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Masters of the universe pitch mom-and-pop investors

The most obvious conclusion to draw from Morgan Stanley’s $13 billion purchase of E-Trade yesterday is that it blurs the boundaries between Wall Street and Main Street, with an investment banking stalwart paying a big premium for a discount retail broker. Morgan Stanley’s traditional rival, Goldman Sachs, has made similar moves via its Marcus retail unit and credit-card partnership with Apple.

The chattering class:

• Eric Hagemann of Pzena Capital Management emailed our colleague Kate Kelly: “If they’re able to take out costs, then from a purely financial perspective buying E-Trade isn’t drastically worse than buying back their own stock, which is their main alternative use of capital.”

• Roger Altman of Evercore told CNBC: “Morgan Stanley has been leading the transformation from the wholesale side to the retail side, and this takes them further in that regard.”