Revenue from the bank's wealth business rose 8.7 percent to $4.22 billion and generated pretax margin of 26.5 percent, above Chief Executive James Gorman's target range of 23-25 percent.
Morgan Stanley's shares rose 1.4 percent in premarket trading.The results provided some evidence of what management has been promising for nearly nine years: the decision to buy Smith Barney at the height of the 2007-2009 financial crisis has given the smallest of the Wall Street banks a cushion to weather downturns the way some larger rivals do."Our third quarter results reflected the stability our wealth management, investment banking and investment management businesses bring when our Sales and Trading business faces a subdued environment," Gorman said in a statement.Return on equity was 9.6 percent for the quarter, within Gorman's goal of 9 percent to 11 percent by the end of the year.The bank's bond trading revenue, however, fell 20 percent to $1.2 billion, mirroring declines across the sector.Citigroup Inc