion in the same period in 2011. Shares in Morgan Stanley were up 0.2 percent at $19.69 in late-morning trade in New York.