Morgan Stanley profit misses estimates on lower bond trading

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as fixed income trading fell, hurt by increased volatility at the end of the fourth quarter.

The bank's bond trading results were in line with other Wall Street rivals, which reported declines in revenue of between 15 percent and 21 percent.

Morgan Stanley's total sales and trading net revenue fell 7 percent to $2.49 billion, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Fixed income revenue fell 30 percent to $564 million, while equities revenue was flat.

Net revenue fell 10 percent to $8.55 billion, falling well short of analysts' average expectation of $9.30 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Net income applicable to Morgan Stanley jumped to $1.53 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $643 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average were looking for 89 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

On an adjusted basis, the bank earned 73 cents per share, compared with 84 cents per share a year ago.

Morgan Stanley's shares fell 4 percent to $42.70 in early trading. Over the last twelve months, shares have fallen nearly 22 percent, versus a 12.5 percent decline in the financial index, and a 5.6 percent decline in the S&P 500 index, over the same period.

(Reporting by Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)