Morgan Stanley is reaping the benefits of a renewed focus on sales and trading, which helped the US investment bank post a $1.8bn (€1.3bn) net profit for the first quarter, as it reclaims ground it lost at the beginning of last year.

The division brought in $4.1bn (€3.06bn) in revenues compared to only $1.4bn in the first quarter last year. The 65% rise reflects an effort to increase staff for that business.