Morgan Stanley posts strong second quarter profits

Morgan Stanley's second quarter profits released Wednesday easily beat market expectations.

The investment bank reported an 11.4 percent rise in profits, to almost 1.6 billion US dollars.

It comes as earnings per share rose to 87 cents, versus forecasts of 76 cents, mainly driven by investment and wealth management businesses.

Morgan Stanley's shares rose as much as 2.5 percent in pre-market trade.

Meanwhile, American Express, Qualcomm and T-Mobile were also due to report their earnings on Wednesday.