Morgan Stanley swung to a fourth-quarter profit as the investment bank recorded strong revenue from its institutional securities segment.

Morgan Stanley has been under pressure to deliver better results within the fixed-income business, particularly from its bond-trading unit. The firm is in the midst of scaling back parts of its fixed-income trading operations by shrinking risky assets by about one-fifth by the end of 2014 as it copes with poor returns for the business and higher global capital requirements under new regulations. It also is relying more on electronic trading, reducing the need for as many employees.