Small caps reverse higher with techs, retail

Small-cap stocks turned higher in choppy trade into midday, with pressure from soft energy and financial shares countered by gains in retail and technology stocks. At 12:39 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 2.96, or 0.67%, at 446.48.

Treasury markets continued to rise through mid-session trading, which may have siphoned some money away from equities. The yield on benchmark 10-year notes, which moves inverse to price, was down 2.6% as demand was solid for credit instruments.

Energy stocks were among the worst performers so far today, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund off 2% as crude oil prices edged lower amid concern about demand from not just the United States, but also major energy customers around the world.

Looking at S&P groups so far today, the best performers were health care, food distributors, systems software firms, department stores, Internet retail, Internet software services, semiconductor companies and homebuilders. After a rough go in recent days, the ISE Homebuilder Index was up about 1.4% at midday with small-cap homebuilder Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE:MTH) up 5.8%.

Small-cap retailers making positive noise today included Inter Parfums Inc. (Nasdaq:IPAR), as the cosmetics firm was up 7.4% after a rocky few days of trading surrounding earnings results from late January.

Some negative sentiment continues to be attached to concerns that progress on the “bad bank” concept appears to have stalled and also by worries that passage of a big stimulus package could take longer than originally expected.

Individual small caps making a move today include Blyth Inc. (NYSE:BTH), which jumped 29% on unusually heavy volume, recovering nicely from news lows set late last week after the home fragrance and home décor firm announced a reverse stock split. Volt Information Science Inc. (NYSE:VOL) rose 21% recovering from a wild up and down session Friday in conjunction with earnings news. Preformed Line Products Co. (Nasdaq:PLPC) was up 18% without any apparent fresh news, as the network line maintenance company mounted a big bounce off move lows forged last . . .

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