Banking giant Morgan Stanley’s Q4 profit doubled, blowing past Wall Street’s expectations, as trading activity surged following the presidential election. Earnings soared to $1.5 billion in the 3 months ended 12/31/16, up from $753 million one year earlier; EPS also doubled to 81 cents from 39 cents.

Revenue in the bank’s fixed-income business jumped to $1.5 billion in the quarter from $550 million in the same period last year - an increase of about 173%. By comparison, JPMorgan reported a 31% rise in FI revenue, and Bank of America said its FI trading revenue rose 12%.

Other statistics:

• Revenue from equities trading, a business in which Morgan Stanley is typically strong, rose to $2 billion from $1.8 billion.
• Revenue from wealth management, which Morgan Stanley has been building for several years, rose 6.4% to $4 billion.
• Total revenue jumped 16.6% to $9 billion, beating the average estimate $8.5 billion.
• Return on equity was 8.7%, short of Gorman’s target of 9-11% by the end of 2017.

The bank, which has said it wants to cut costs by $1 billion this year, said non-interest expenses rose 7.6% in the latest quarter. Total compensation and benefits expenses rose 11.9%. The bank laid off a number of senior investment bankers earlier this month and cut bonuses by roughly 15%.