The Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A., www.suemyadvisor.com, announced today it filed an arbitration claim against NEXT Financial Group (“NEXT”), for its failure to supervise one of its financial advisors who engaged in unauthorized and excessive trading within an investor’s account.

Consistent with the arbitration claim this Firm just filed, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (“FINRA”) BrokerCheck website, on November 10, 2010, states that NEXT “did not have a reasonable system for reviewing the transactions of its registered representatives for excessive trading.”

Gary Menzer, co-founder and managing partner of Menzer & Hill, P.A., says “the $400K fine and regulatory action FINRA assessed against NEXT is not surprising considering the activity we uncovered in the account of one of our clients and customer of NEXT.”  Investors are encouraged to contact Menzer & Hill, P.A. if they believe their accounts are being excessively traded by their brokers or are subject to other abuses.

The attorneys at the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. are dedicated to pursuing claims on behalf of investors who have suffered investment losses. 

For a free case evaluation or to discuss this matter, please contact the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A., at 888-923-9223, or visit us on the web at www.suemyadvisor.com

A class action has been initiated in the Federal Court by 50 former clients of Bell Potter Securities over the company’s alleged conduct with respect to the purchase of shares in a Brisbane biotechnology company, Progen Pharmaceuticals.

The former clients are being represented by law firm Slater & Gordon, which has said it will be alleged to the court that Bell Potter manipulated the market in Progen shares and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct when it encouraged clients to buy the overvalued shares ahead of and subsequent to Bell Potter being a co-underwriter of a Progen capital raising.

Slater and Gordon solicitor Van Moulis said it was being alleged in the class action that reports published by Bell Potter analysts improperly inflated the value of Progen stock and were then used by brokers to promote the stock to clients.

He said investors were seeking compensation from Bell Potter for their share trading losses, legal costs plus interest.

Bell Potter has indicated it will be vigorously defending the claim.

An unexpected rise in the U.S. unemployment rate is pushing stocks down as investors move money into safer assets.

The government reported that the unemployment rate climbed to 9.8 percent in November, a seven-month high. That's up from 9.6 percent the previous month. Employers added 39,000 jobs. Economists had forecast a gain of 145,000.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 25, or 0.2 percent, to 11,337.

The S&P 500 index is down 4, or 0.3 percent, to 1,217. The Nasdaq composite index is off 1.51, or 0.1 percent, to 2,577.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note is down to 2.96 percent from 3.00 percent late Thursday. That yield helps set interest rates on many loans, including home mortgages.

The service sector expanded for the 11th straight month in November and at the fastest pace in six months.

Friday's report from the Institute for Supply Management, a private trade group, follows a string of other indicators this week indicating the economy is steadily improving. But the Labor Department issued a disappointing jobs report Friday that showed the expansion didn't boost hiring in November. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent last month, as job creation slowed.

The ISM said that its service sector index, which covers 80 percent of the economy, rose to 55 last month from 54.3 in October. It was the highest reading since May. Any figure over 50 indicates growth.

"Economic activity is still moving along, but uncertainty and a lack of clarity over the economy and over regulatory issues continue to impede hiring," said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Some economists were mildly encouraged by the ISM's index of new orders, which rose by one point to 57.7, and its employment index, which moved to a three-year high of 52.7.

Those are more forward-looking indicators than the employment report, said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds. They signal that hiring and growth will likely improve in the coming months.

Still, the ISM's report on the service sector is consistent with annual economic growth of about 3 percent, economists said. That's weak for a recovery after such a steep recession, and not enough to rapidly reduce unemployment.

U.S. short-term interest rate futures traders boosted bets the Federal Reserve will wait until mid-2012 before raising rates, after a government report showed the U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly rose in November.

Friday's report showed the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent. Economists had expected a rate of 9.6 percent.

Futures traders now are not fully pricing in an increase in the target rate for overnight lending between banks until May 2012, trading in federal funds futures at CME Group Inc's Chicago Board of Trade shows.

The Fed, which has kept short-term interest rates near zero for the past two years, last month embarked on a new round of Treasury buying to push borrowing costs down further in order to boost the economy and jobs.

Encouraged by recent stronger economic data, traders had been speculating the Fed might curtail its $600 billion Treasury debt purchase program, known as quantitative easing. Before the report they had been pricing in a better-than-even chance of a rate rise by December, 2011.

They backed off those bets after the jobs report, reflecting the view that the Fed may need to keep rates lower for longer to nurture what is still a fragile recovery.

"A softer-than-expected jobs number probably makes people a little more comfortable with the idea that the Fed will steadily progress with its planned quantitative easing," said Nick Bennenbroek, a currency strategies with Wells Fargo in New York.