Market Beats | Morgan Stanley Stock-Trading Revenue Surges 35%; Goldman Sachs Plans Another Round of Job Cuts; Apple Refreshes Products With New M5 Chip; Ryanair Cuts 800,000 Winter Seats to Germany; KPMG Cuts 195 US Audit Jobs Amid Low Turnover; Stocks Falter Amid Trade-War Worries; Blackstone Launches Retirement Solutions Unit

—— Morgan Stanley Stock-Trading Revenue Surges 35%; Goldman Sachs Plans Another Round of Job Cuts; Apple Refreshes Products With New M5 Chip; Ryanair Cuts 800,000 Winter Seats to Germany; KPMG Cuts 195 US Audit Jobs Amid Low Turnover; Stocks Falter Amid Trade-War Worries; Blackstone Launches Retirement Solutions Unit

1. Morgan Stanley Stock-Trading Revenue Surges 35%

Morgan Stanley’s equity traders blew past expectations in the third quarter, outperforming Wall Street rivals as heightened market volatility under President Donald Trump’s policies fueled record trading activity.

Stock-trading revenue jumped 35% to $4.12 billion, according to a statement Wednesday — crushing analyst estimates of a 6.6% gain and topping Goldman Sachs’s $3.74 billion haul. Under Chief Executive Officer Ted Pick, the bank has been pushing to reclaim dominance in equities trading after years of trailing Goldman. Investment-banking fees also rose 44%, while the firm’s wealth unit posted revenue of $8.2 billion with a 30% pretax margin and $81 billion in net new assets. Shares rose 4% in early New York trading and are up 24% year-to-date.

Morgan Stanley and Bank of America were the last of the major US banks to report third-quarter earnings after JPMorgan, Goldman, Citigroup and Wells Fargo posted results Tuesday. While trading and banking units broadly beat expectations, executives across the industry have struck a cautious tone about the economic outlook.

Bank of America also reported better-than-expected profit earlier Wednesday, driven by higher investment-banking fees.

Morgan Stanley’s equity-trading team, fresh off a record second quarter, posted its best third quarter ever, bolstered by unprecedented results in prime brokerage. Fixed-income trading revenue rose 8% from a year earlier, bringing total trading revenue to $6.29 billion — well above the $5.5 billion consensus estimate.

The wealth management division continued to expand but still faces pressure to hit its ambitious goal of $1 trillion in net new assets every three years. To stay on track, it would need to add $232 billion in the fourth quarter — nearly triple the third-quarter inflow.

Total revenue climbed to $18.2 billion, far exceeding the $16.6 billion estimate. That strength came with higher expenses: compensation totaled $7.44 billion, driving total non-interest costs up 10% to $12.2 billion.

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2. Goldman Sachs Plans Another Round of Job Cuts

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told employees to expect another round of job cuts this year as the firm pursues additional cost savings and seeks to harness the efficiency gains offered by artificial intelligence.

In a memo sent Tuesday morning, the New York-based bank said it would “constrain headcount growth through the end of the year” and conduct a “limited reduction in roles across the firm.” Despite the move, total headcount is still expected to rise for the year, spokesperson Jennifer Zuccarelli said. Goldman employed about 48,300 people at the end of September, roughly 1,800 more than at the end of 2023.

The announcement coincided with the launch of the firm’s “OneGS 3.0” initiative, a multiyear effort aimed at integrating AI into processes such as client onboarding, lending, regulatory reporting, and vendor management.

“While we are still in the early innings of assessing where AI can best be deployed, it’s increasingly clear that our operational goals must reflect the efficiency gains from these transformational technologies,” Chief Executive Officer David Solomon, President John Waldron, and Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman wrote in the memo. “For Goldman to fully benefit from the promise of AI, we need greater speed and agility across all facets of our operations — this isn’t just about retooling our platforms.”

Goldman’s shares slipped earlier Tuesday after reporting higher third-quarter expenses, even as investment-banking revenue jumped and outpaced Wall Street peers. The bank also conducted routine annual layoffs earlier this year, leaving headcount 700 lower at the end of the second quarter than three months earlier.

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3. Apple Refreshes Products With New M5 Chip

Apple Inc. on Wednesday unveiled updated versions of its iPad Pro, Vision Pro headset, and 14-inch MacBook Pro, completing a wave of product refreshes ahead of the key holiday-shopping period.

All three devices now run on Apple’s latest in-house processor, the M5 chip, marking another leap in the company’s silicon roadmap. Aside from a new headband for the Vision Pro, the products feature no major external redesigns. Preorders are open now, with shipments beginning October 22. Prices remain unchanged from prior models.

The upgraded M5 delivers performance powerful enough to outclass many high-end laptops. Paired with iPadOS 26 — which introduced a long-awaited overhaul to multitasking — the new iPad Pro allows users to better utilize its computing power. Apple is counting on the refreshed lineup to lift iPad demand after a weak June quarter, as some customers may have held off purchases in anticipation of the new models.

The M5 iPad Pro retains its ultra-thin form factor and uses a multilayer “tandem” OLED display for improved brightness and energy efficiency. It continues to come in 11-inch and 13-inch versions, starting at $999 and $1,299 respectively.

With iPadOS 26, Apple reimagined multitasking to more closely mimic the desktop experience on a Mac. Users can now run multiple apps simultaneously with more flexible window controls, while a new top menu bar and the ability to pin folders directly to the home screen dock bring added convenience.

All recent iPads support the updated interface, but the iPad Pro can handle the greatest number of apps at once thanks to its superior power.

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4. Ryanair Cuts 800,000 Winter Seats to Germany

Ryanair Holdings Plc is slashing its winter capacity to Germany by 800,000 seats as the budget airline escalates a dispute over what it calls excessive aviation taxes and access costs.

The Irish carrier said Wednesday it’s canceling 24 routes to nine German airports, including Hamburg, while flights to Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig will remain suspended. The airline argued that high operating expenses make Germany “grossly uncompetitive” compared with European peers such as Sweden and Hungary, where governments have scrapped aviation levies.

Ryanair urged the German government to cut air traffic control charges, airport costs and security fees. “It is very disappointing that the newly elected German Government has already failed to deliver on their commitment to reduce the regressive aviation tax and sky-high access costs which are crippling Germany’s aviation sector,” Chief Marketing Officer Dara Brady said in a statement.

The reduction means Ryanair’s capacity to Germany this winter will fall below last year’s levels. The company has also scaled back routes to France and other countries that continue to impose aviation taxes.

Last year, it cut 1.8 million seats to three major German cities and reduced capacity at Berlin Brandenburg Airport by 20%.

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5. KPMG Cuts 195 US Audit Jobs Amid Low Turnover

KPMG LLP has laid off 195 employees from its US audit division — just over 2% of that workforce — as part of a broader effort to adapt to low attrition and evolving audit practices.

Staff were informed of the reductions earlier this week, according to a person familiar with the matter. “We are changing what we do and how we work,” the firm said in a statement. “Our multi-year audit transformation is driving changes in how we conduct our audit and assurance services. We are also balancing the need for new skills to meet changing market demands against persistently low attrition.”

It marks KPMG’s fourth round of cuts in three years, following two reductions in 2023 and another last year. The move also coincides with new leadership: veteran auditor Tim Walsh took over as US CEO on July 1, while Christian Peo became vice chair of the audit practice.

Walsh’s tenure begins at a pivotal time for the Big Four accounting firms, which are navigating both the rise of artificial intelligence and increased scrutiny of consulting work under the Trump administration. AI presents efficiency opportunities but also challenges the traditional partner-led pyramid model that underpins the firms’ operations.

“The Big Four are eagerly applying AI to themselves to gain efficiencies and increase margins,” said Tom Rodenhauser of Kennedy Intelligence. “But their DNA is built on the partner-led pyramid model, which is incredibly difficult to deconstruct at the pace necessitated by AI advances.”

Although KPMG’s core audit and tax practices have remained solid, the firm has lagged rivals in consulting and advisory growth, according to Hrish Desai, associate professor of accounting at Arkansas State University. He added that KPMG has become stingier with incentive pay, and laid-off professionals now face a difficult white-collar job market.

PwC said in May it would cut about 1,500 jobs in its tax and assurance divisions, while Deloitte has signaled potential staffing actions as it responds to a Trump administration probe into federal consulting expenditures.

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6. Stocks Falter Amid Trade-War Worries

A rally in equities sputtered on renewed trade-war concerns and speculation that the $28 trillion bull market may need a pause. After climbing as much as 1.2%, the S&P 500 erased all gains, signaling fatigue following one of the strongest six-month runs since the 1950s.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the World Bank should “concentrate its resources on poorer, less creditworthy countries where its support is most needed and most impactful,” calling for an end to its financial support for China.

“Equity markets have stalled following an impressive run, as bears focus on trade uncertainty while bulls point to encouraging earnings,” said Mark Hackett, chief investment strategist at Nationwide. “This looks more like a healthy reset than a pullback — a market catching its breath, not losing its footing.”

In fixed income, longer-dated Treasuries outperformed. Japan’s first government bond auction since the collapse of its ruling coalition drew firm demand, while French bonds rallied as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s budget concessions raised hopes of averting a deeper crisis. Gold hovered near a record $4,200 per ounce.

Despite the broader benchmark’s decline, bank shares advanced after solid earnings from Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. Semiconductor stocks also climbed, boosted by upbeat comments on artificial-intelligence demand from ASML Holding NV.

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7. Blackstone Launches Retirement Solutions Unit

Spot silver surged as much as 4.8% to $51.235 an ounce on Thursday — the highest level since the infamous Hunt brothers’ squeeze in 1980 — before paring gains.

The metal has climbed more than 70% this year, outperforming gold’s record rally, as investors flock to safe-haven assets amid mounting concerns over U.S. fiscal risks, an overheated stock market, and threats to the Federal Reserve’s independence. A shortage of freely available silver in London’s bullion market has further fueled the rally, pushing borrowing costs to record levels.

The tightness has upended normal market dynamics: New York silver futures, which typically trade a few cents above spot prices, fell into a steep discount of as much as $2.50 an ounce below spot. Futures dropped as much as 3.2% on Thursday despite the spot rally. According to Bloomberg calculations, borrowing costs for silver in London climbed to 11%, the highest since data began in 2002.

The squeeze has been building for months. Fears that the U.S. might impose tariffs on silver prompted traders to rush shipments to New York, depleting London inventories and reducing the metal available for lending.

Much of the remaining silver in London is locked in vaults backing exchange-traded funds, leaving limited supply for spot transactions.

“The premium in London should eventually attract metal back,” said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities. “Traders can buy cheaper silver in the U.S. or China and ship it to the U.K. to capture the higher price — but for now, availability in London is critically low.”

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