Morgan Stanley third-quarter profit almost doubles

Investment bank Morgan Stanley says that its third-quarter earnings almost doubled as the firm's securities unit returned to a profit.
The bank earned USD 1.01 billion from July to September after stripping out an accounting charge. That compares with earnings of USD 560 million a year earlier.
The profit works out to 50 cents a share before the charge, compared with 28 cents a share in the same period a year earlier. Financial analysts polled by data provider FactSet predicted earnings of 40 cents. Analysts generally strip out one-time items.
Revenue totaled USD 8.1 billion, up 6.5 per cent from last year's total of USD 7.6 billion.

The bank's stock rose 77 cents, or 2.7 per cent, to USD 29.70 in pre-market trading.