The Federal Reserve released its annual stress test results on June 24. With stronger results than last year, albeit in a less severe scenario, shares of the 32 tested banks generally traded upward, though the movement was muted.
The largest financial services firms could capture substantial market share on the back of technology investments in areas like underwriting, pricing, due diligence, and customer service.
Bears
Equity underwriting volumes could remain perpetually lower, disproportionately impacting equity underwriting leaders like Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley is a massive global financial services firm, with offices in 42 countries and more than 82,000 employees as of year-end 2025. The firm cut its teeth in investment banking and institutional trading, where it maintains a strong presence today, but generates the lion share of its income from wealth and asset management franchises, where it boasted $9.3 trillion in client assets at the end of its most recent fiscal year. After reincorporation as a bank holding company in the wake of the global financial crisis, Morgan Stanley also boasts a top 10 banking franchise by deposits, with more than $400 billion in customer deposits, predominately attributable to cash sweeps from its wealth management and brokerage businesses.