Update: Citing a “highly placed” source he apparently met up with at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station, CNBC’s John Carney reports that fixed-income desks across Wall Street are in for some serious layoffs. Says the shellfish aficionado:
“We’re easily going to cut a quarter to a half of our traders and back office in fixed income. Everyone else is going to do it too,” he says.
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Citing a person briefed on the matter, Bloomberg is reporting that Morgan Stanley (MS) has instituted a hiring freeze at its investment-banking unit for the remainder of 2010. Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino first reported the hiring freeze. The news follows last week’s reports of layoffs at Bank of America.
Bloomberg says that Morgan Stanley won’t be conducting layoffs of its own, and a Morgan Stanley spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company still intends to staff up its Smith Barney joint venture with Citigroup.
Here’s Gasparino talking about the freeze:
