Russell sinks at opening; YRCW and SQNM lead gainers

Small-cap stocks went into a tailspin on the opening, with worries about the banking sector combining with slumping retail sales to spark a flight away from equities. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq:YRCW) and Sequenom (Nasdaq:SQNM).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Copper tumbled 5% on the opening, yet another worry sign for the economy as copper is a key component in construction.  
• Traders say that concerns over the appointment of Timothy Geithner to Treasury Secretary has played into the overall market malaise.  
• Earlier this morning the import price series tumbled 4.2%, well below the forecast for a drop of 0.5%.  
• Within the economic data news, business inventories came in at minus 0.7%, slightly below the forecast for a drop of 0.5%.

Small Cap Gainers:

• YRC Worldwide Inc. up 10.3% in pre-market today, paring some of the losses the stock saw earlier this week after it was downgraded late last week. See (Nasdaq:YRCW).
• Sequenom up 3% in pre-market after commencing an exchange offer to acquire EXACT Sciences. See (Nasdaq:SQNM).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Under Armour Inc. announced preliminary results that were sloppy and UA’s stock took a 15% hit early this morning. See (NYSE:UA).  
• Biopharmaceutical company Crucell N.V. down 5.7% in pre-market on very light volume. See (Nasdaq:CRXL).  
• ZymoGenetics, Inc. down 4.3% in pre-market, giving back some of the huge losses the stock clocked on Tuesday. See (Nasdaq:ZGEN).

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