Morgan Stanley Posts $2.37 Billion Loss

Morgan Stanley said this morning that it lost $2.37 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, serving as one more reminder of the battering the financial industry has taken.

Morgan Stanley is trying to build on its new status as a bank holding company. It lost $2.34 per share for the quarter ended Nov. 30. In the year-ago period, it lost $3.61 billion, or $3.61 per share. A year ago, Morgan Stanley took a $9.4 billion write-down on mortgage-related assets as the housing crisis began to collapse.

The news comes just one day after Goldman Sachs reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999. Goldman lost $2.29 billion, or $4.97 per share. Goldman is also building on its status as a bank holding company.

Still, Morgan Stanley was able to post a profit for the year, thanks to strong earnings in each of the three prior quarters. Morgan Stanley earned $1.59 billion, or $1.45 per share, in fiscal 2008, down from $3.14 billion, or $2.98 a share, the previous year.

--Kim Hart