Mild dip stirs up chart worries in Russell 2000

Small-cap stocks closed slightly lower Friday, pulled down by pre-weekend profit-taking and losses in small-cap energy names as crude oil tumbled to a 15-week closing low. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) finished Friday’s action down 1.01, or 0.13% at 753.37, which stands as the third highest daily close of the year and the highest weekly close of 2008. For the first time in a while, large-cap products were noticeably firmer than small-caps, with the Dow up 0.38% Friday to 11659.90, and the S&P 500 up 0.41% at 1298.20. For the year, the Russell is down 1.65%, while the Dow is off 12.0% and the S&P 500 is down 11.5%.

Normally, crude oil price declines have been a supportive element for small-cap stocks, and while that psychology is still in play, there were enough commodity-tied small-cap shares in the red Friday to pull down the Russell relative to the Dow and S&P 500. Among broad market sectors, coal, gold, metals and mining, oil and gas drillers, oil production and steel stocks were the worst performers.

Crude oil futures finished out the week at 15-week closing lows, slipping about 1% Friday just below $114 dollars a barrel. Although there are many stocks that stand to benefit from a stabilization in crude oil price declines, the general consensus is that further downside probing in the energy market would be an overall bullish element for equities because it would free up consumer spending for other areas...

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