Small caps end in the green

Small-cap stocks closed out the week with a meager advance Friday, bucking the red ink seen in the Dow and S&P 500, which is a supportive sign for stocks in general as small caps tend to lead the way for equities — especially in recent years on the way up. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) rose 0.50, or 0.07%, to 720.05. For the week, small-cap shares were down 0.78%, which seems pretty tame in the face of renewed fretting about the credit crunch crisis and the highest crude oil prices in the history of the planet.

Crude oil futures shot above $126 dollars a barrel Friday, and have now soared about 11% since the beginning of May amid supply jitters out of Africa, geopolitical tension in the Middle East and tightening stocks of distillates. Not to mention a feeding frenzy from the bulls and a panic scramble by the shorts. With national pump prices already north of $3.50 a gallon, this week’s surge in crude oil prices will be a bitter pill for many Americans, already squeezed by rising food costs and sinking home equity. The ballyhooed economic stimulus package may lose some impact as the funds simply go to pay off consumer debt and fill the gas tank, not to “fuel” economic growth. Some airline carriers have announced fuel surcharges in recent days, and Northwest Airlines (NYSE:NWA) and Air Canada joined that chorus today.

The market came into Friday’s session on the defensive amid renewed concern about the credit crisis after American International Group (NYSE:AIG) reported larger-than-expected quarterly losses. AIG tumbled about 8% for the day, and was . . .

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