MORGAN STANLEY - Morgan Stanley continues to face challenges - 11/14/2023 (GMT)

Shares in Morgan Stanley (symbol ‘MS’) reached a low of nearly two years late last month slightly below $70. Morgan Stanley suffered the largest recent decline in revenue from investment banking of the American financial sector.

‘Apart from weak performance by investment banking and the long-running federal investigation into block trading, sentiment on financial shares in general has been weak for much of 2023,’ said Michael Stark: ‘Public perceptions of the significant gulf between rates for saving accounts and mortgages have been damaging. Nevertheless, Morgan Stanley’s forward ratio of price to earnings at around 11 is quite attractive, and looking at the longer term it has also outperformed all of its peers except JP Morgan Chase since the Global Financial Crisis.’

On the chart, downward momentum has been lower recently and the price recovered somewhat from lows at the end of October. The main technical reference now seems to be the 20-day simple moving average. In the medium term, waiting for a potential double bottom before buying would be a conventional approach, but buyers convinced of a return to $100 sometime next quarter might still have a good ratio of risk to reward with an entry around the current area. With no information yet about the next earnings report, regulatory issues and overall performance remain key fundamental factors for MS.