Morgan Stanley to buy E-Trade

Market summary:

Maltese market closed in green on Thursday, with MSE total index ending the session 0.45% higher to 9,466.714 points. There weren’t any falls on equity market. Best performer was HSBC Bank Malta plc with 4.76% surge, to close at 1.1, followed by 2.94% jump of MIDI plc with closing price 0.49. Biggest and only one fall was seen from Tigne Mall plc. It dropped 2.22% to close at 0.88. Bank of Valletta plc, International Hotel Investments plc and PG plc were active but closed unchanged.

Stocks slumped in the last half hour of trading in Europe following a report in the Chinese press of 36 coronavirus infections among healthcare workers at a Beijing hospital, which triggered concern of a possible outbreak in the country's capital. By the end of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.86% at 430.19, alongside a 0.91% dip on the German Dax to 13,664.0, while the FTSE Mibtel gave back 1.56% to 25,080.16.

US stocks closed lower on Thursday as indices dropped from the record highs seen at the end of the previous session. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44% at 29,219.98, while the S&P 500 was 0.38% weaker at 3,373.23 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.67% softer at 9,750.96.

Morgan Stanley to buy E-Trade in USD 13bn deal

Morgan Stanley has agreed to buy financial services company E-Trade Financial Corp. in a $13bn all-share deal. Under the terms of the agreement, E-Trade shareholders will receive 1.0432 MS shares for each of their shares.

Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in the Morgan Stanley Building, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 42 countries and more than 60,000 employees, the firm's clients include corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals.

E-Trade Financial Corporation offers an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, options, mutual funds, and fixed income investments. It also provides services for employee stock ownership plans, student loan benefit administration, advisor services, margin lending, online banking, and cash management services.

E-Trade has more than 5.2 million client accounts with over USD 360bn of retail client assets. This will add to Morgan Stanley's existing 3 million client relationships and USD 2.7trn of client assets.

This article was issued by Nadiia Grech, Junior Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.