Small-cap stocks fall back in mid-session; TRA, FHN, and JBT lead gainers

Small-cap stocks turned lower into midday trading, as hopes for a recovery in bank stocks appeared to be fleeting, which added to investor unease about the timing of a recovery out of the recession and about the prolonged credit crunch. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were Terra Industries (NYSE:TRA), First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) and JBT Corporation (NYSE:JBT).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Sectors doing well today including power companies, oil refiners, gas utilities, vintners, utility companies, health care equipment providers and food retail stocks.  
• On the slide are diversified banks, diverse financial services firms, regional banks, investment banks and consumer finance companies.  
• Small-cap stocks turned lower into midday trading, as hopes for a recovery in bank stocks appeared to be fleeting.  
• The yield on benchmark 10-year notes was up 8% early on, climbing back to 2.37% after slipping below 2.2% Thursday.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Terra Industries up 19% on takeover bid. See (NYSE:TRA).  
• First Horizon shares jump 18% on narrower 4Q loss. See (NYSE:FHN).  
• JBT Corporation wins $6.9 million gate equipment order for major U.S. airport; shares rise 12%. See (NYSE:JBT).  
• Exterran Partners LP rose 12%, leaving a little double bottom on daily charts with Thursday’s low. See (Nasdaq:EXLP). 

Small Cap Losers:

• Life sciences company Cambrex Corporation down 18% on lower-than-average volume. See (NYSE:CBM).
• Spartech Corporation down over 17% after being downgraded to "underweight" earlier this week. See (NYSE:SEH).  
• Inter Parfums Inc. was off 14% as the cosmetics maker was caught in a broad-based sell-off of beauty and cosmetics providers. See (Nasdaq:IPAR).
• Exide Technologies tumbled 21% as the battery maker gave back a huge chunk of a nice rally that coincided closely with the overall market bottom back on Nov. 20. See (Nasdaq:XIDE).

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