Russell tanks 7%; FNDT, ACUR and MYRG lead gainers

Small-cap stocks threw a gasket in the final hour of trading Friday, giving back a lion’s share of Thursday’s stunning rally off new bear market lows while finishing with the lowest weekly close since August 2003. Today's biggest small-cap gainers are Fundtech (Nasdaq:FNDT), Acura Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ACUR) and MYR Group (Nasdaq:MYRG).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• Retail sales came in at minus 2.8%, which marked the largest October decline on record (the data series started 16 years ago).
• Energy and technology stocks were among the dominant drags on the market, with the Energy SPDR off nearly 5% and the tech-laden Nasdaq 100 down about 4.5% midday.
• Within the tech arena, anything tied to the cell phone business was getting hammered following Nokia’s sales warning.
• The S&P Retail Index tumbled about 7% today. 
  
• Eurozone economists beat the official U.S. designators to the punch today by declaring Europe is mired in its first recession in 15 years.
• The large percentage spread differential today between small caps and the Dow reflected a risk averse mentality that is prevalent in the market right now. 
  

Small-Cap Winners:

• Fundtech Ltd. is up 17% after approving a $10 million share repurchase program earlier this week. See (Nasdaq:FNDT).
• Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. rallied 22%, but the move was accomplished on fairly light volume. See (Nasdaq:ACUR).  
• MYR Group, a specialty contractor serving the electrical infrastructure market in the U.S., is up 18% after reporting Q3 results. See (Nasdaq:MYRG).
• Rick's Cabaret jumps 12.5% on higher-than-average volume. See (Nasdaq:RICK). 
  

Small-Cap Losers:

• MedCath Corp. tumbled 45% on heavy volume as the hospital operator badly missed the earnings forecast. See (Nasdaq:MDTH).
• PAM Transportation Services Inc. slumped 27% while crumbling to 52-week lows. See (Nasdaq:PTSI). 
  
• RSC Holdings Inc. fell 25% as the Scottsdale, Arizona-based equipment rental company gave back not just Thursday’s gains, but quite a bit extra as well. See (NYSE:RRR).

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