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Morgan Stanley posts highest profit since financial crisis

The bank’s trading business, like those of its main rivals, got a boost in the quarter after the Swiss central bank scrapped a cap on the franc, the European Central Bank announced its quantitative easing program and the U.S. Federal Reserve took steps toward tightening monetary policy. Morgan Stanley capped a mostly strong quarter for the big U.S. banks with its 60 percent rise in net profit, followed by Goldman

Halliburton profit surges past expectations as cost cuts pay off

Revenue fell by 4 percent to $7.05 billion in the first quarter, but beat analysts’ average expectation of $6.96 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, helped by strength in the Middle East and Asia and Latin America. North America, which accounted for more than half the company’s first-quarter revenue, “experienced an unprecedented decline in drilling activity,” Chief Executive Dave Lesar said in a statement. The average U.S. rig count has