Morgan Stanley posts loss, beating estimates

Morgan Stanley, the sixth biggest U.S. bank, on Thursday reported a loss for the third quarter on debt valuation adjustments, but still beat Wall Street forecasts. The loss from continuing operations was 1 billion dollars, or 55 cents per diluted share, compared with a profit of 2.2 billion dollars, or 1.14 dollars per diluted share, for the same period a year ago. The firm's earnings results were negatively effected by a 2.3 billion dollar accounting charge to reflect an increase in the value of the bank's debt. Excluding the accounting adjustments, income from continuing operations was 561 million dollars, or 28 cents per diluted share, up from the 64 million dollars, or 2 cents per diluted share, a year ago, as revenue from fixed-income trading almost doubled from the second quarter. Wall Street had expected a profit of 24 cents per share.X James P. Gorman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement, "Our third quarter results show a balanced, strategically focused franchise that has attained stronger revenues and executed on key goals. The rebound in fixed income and commodities sales and trading indicates that clients have re-engaged after the uncertainty of the rating review in the previous quarter."