Morgan Stanley's fixed income division contributed less to the US bank's earnings in the third quarter than equities trading for only the second time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, reflecting the deterioration of what has historically been the engine room for revenues across the industry.

The US bank reported revenues of $846m from fixed income in the three-month period to the end of September, which is a 58% decline on the same quarter last year. It was the worst quarter since the last three months of 2009. Equities trading was down 22% to $925m.