SA: Wall Street Breakfast: Banking takeover buzz

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SEEKING ALPHA’s Wall Street Breakfast out today:

While news of Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE:MS) $13B acquisition of E*Trade (NASDAQ:ETFC) broke shortly after publishing on Thursday, the deal is still being discussed all around the Street. That’s because it’s the biggest takeover by a major American lender since the 2008 financial crisis and highlights a continuing trend of Wall Street giants striving to get even bigger. The transaction will give Morgan Stanley a larger share of the online trading market amid a zero commissions war in the brokerage industry that has weighed heavily on profit margins. Morgan Stanley shares fell 4.6% on Thursday on a pending share dilution, while E-Trade surged 21.8%.

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