Morgan Stanley on Monday drew to a close the first quarter earnings season for the big US investment banks, confirming many of the trends that are now likely to play out across its European peers.

The US bank posted underlying revenues of $5.3 billion at its institutional securities unit, which houses investment banking and sales and trading, up from $4.6 billion a year ago. The unit's pre-tax profits on the same underlying basis - excluding the accounting effects of debt valuation adjustments - rose to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion in the first three months of 2014.