Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Play the Long Game

The banks synonymous with Wall Street trading are leaning into wealth management.

July 18, 2019 at 2:46 PM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Steady fees can counterbalance the whims of global markets.
Photographers: JB Reed (Morgan Stanley); Daniel Acker (Goldman Sachs)/Bloomberg

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are the two Wall Street banks most connected to high-stakes trading. Historically, that made them seem glamorous relative to the other big U.S. institutions, which focused on the more steady business of retail banking.

The tide has turned. Persistently low volatility has made it clear that banks can’t count on traders to drive profits. Goldman’s equities revenue beat expectations earlier this week, in a small sign of hope, but Morgan Stanley’s results on Thursday were more far more indicative of the trend. Its $2.13 billion from equities was the highest among banks but was down 14% from a year ago and fell short of even the lowered estimates of $2.27 billion. In fixed income, currencies and commodities, revenue dropped 18% rather than the expected 7% decline.