Clunker Stocks Lead

The major indices were essentially flat for the day, which is to say, they performed better than yesterday. The Dow Industrials finished with a 30 point loss, the Nasdaq posted an 1 point loss, and the S&P 500 finished with a 3 point loss. The small cap benchmark, the Russell 2000 finished with a 1 point decline.

The top small cap gainer was Vista Gold (AMEX:VGZ), up 32%. MDS Inc. (NYSE:MDZ) which posted a 29% gain after it announced one of its divisions has been sold. Acquisition news also took biotech Sepracor (Nasdaq:SEPR) up 26%. Rounding out the top gainers was K V Pharma Class A Shares (KV-A) up 32%, and The Medicines Company (Nasdaq:MDCO), up 28%.

In spite of the recent weakness in the stock market, the sudden surge in Merger & Acquisition activity should be considered bullish.

On the losing side of the small cap market today was Imperial Industries (Nasdaq:IPII), which lost 27%. Imperial makes building supplies, which should explain the weakness.

Shipping company DHT Maritime (NYSE:DHT) lost 21% after posting weak earnings. Tech company SeaChange International (Nasdaq:SEAC) lost 16% on poor earnings.

In light of the recent worry about China's real estate market, it should be no surprise to see China Housing & Land (Nasdaq:CHLN) on the loser list with a 15% loss.

Finally, in typical "buy the rumor, sell the news" action, biotech Sinovac (AMEX:SVA) fell 17% after it signed a supply agreement for its swine flu vaccine with a South Korean company. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, which no doubt disappointed investors.

Now for other market news…

*****That was quite a sell-off yesterday. We haven't seen a drop that big since the early days of July. Volume was pretty heavy, too. And no sector was spared.

Briefing.com reports that 95% of the S&P 500 was in the red by the close. Financials seemed to have borne the brunt of the decline. The Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) was down 5.3%. But if you were holding an inverse ETF like the UltraShort Financial ProShares (SKF) like TradeMaster Daily Stock Alert members were the day wasn't so bad.

The most troublesome aspect of yesterday's sell-off is that it came amidst some pretty good news. The ISM Manufacturing Survey came in much better than expected and pending home sales for July was also much better than expected. Plus, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the IMF has raised global growth estimates for 2010 again to just below3%.

Of course, oil prices responded to the manufacturing data by posting an early 2% gain. Unfortunately, that turned into a 2.7% loss as the day went on.

*****Cash for Clunker Stocks dominated yesterday's action. Bank of America lost 6%, Citigroup (NYSE:C) was down 9% and AIG (NYSE:AIG) lost 21%. Even more startling, Citi accounted for 20% of the volume on the NYSE.

Such concentrated selling in the financials sector shouldn't be that surprising. Even the bulls have been scratching their heads at the gains AIG and Citi have been making. It remains to be seen if investors can let some of the air out of these stocks without taking the whole market down.

*****Oil is rebounding a bit today. Inventories fell 3.2 million barrels last week.

British Petroleum (NYSE:BP) announced a major find in the Gulf of Mexico. Some are saying it could be more than 3 billion barrels. Along with the massive find by Brazil from a couple weeks ago, we might start to wonder if new supply might affect prices.

Until tomorrow,

Ian Wyatt
Editor
Small Cap Investor Daily

P.S. My book The Small-Cap Investor: Secrets to Winning Big with Small-Cap Stocks is coming out on September 14 - visit www.smallcapbook.com to learn more. You can also follow me on http://twitter.com/ianwyatt 

Ian Wyatt is the Chief Investment Strategist of SmallCapInvestor.com and author of The Small-Cap Investor: Secrets to Winning Big with Small-Cap Stocks. You can learn more about his book and receive small-cap stock picks at www.smallcapbook.com.

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