According to two people familiar with the mater, Morgan Stanely may pay between $2 to $3 billion for a controlling stake in Citigroup's Smith Barney retail brokerage business. The cash would help out Citigroup, who is coming under mounting pressure to clean up its balance sheet after borrowing $45 billion from the government last year.

Morgan Stanley announced plans to cut its staff by 10 percent in order to cope with deteriorating economic conditions. Morgan Stanley currently employees 46,383 people.

Morgan Stanley is weighing is looking to merge with Wachovia and several other banks as the investment bank continues to struggle with lower investor confidence. Its shares have dropped nearly 42 percent this week alone.

Morgan Stanley, the second largest securities firm, announced Wednesday plans to eliminate 1,000 positions. The company is drastically reducing its U.S. mortgage business and also shutting down its home loans division in the U.K.

Morgan Stanley managed to secure funding by selling up to 9.9% to a Chinese foreign exchange fund for about $5 billion. The deal was viewed as a huge plus by investors due to the deal allows the company to clear up its balance sheet; however, the true costs of the deal are quite high. The 9.9 percent a year translate to around $450 million of revenues gone next year, equal to approximately 18 percent... More

A state controlled China Investment Corp. acquired roughly 9.9% of Morgan Stanley for $5 billion in cash. The news comes after Morgan Stanley reported its first quarter loss Wednesday. It posted a huge loss of $3.54 billion or $3.61 per share. CEO, John Mack, stated that the loss was `embarrassing` and that he would forgo his bonus for the year.

Morgan Stanley issued a warning today warning of a steep slowdown in business investment and conditions that could lead to a full blown recession in 2008. In a report entitled "Recession Coming," Morgan Stanley reported that the credit crunch has started to cause serious damage to US companies.

Morgan Stanley posted Q3 earnings of $1.47 billion or $1.44 per share compared to $1.75 per share last year. This represents a 17 percent drop in profits primary due to writing down almost $1 billion dollars worth of loans amongst this years credit crisis.

Morgan Stanley reported that it was going to sell part of its stake in index and risk provider MSCI as it continues to focus on its core brokerage business.