Will Morgan Stanley join banks' Q1 profit parade?

Will Morgan Stanley (MS) join its rivals and beat the market's expectations for its first-quarter results? With Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) all far outperforming analysts' predictions, plenty of investors will be looking for Morgan to follow suit when it announces tomorrow morning.

With analysts forecasting a loss of eight cents a share, the bar Morgan Stanley has to clear certainly is low. But Morgan Stanley's results will probably reflect the effects of forces pulling in opposite directions, and it's entirely possible it won't join its peers in posting a first-quarter profit.