Morgan Stanley plans Further Staff cuts on Weak Outlook

Morgan Stanley expects to reduce payroll by just over 1,000 employees by the end of this year, part of a plan to cut headcount by 7 percent as measured from the end of 2011, as it prepares for weak economic growth globally and low trading volume, the investment bank said on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley, reporting a 24 percent decline in second-quarter revenue, is the latest bank to sound gloomy notes about the economy. Banks have had to cope with companies’ reluctance to issue debt and equity, the European debt crisis, and slow stock and bond trading.

But Morgan Stanley also had its own difficulties, including the threat of a debt rating downgrade, which clobbered its bond-trading business during the second quarter. The bank also faced broad criticism for its handling of the Facebook initial public offering: The shares sank 27 percent on their first day of trading.

Source: Reuters

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