Small caps reeling from jobs report; Obama talk lifts from lows

Small-cap stocks remained sharply lower into mid-session, but were up from the extreme morning lows. Losses were stirred by worries over the economy, a revenue warning from key tech player Intel Corp and news of a big fraud from a major Indian outsourcing firm. At 12:33 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 11.90, or 2.31% at 502.81.

President-elect Obama addressed several issues at mid-morning, ranging from the Middle East situation to the economy. He said that his stimulus plan will likely be at the high end of expectations, which likely helped pull stocks off the morning lows. Equities markets in the United States and even around the world have embraced talk of a major infrastructure spending plan forwarded by Obama. Obama said that he will deliver a major speech on the economy and the stimulus package on Thursday. He is slated to take over as President on January 20.

Ahead of the opening today, the ADP National Employment Survey reported that 693,000 private sector jobs were lost in December, which was a record high for the ADP report (the data base started in 2001). That figure was way above the consensus ...

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