Stocks Mixed on Jobs Report, Inflation Concerns

Ventura County Star

May 7, 2005

NEW YORK -- Wall Street limped to a mixed finish Friday as a surprisingly strong employment report raised fears that a surge in economic growth could spark inflation and prompt the Federal Reserve to aggressively raise interest rates. The major indexes finished the week higher.

The economy created 274,000 jobs in April, far more than the 175,000 Wall Street expected. With job gains for February and March revised upward, investors felt far more confident in the strength of the job market and economic growth.

NEW YORK -- A Florida law firm has sued Morgan Stanley, seeking $100 million in damages from the Wall Street firm for failing to provide disgruntled clients with evidence that may have been relevant in hundreds of past arbitration cases.

The purported class action suit comes in the wake of Morgan Stanley's acknowledgment last month that it has found electronic tapes that potentially could contain documents of interest to plaintiffs who claim they received faulty stock-research and investment advice from Morgan Stanley.

The lawsuit, filed last week in a Florida court and served to Morgan Stanley on Thursday, alleges that the Wall Street firm violated contracts with clients by not giving them access to the recently discovered documents. It seeks to represent as a class all people who filed arbitration claims against Morgan Stanley since 1999.

Darren C. Blum, the Coral Gables, Fla., lawyer whose firm filed the suit, said he has signed up "dozens" of clients but sees the class size ultimately expanding to about 1,000.

New York