Morgan Stanley Hiring Up to 400 Sales, Trading Positions

According to reports, Morgan Stanley has plans to hire as many as 400 traders and salespeople to bulk up its trading operations this year.

Sources said that about half of the 400 positions have already been filled with the firm focusing the hires in the areas of foreign exchange, emerging markets, equity derivatives and prime brokerage.

The positions are net additions for the firm and not replacing employees that were laid off or had left.

Morgan Stanley reported more than $1.2 billion in losses for the second quarter. At the time analysts said that while the firm’s investment banking revenue was strong its conservative trading approach affected its ability to offset special charges around its losses in real estate investments and repaying the government TARP money.