|
 NEW YORK (AP) - Morgan Stanley on Wednesday said third-quarter profit sank 17 percent, as the No. 2 U.S. investment bank was forced to write down nearly $1 billion worth of loans amid the summer's global credit crisis.
The investment bank, like others on Wall Street, was squeezed as borrowers with poor credit histories defaulted on home-loan payments at an alarming rate. This curbed investor appetite for everything from mortgage-backed bonds to loans for corporate buyouts.
It was Morgan Stanley's first drop in earnings under Chief Executive John Mack and follows a smaller-than-expected decline in profit from rival Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Tuesday. But executives held out some optimism that financial markets may be starting to turn around.
|