INVESTMENT IDEA | DECEMBER 2015

Global Strategist PortfolioAt Morgan Stanley Investment Management, our Global Multi-Asset Team manages long-only asset allocation portfolios. Consider the team’s 4-Star Morningstar Rated Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Trust (MSIFT) Global Strategist Portfolio.

The Morgan Stanley Global Strategist Fund is a top-down global macro portfolio that seeks above-average total return over a market cycle of three to five years. It seeks to achieve this objective by identifying and exploiting inefficiencies between markets, regions and sectors. The team seeks to capture these mispricings utilizing a combination of fundamental analysis and quantitative techniques across global asset classes including stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities.

Global Strategist versus Morningstar World Allocation FundsSeptember 2011 to December 2015 (3-year rolling average annual returns, computed monthly)

Symbols

Class A MBAAX

Class C MSSOX

Class I MPBAX

Class IS MGPOX

9/146/149/11 3/12 9/12 3/13 9/13 3/14 12/1512/1312/11 6/12 12/12 6/13

Morningstar World Allocation FundsMSIFT Global Strategist Portfolio Class I (Net)

Retu

rns

4%

8%

20%

16%

12%

12/14

0%

3/15 6/15 9/15

★★★★Overall Morningstar Rating™ for Class IOut of 479 World Allocation Funds.1 Based on Risk Adjusted Return as of December 31, 2015

CYRIL MOULLÉ-BERTEAUX Managing Director25 years of investment experience

MARK BAVOSOManaging Director33 years of investment experience

1 3 Year 3 stars out of 479 funds, 5 Year 5 Stars out of 348 funds, 10 Year 4 Stars out of 190 funds. 2 Source: Morningstar. Ratings are a component of the Morningstar risk-adjusted return. Please see page 2 for additional Morningstar information.

Please see next page for complete standardized returns.All performance herein is as of December 31, 2015 and since inception of investment team change on August 15, 2011. All performance is historical and does not guarantee future results.

Morgan Stanley Global Strategist Portfolio Proven outperformance 1 with historically low risk

The Fund’s I shares have: • Outperformed their Morningstar peer

group on a rolling 3 and 5 year basis since August 2011.

• Achieved Morningstar’s Below Average risk rating for overall period.2

• Delivered one of the highest Sharpe ratios and lowest standard deviations for the 5-year period.2

Long-standing portfolio 2 management and research team

The Global Multi-Asset team has managed the Fund since its inception in 1992 and has maintained a consistent process of utilizing a fundamentally-driven, discretionary approach supported by quantitative research to identify thematic opportunities and trades across asset classes around the world.

3 Attractive expense profile

Based on total net expense ratios, Global Strategist I Class shares are ranked in the first percentile and offer one of the lowest net expense ratios for all World Allocation funds.2 The Fund’s management fee is 0.45%.

© 2016 Morgan Stanley. All rights reserved. Morgan Stanley Distribution, Inc. 1331149 Exp. 10/20/2016 8477554_KC_0116 Lit-Link: GLBSTRATIDEA

Expenses – Class I (%) Management Fee Net Expense RatioGlobal Strategist Portfolio 0.45 0.74Morningstar Category Average3 0.62 1.07

Asset Allocation (% of NAV) Portfolio Active WtGlobal Equities 57.9 -2.1Global Fixed Income 31.6 1.6Commodities -0.3 -5.3Cash 10.7 5.7

3 Year Risk & Return Statistics – Class I (%)Global Strategist Portfolio Standard Deviation 7.27Morningstar Category Average Standard Deviation 8.01Global Strategist Portfolio Sharpe Ratio 0.55Morningstar Category Average Sharpe Ratio 0.42Source: Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Barclays.

Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and current performance may be lower or higher than the figures shown. For the most recent month-end performance figures, please visit morganstanley.com/im or call 1-800-548-7786. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate and Fund shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Source: Morningstar. Sharpe ratio is a risk-adjusted measure calculated as the ratio of excess return to standard deviation. Sharpe ratio determines reward per unit of risk. The higher the Sharpe ratio, the better the historical risk-adjusted performance. Standard deviation shows how much variation or dispersion from the average exists. In finance, standard deviation is applied to the annual rate of return of an investment to measure the investment’s volatility. Standard deviation is also known as historical volatility and is used by investors as a gauge for the amount of expected volatility.

Investment Performance – Class I (% Net of Fees)*

Average Annual Total Return (Periods Ending December 31, 2015)

MSIFT Global Strategist Portfolio MSCI All Country World Index1 Blended Index2

The gross expense ratio is 0.83% for Class I shares and the net expense ratio is 0.74%. Where the net expense ratio is lower than the gross expense ratio, certain fees have been waived and/or expenses reimbursed. These waivers and/or reimbursements will continue for at least one year from the date of the applicable fund’s current prospectus (unless otherwise noted in the applicable prospectus) or until such time as the fund’s Board of Trustees acts to discontinue all or a portion of such waivers and/or reimbursements. Absent such waivers and/or reimbursements, returns would have been lower. Expenses are based on the fund’s current prospectus. The minimum initial investment is $5,000,000 for Class I shares, $10,000,000 for Class IS, and $1,000 each for Class A and Class C shares. Class A shares have a 5.25% maximum sales charge.* Returns are net of fees and assume the reinvestment of all dividends and income. Returns for less than one year are cumulative (unannualized). Performance of other share classes will vary.1 Returns are calculated using the MSCI All Country World Index (gross dividends) prior to December 31, 2000 and the MSCI All Country World Index (net dividends) after December 31, 2000. The MSCI All Country World Index is a free float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. The term “free float” represents the portion of shares outstanding that are deemed to be available for purchase in the public equity markets by investors. The Index is unmanaged and does not include any expenses, fees or sales charges. It is not possible to invest directly in an Index. 2 The Blended Index represents the Customized MSIM Global Allocation Index, was added as the portfolio benchmark on October 2, 2013, and is provided for comparative purposes only. The index is comprised of 60% MSCI All-Country World Index (measures the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets), 30% Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index (global investment grade fixed-rate debt markets), 5% S&P GSCI Light Energy Index (energy commodity market), and 5% Bank of America/Merrill Lynch U.S. Dollar 1-Month LIBID Average Index (basket of synthetic assets paying LIBID to a stated maturity). It is not possible to invest directly in an index.RISK CONSIDERATIONS There is no assurance that a portfolio will achieve its investment objective. Portfolios are subject to market risk, which is the pos sibility that the market values of securities owned by the portfolio will decline and that the value of portfolio shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in this portfolio. Please be aware that this portfolio may be subject to certain additional risks. In general, equity securities’ values also fluctuate in response to activities specific to a company. Investments in foreign markets entail special risks such as currency, political, economic, and market risks. The risks of investing in emerging market countries are greater than risks associated with investments in foreign developed countries. Fixed-income securities are subject to the ability of an issuer to make timely principal and interest payments (credit risk), changes in interest rates (interest-rate risk), the creditworthiness of the issuer and general market liquidity (market risk). In a rising interest-rate environment, bond prices may fall. In a declining interest-rate environment, the portfolio may generate less income. High yield securities (“junk bonds”) are lower rated securities that may have a higher degree of credit and liquidity risk. Mortgage-backed

securities are sensitive to early prepayment risk and a higher risk of default and may be hard to value and difficult to sell (liquidity risk). They are also subject to credit, market and interest rate risks. Certain U.S. Government securities purchased by the Strategy, such as those issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. It is possible that these issuers will not have the funds to meet their payment obligations in the future. The issuer or governmental authority that controls the repayment of sovereign debt may not be willing or able to repay the principal and/or pay interest when due in accordance with the terms of such obligations. The risks of owning real estate directly as well as the way real estate investment trusts (REITs) are organized and operated will affect the strategy. They require specialized management skills, causing a strategy to indirectly bear the costs of such skills. REITs are subject to certain provisions of the federal tax law and failure to comply could result in adverse tax consequences for a strategy. Derivative instruments may disproportionately increase losses and have a significant impact on performance. They also may be subject to counterparty, liquidity, valuation, correlation and market risks. The use of leverage may increase volatility in the Portfolio. Restricted and illiquid securities may be more difficult to sell and value than publicly traded securities (liquidity risk). Morningstar Rating:™ Ratings as of 12/31/2015. World Allocation Funds Category. Morningstar Risk Rating: 3 Year Average out of 479 funds, 5 Year Below Average out of 348 funds, 10 Year Below Average out of 190 funds. An annualized measure of a fund’s downside volatility over a three-, five-, or ten-year period. This is a component of the Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return. Morningstar Risk Rating is derived directly from Morningstar Risk. In each Morningstar Category, the top 10% of investments earn a High rating, the next 22.5% Above Average, the middle 35% Average, the next 22.5% Below Average, and the bottom 10% Low. Investments with less than three years of performance history are not rated. Morningstar Rating: Morningstar, Inc. is an independent publisher of mutual fund research and ratings. Ratings reflect a fund’s risk-adjusted 3-, 5-, and 10-year total returns, including any sales charge. A fund is rated against all other funds in its category. Overall Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the ratings for the time periods indicated. 5 stars are assigned to the top 10%; 4 stars to the next 22.5%; 3 stars to the next 35%; 2 stars to the next 22.5%; and 1 star to the bottom 10%. Morningstar only rates funds with at least a 3-year history. Morningstar ratings may vary for other share classes. © 2016 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.Please consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund. To obtain a prospectus, download one at morganstanley.com/im or call 1-800-548-7786. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.Morgan Stanley Investment Management is the asset management division of Morgan Stanley.

Since Inception 12/31/1992

7.157.25

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Quarterly

1.965.032.26

YTD

-6.15-2.36-3.51

1 Year -6.15-2.36-3.51

3 Years 3.877.693.14

5 Years 6.166.093.42

10 Years 5.274.764.05

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-5

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