Morgan Stanley on Hiring Spree: Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) is planning to hire as many as 400 traders and sales people, according to a report, as the firm moves to compete better with rival Goldman Sachs (GS Quote).

Reuters late Thursday reported that Morgan Stanley had hired about half of the 400 planned additions to work across sales and trading, citing a source familiar with the plan.

Morgan Stanley wants the workers for its foreign exchange, emerging markets and equity derivatives businesses, the source told Reuters.

The hirings come as Morgan Stanley has reported three straight quarterly losses. By comparison, rival Goldman Sachs has rebounded from its first quarterly loss even in the December quarter by posting profits in the latest two quarters.

Morgan Stanley has a rough road to travel if it is to catch up with Goldman after missing out on trading opportunities in the second quarter. Reuters notes that Morgan Stanley's fixed-income profit was $973 million in the second quarter. Even though those results were pressured by a $1.3 billion loss related to improving spreads on its own credit, they were overshadowed by the $6.8 billion fixed-income profit that Goldman Sachs reported during the same quarter.