Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) stock fell 0.40% (As on January 18, 11:25:05 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations, boosted by the bank’s record wealth management revenue and growth at its trading business. In the fourth quarter, net income fell to $2.11 billion, from $3.59 billion, a year ago. Profit has been hurt by a slowdown in deal-making over the past year, prompting the New York-based company cut about 2% of its staff in December. The job reductions impacted about 1,600 of its 81,567 employees and touched nearly every corner of the global investment bank. The firm posted severance costs of $133 million in the latest quarter.

MS in the fourth quarter of FY 22 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.26, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $1.19, an analyst estimate from Refinitiv. The company had reported the adjusted revenue of $12.75 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 22, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $12.64 billion.

Moreover, the company’s wealth management business, which tends to have steady returns, posted record net revenue of $6.63 billion in the latest quarter, 6% higher than a year ago. The result was helped by an increase in net interest income on higher interest rates and bank lending growth. Trading revenue also rose, climbing to $3.02 billion from $2.39 billion a year ago. On the equity side, revenue fell 24% from a year ago, driven by markdowns on certain strategic investments and lower brokerage balances. But fixed income net revenue was up 15% from a year ago, reflecting stronger results in macro and credit products. The firm’s investment banking business suffered a big slowdown amid a collapse in IPOs and debt and equity issuance. Revenue from investment banking came to $1.25 billion in the fourth quarter, down 49% from a year ago. The bank said the drop was due to the substantial decline in global equity underwriting volumes and lower completed M&A transactions.

Morgan Stanley’s investment management division reported revenue of $1.46 billion, marking a 17% decline from a year ago amid the extreme market volatility brought on by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes. The bank’s assets under management shrank to $1.30 trillion from $1.57 trillion last year. In the latest period, the bank set aside $87 million for credit losses, compared with just $5 million in the same quarter a year ago.