“You’ve got to prick this bubble a little bit,” MS CEO James Gorman. “Money is a bit too free and available right now.” From interview Bloomberg TV.
The quarterly total was boosted by equities trading revenue, which rose 33% to $1.6 billion. Clearly stocks are still moving and cash is still flowing
The corporate pivot is still happening but not fast enough to overcome the drag from an eroding consumer lending unit. And the bank footprint shrinks.
Net interest income actually increased despite the zero-rate environment while the investment banking side hit records in the quarter.