Airlines canceled fewer than 200 flights Wednesday after a 5G reprieve.
Bank of America and Morgan Stanley each reported the highest annual earnings in their history on Wednesday, as investment bankers pulled in record revenue for arranging deals. That helped the banks report higher fourth-quarter profits compared with a year ago, bucking the trend at most of their rivals.
Bank of America, the country’s second-biggest lender, said its latest quarterly profit rose 28 percent, to $7 billion, exceeding analyst expectations. Its full-year profit rose to $32 billion, an increase of nearly 80 percent from 2020.
The result was fueled by an “improving economy,” in which it added loans and deposits, Brian T. Moynihan, the bank’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Investment banking had its best year ever, and global markets had its highest sales and trading revenue in a decade,” he said.
Morgan Stanley, the investment-banking heavyweight, reported a 9 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit, to $3.7 billion, which also beat expectations. In all of 2021, the bank’s profit rose by 37 percent, to $15 billion, in 2021.
“Our outlook entering 2022 is strong, and our pipelines continue to be healthy” for investment banking, Sharon Yeshaya, Morgan Stanley’s chief financial officer, told analysts on a conference call.
Shares of Bank of America rose about 4 percent and Morgan Stanley gained 5 percent in premarket trading.
Bank stocks had come under pressure in recent days as other banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, reported lower profits for the fourth quarter. Investors worried about rising costs as banks competed for high-priced talent and the uncertain economic outlook marked by surging coronavirus cases, high inflation and snarled supply chains.
The earnings out on Wednesday painted a brighter picture for at least a couple of the country’s biggest banks.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/19/business/stock-market-economy-news