What to Watch on Wall Street for Friday, October 17th 2014

On Friday, October 17th we wrap up a big earnings week for financial institutions with Morgan Stanley. The New York firm is the last of the six big U.S. banks to release its quarterly results. Morgan Stanley is expected to have benefited from M&A activity and a robust equity underwriting volume as one of the underwriters of the $25 billion dollar Alibaba initial public offering in September. General Electric will also chime in with its third quarter earnings along with Honeywell International. All three companies are scheduled to release financial results before the opening bell. On the U.S. economic calendar, we'll be looking out for September housing data as well as the consumer sentiment levels for October.