Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), the nation's second largest investment bank, posted its second quarter numbers today. As expected, the firm saw a hefty drop in quarterly profit. The ongoing credit crisis hit the bank hard and resulted in a 61% decline in quarterly profit, a number that could have been much worse.
The reason why I say that the situation could have been much worse is that the company benefited from the sale of around $1.4 billion in assets during the quarter. This contributed to a profit of 95 cents per share for the quarter.
The 95 cents per share was actually above Wall Street estimates, as analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings for the quarter of 92 cents per share. But that has not prevented traders from pushing the stock lower in early morning trading. As of 11:00 am, we are seeing shares trading down 5% to $38.49.
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