CNBC: Morgan Stanley Laying Off Another 1,500

Morgan Stanley is cutting another 5% of its workforce, or 1,500 employees reports. The best thing you can say about, via an unnamed Morgan executive: "Hopefully this is it for 2008, but you never know."  CNBC:

Morgan Stanley is planning another round of layoffs in the coming days, finalizing a plan to slash another 5 percent from its securities-firm workforce, or 1,500 employees, CNBC has learned.

People inside Morgan say the cuts will be across all business units, except brokers who make money largely on a commission basis and usually leave on their own when markets drop or business slumps. Morgan Stanley has 46,000 employees, including 8,000 brokers...

Morgan Stanley has already announced a $9 billion writedown stemming from a wrong-way bet on the mortgage-bond market, and has announced losses due to the bad trades...

People inside Morgan say CEO John Mack believes the 5 percent cut, which will begin any day now and continue through the end of June may be the last round of job cuts at the company this year, which has already announced job reductions of 5 percent, or around 2,800 employees.