Morgan Stanley quits ags in commodities retreat
Morgan Stanley warned over the drop in investor interest in commodities as it followed peers such as Barclays in cutting its operations in the sector, including quitting the agriculture segment.The investment bank, one of the best respected on Wall Street, is to maintain, and potentially grow, some areas with indirect exposure to agriculture, such as fertilizer products which, thanks to the exposure to shale gas, will be merged into the North America power and gas business.The group's biofuels operations will be merged into the global oils division.However, it is to quit trading agricultural products, closing also its dry freight and a small Australian power businesses, citing weaker interest in commodities from investors who this year have quit the sector in favour of a return to equities.Fund managers this month turned their most bearish on commodities in records going back to 2006, with a net 32% underweight on the sector, a survey by Bank of America showed this week.'Revenue pool halved'Morgan Stanley said in a memo to staff: "The commodities revenue pool available to firms in our sector has fallen by almost 50% from the peak years of 2007-09."...MORE
