Small caps close up nearly 7%; UAUA, TTGT and MIPI lead gainers

SCI Microbloggers | Oct 16, 2008 4:46pm EDT | Comment

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The Russell staged a dramatic comeback today, closing up nearly 7% and rejecting an intraday slide to the second-lowest point in more than five years to notch the third-largest one-day gain of the year. The Russell is now off 30% for 2008, while the Dow is down 32% and the S&P 500 is off 35%. Today’s small-cap gainers are UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA), TechTarget (Nasdaq:TTGT) and Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MIPI). Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The industrial production report released this morning pegged output down 2.8%; the forecast was for -0.8%.
• The CBOE Volatility Index (a good indicator of the level of fear in the markets) hits a record high.
• The market continues to slide after the Philly Fed diffusion index fell to -37.5 in Oct. from +3.8 in Sept., its largest 1-month decline ever.
• Chartist Kevin Pendley: Today marked the most solid chart action we have seen since this whole collapse kicked into gear in late September.
• Crude oil extended slide after inventory data, dipped below $70 at one point today.
• The best performing areas today are coal, education services, agriculture products, footwear companies, food retail firms, airlines, gas utilities and steel stocks.
• On the downside, life health insurers, gold, paper products, auto manufacturers, asset mngt. firms, and Internet retail stocks were all taking a hit.

Small Cap Gainers:

• United Air’s parent UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA) was up 38%. SIG reports one investor bought 1,750 Jan. 7 calls versus selling 3,500 Dec. 15 calls.
• TechTarget Inc. (Nasdaq:TTGT) rallied about 34%, closing above the 20-day moving average for the first time since late September.
• Coleman Cable Inc. (Nasdaq:CCIX) rose 30% on earnings news
• Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:MIPI) is up 35%, basically trying to recover losses from Wednesday’s big decline.
• Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq:ALDN) is up 28%, gapping higher from an earnings-related lift.
• US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE:LCC) was up 30% and Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE:ALK) was up 20%

Small Cap Losers:

• Cell Genesys (Nasdaq:CEGE) crashes after ending its cancer drug test; shares crash 75%.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (Nasdaq:SSRI) is down about 17%, sinking to fresh 52-week lows.
• Amcore Financial Inc. (Nasdaq:AMFI) is off about 23% after reporting a wider-than-expected loss for the quarter.
• Winnebago Industries (NYSE:WGO) swung to a Q4 loss and suspended its quarterly dividend due to volatile gas prices and tight credit. Shares down 24%.
• Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) skids 23% on disappointing Q3 earnings.