Market Wrap: Morgan Stanley and Accounting Wizardry; Abbott Divorcing Itself; Citi, SEC Agree to Settle

Market wrap-up for October 19th

End of the Day: Dow Jones down 72 tp 11,504.62; Nasdaq down 53 to 2,604.04; S&P 500 down 15.5 to 1,209.88

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Morgan Stanley delivers a loss...no a win...no a loss: Carrying the financial earnings burden today was Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), which performed well when factoring-in accounting trickery. Morgan Stanley reported revs of $9.89 billion and a GAAP loss of 38 cents per share. Results for the current quarter included positive revenue of $3.4 billion, or $1.12 per diluted share related to changes in Morgan Stanley's debt-related credit spreads and other credit factors (Debt Valuation Adjustment, DVA).
  
  Morgan Stanley ended just about flat
  
  
• Abbott will become Abb and Ott: Abbott (NYSE: ABT) reported that it will split into two "publicly traded companies, one in diversified medical products and the other in research-based pharmaceuticals."
  
  
• Vikram keeps smiling: Citigroup (NYSE: C) settled a $500 million collateralized-debt obligation (CDO) suit with the U.S. SEC for $285 million. Allegations were that Citi marketed the product, which was backed by subprime loans, and then bet against the loans, which wasn't disclosed to investors. Citi nor the SEC will have to admit or deny wrongdoing.
  
  
• Despite name, Beige Book sheds color on economy: The Fed's Beige Book showed the U.S. economy picked up a little in September, but the jobs market was another story, showing little to no growth all around. Checks by the Fed showed all 12 regions ith stronger economic activity, though most districts described the growth as "modest" or "slight."
  
  The data is based on information collected before October 7th. Click here for more color from the report.

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