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Facebook, JPMorgan gaffs erode faith in Wall St.

May 24, 2012 05:31 AM

The Associated Press


Pre-market prices for Nasdaq stock, left, and Facebook stock are shown, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Facebook stock rose in early trading Wednesday, although still far below the $38 it was priced at before its initial public offering Friday. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

By CHRISTINA REXRODE AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street appears bent on convincing Main Street that the game is rigged.

Investor anger is mounting over the initial public offering of Facebook stock last week, which was fumbled by the banks that managed the deal and complicated by technical problems at the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Shareholders filed at least two lawsuits against Facebook and Morgan Stanley, the bank that shepherded the IPO, over reports that it withheld negative analyst reports about Facebook from some clients before the company went public.

It was the second stumble this month by a major Wall Street firm. JPMorgan Chase, usually revered for taming risk, has yet to contain a growing $2 billion loss in one of its trading units.

The missteps are further eroding the confidence of small-scale investors, or what was left of it after the financial meltdown of 2008.

Judson Gee, a financial adviser in Charlotte, N.C., placed a call Wednesday morning to a client who had plowed $50,000 into Facebook stock on Friday, the day of the IPO.



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