Did Morgan Stanley Beat Street In Fourth Quarter? [VIDEO]

U.S. stocks traded mixed on Friday, as investors continued to weigh earnings from Morgan Stanley and General Electric Company, while data revealed consumer confidence fell in January.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 43.35 points or 0.26 percent, to 16,460.36. The S&P 500 fell 2.19 points or 0.12 percent, to 1,843.71. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 8.49 points or 0.20 percent, to 4,210.20.

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) on Friday rose 4.28 percent to $33.37 after the investment bank reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 50 cents per share, excluding items, beating Wall Street estimates by five cents. Revenue also topped forecasts and rose 12.5 percent to $7.83 billion for the last quarter.

“Our fourth quarter results demonstrated the consistency embedded in our business model, as revenues increased year-over-year in all three of our business segments,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James P. Gorman. “Importantly, we are continuing to address many of the legal issues from the financial crisis. We look forward to further progress on our strategic goals as we move into 2014 with strength and momentum.”

Morgan Stanley said full year net revenues came in at $32.4 billion, compared with $26.1 billion a year-ago.

Meanwhile, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) issued fiscal fourth-quarter earnings excluding items of 53 cents per share, in-line with Wall Street expectations, while revenue came in slightly above analysts’ estimates at $40.38 billion.

“GE ended the year with strong fourth-quarter earnings and margin growth in an improving but mixed environment,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “We saw good conditions in growth markets, strength in the U.S., and a mixed environment in Europe. We had strong operating performance for the year and are pleased with our execution in 2013, taking $1.6 billion of cost out, growing margins, reducing the size of GE Capital, and returning more than $18 billion to shareholders.”

GE said full-year operating earnings were $16.9 billion, up 5 percent from $16.0 billion in 2012, and operating EPS was $1.64, up 9 percent from $1.51 in 2012.

Shares of GE fell 2.43 percent to $26.54 in morning trading.

Shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) fell 1.98 percent to $98.50 on Friday after the delivery company announced a shorter holiday shopping season in the U.S. pushed quarterly profit below Wall Street expectations. UPS now expects to report a profit of $1.25 per share for the fourth-quarter, compared with analysts’ expectations of earnings of $1.43 a share.

“U.S. results were negatively impacted by the challenges of the compressed peak season coupled with an unprecedented level of online shopping that included a surge of last-minute orders,” the company said in a statement. “In an effort to maintain service standards and commitments, UPS took extraordinary measures deploying additional equipment and people.”

UPS is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings results to investors and analysts before the market opens on Jan. 30, 2014.