Morgan Stanley's (MS) fourth quarter results were underwhelming to say the least. The bank earned 29 cents a share on $6.8 billion in revenue. That lagged analysts' expectations of 36 cents on $7.8 billion in revenue, according to the AP.

To some degree the story at Morgan Stanley was the opposite of what we've seen at other banks. Investment banking at other banks was able to make up for lackluster results in core consumer operations, like credit cards and home loans. But investment banking results disappointed at Morgan Stanley. And the stock sold off.

One positive was the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture fared well; revenues from its global wealth management operations more than doubled to $3.1 billion. Still, the big theme is how well Morgan Stanley will recover in trading. It has been criticized for taking chips off the table, compared to Goldman Sachs (GS). That may be unfair. But we'll just have to see how the bank responds.  

For more:
- here's the AP article 

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