It'll Take More Than A $19 Billion Deal For Morgan Stanley To Wrest The Gold From JPMorgan

In the bobsleigh race that is the annual M&A advisory battle, Morgan Stanley is just milliseconds behind the lycra bodysuit-clad Jamie Dimon.

It’s been the busiest start for M&A both globally and in the U.S. With Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of the messaging service WhatsApp, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are now nearly neck and neck for the top spot in the M&A advisory league tables….

Morgan Stanley is now just $7 million behind J.P. Morgan on the value of announced deals in 2014 after working on deals valued at $146,961 billion compared to J.P. Morgan’s $146,968 billion. Both banks have worked on 30 deals this year and have a 29.6% market share.

In the U.S., Morgan Stanley trails J.P. Morgan by a wider margin, but holds the lead in tech M&A.

Morgan Stanley Gets a WhatsApp Bounce, But J.P. Morgan Still No. 1 [WSJ MoneyBeat blog]