Small caps close in the red

Small-cap stocks edged lower Tuesday, with the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) sinking 6.44, or 0.89%, to 718.93. Small caps had plenty of good news to embrace Tuesday, but a wave of sloppy earnings and cautious profit-taking from longs ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC announcement kept the buyers at bay. Small caps noticeably underperformed relative to the Dow and S&P 500, which is a caution signal for the market heading toward huge economic calendar event risk the rest of the week.

Losses were limited by a firm U.S. dollar, which pushed about 0.6% higher versus the euro, rising to the highest point in three weeks. The firm greenback played a role in a sharp retreat in crude oil prices, which tumbled 2.5% in the shadow of yesterday’s record high level. Retail, transportation and airline stocks received a boost from the pullback in energy prices. The commodity spectrum in general was lower Tuesday, with the Commodity Research Bureau Index of commodity prices down 1.8%, pulled lower by the slide in energy and also by a corrective dip in grains a day after corn prices hit record levels.

Within broad market sectors, food retail stocks were up 5%, airlines up 3% and education services were up almost 3%. Meanwhile, fertilizer shares were down 8%, metals and mining were down almost 5%, and agricultural products were down about 4%.

The stock market has been on an impressive upside push since March lows, with the Russell rising about 12%, the Dow up 9.5% and the S&P 500 up about 10%. Given the solid return generated for bulls lucky enough to have caught this brush higher, it’s . . .

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