Russell opens in the green

Small-cap shares pushed higher after a soft opening, lifted by a firm U.S. dollar and ideas that Wednesday afternoon’s dramatic downturn after the rate cut announcement may have been overdone. At 10:02 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 2.82, or 0.39%, at 719.00.

The ISM Manufacturing Survey — released at 10:00 a.m. ET — came in at 48.6%, which was up just slightly from the forecast at 48.0% . The market was little changed immediately after the report. The Construction Spending report also came out in tandem with ISM, and was down 1.1%, which was below the forecast for a loss of 0.6%.

Weekly Claims data this morning came out before the opening, and showed a jump to 380,000, which was above the forecast. The rise in jobless claims keeps concern about the economy and the employment picture on the front burner ahead of Friday’s big monthly jobs report. Given relatively soft price action since FOMC, investors appear to be in the mood to either book profits on winning longs ahead of that jobs event risk, or else sit on the sidelines and wait for the number before diving back into the fray.

The dollar was on a charge this morning, jumping well over 100 bps, or nearly 0.9%, versus the euro to the highest point since late March. Crude oil was down . . .

---You can read the FULL article when you register (registration is free!) or sign-in to SmallCapInvestor.com---