While media reports this week have said many bulge-bracket banks will be shrinking bonuses (but boosting base salaries), some employees’ bonus pots at one Wall Street firm will allegedly be filled with nothing but cobwebs.

According to headhunters, Morgan Stanley will be slashing the bonuses of some of its recent hires on the basis of poor performances after the firm plunged into the red in the third quarter, efinancialcareers.co.uk reported http://bit.ly/9xTcP3. Last month, Wall Street's second-largest investment bank reported a slump in profits of 67% from a year earlier because of a drop in trading volumes.