Morgan Stanley ($26.32 0%) successfully priced a public offering of 146m shares of common stock, at $24 per share, in the rush to raise capital following government stress testing.
And, the NYC firm is not alone, as Wells Fargo ($40.84 0%) offered shares, in oversubscribed trading, that saw 1.25bn of common stock go for $7.5bn, or $22 per share.
The wait is over.
Stress test results reveal nine of the nation's 19 largest banks successfully endured the government's testing and will not require any additional capital, while the other 10 banks must boost capital levels by a collective total of $74.6bn, in order to comply with government standards, said the Federal Reserve this afternoon.
Bank of America ($13.27 0%) stands the front-runner, requiring $33.9bn in fresh capital, followed by Wells Fargo ($40.84 0%) who must raise $13.7bn in new capital.
In clearly polarized results, many major US banks either safely passed government-initiated stress tests or failed by billions of dollars, according to most recent reports filed by the Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street bellwether Morgan Stanley ($26.32 0%) on Wednesday morning reported a Q1 2009 net loss of $190 million, or 57 cents a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $1.43 billion, or $1.26 a share. The loss missed consensus estimates from most analysts by a wide margin; according to a Thomson-Reuters poll, most had expected a 8 cents a share net loss.
Morgan Stanley ($26.32 0%) is looking at the acquisition of various regional U.S. banks as part of a strategy to boost deposits, ostensibly driving future lending at the financial firm, according to published media reports citing an exclusive interview in the Nikkei newspaper Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley's ($26.32 0%) first quarter earnings are expected to be negatively effected by the recent rebound in its bond prices, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal Thursday. The Journal's sources told the pub that an "accounting treatment" used on certain bonds issued before the financial crisis escalated would cause the firm to take a hit anywhere from $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion on its quarterly earnings, which are due out later this month.
Industry veterans from Saxon Mortgage Services, now a unit of New York-based Morgan Stanley ($26.32 0%), and Fannie Mae ($0.00 0%) have formed a new REO outsourcer and default services provider, partnering with a Houston-based bank to take a distinct tack on the default business.
The government as of market close Friday had lost 54.9 percent -- or $107.7 billion -- of an original $195.5 billion in capital investments through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to data released Monday by business ethics think-tank Ethisphere Institute.
The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America and its leader, Bruce Marks, are moving their controversial and confrontational model of consumer activism towards Wall Street, as the nation's housing crisis moves onward. This past Sunday, Marks and 350 to 400 fellow protesters were bused in by his non-profit group to stage a protest in front of the Greenwich, CT home of William Frey, manager of Greenwich Financial Services.
(Update 1 reflects details on the joint venture released late Tuesday.)
