Morgan Stanley swings to red in Q4 on legal loss

A legal settlement and poor performance in its institutional securities unit weighed on Morgan Stanley's fourth quarter earnings

Morgan Stanley swung to a fourth-quarter loss as the bank booked a hefty loss related to the settlement of a long-running legal clash and weaker performance in its institutional securities business.

Morgan Stanley's results on Thursday offer the final word on a fourth quarter that was expectedly weak for the nation's largest financial institutions. Headaches for Wall Street stretched into the latter half of the year as choppy markets again put a damper on deal making and challenged trading results.

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