Small caps tumble at closing; ICTG, FGXI and NOVN lead gainers

Stocks took another major tumble Monday after news that small-cap insurer American International Group (NYSE:AIG) clocked the biggest operating loss in its history, adding to investor despair. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were ICT Group (Nasdaq:ICTG), FGX International Holdings (Nasdaq:FGXI) and Noven Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:NOVN).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed down 21.22, or 5.45%, to 367.80, while the Dow closed down 4.24% to 6,763.29 and the S&P 500 closed down 4.66% to 700.82.
• For the year, the Russell 2000 is now down 26.35%, the Dow is down 22.95 and the S&P 500 is down 22.41%.
• On the data front today, personal spending rose about 0.6% in January and incomes rose 0.4%, while construction spending fell 3.3%, or more than twice as much as analysts predicted.
• Oil prices plummeted more than 10% today, suggesting energy demand is still being hurt by the deteriorating global economy.
• The U.S. government said it would give AIG another $30 billion in loans, on top of the $150 billion it has already provided to the insurer.
• Back to AIG, the insurer clocked $61.7 billion Q4 loss.
• Global stock markets sharply slumped overnight, with the benchmarks in Britain and Japan down about 4% each.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Business service outsourcer ICT Group, Inc. closed up 64% after Aegis Limited made an acquisition proposal to ICT’s board. See (Nasdaq:ICTG).
• FGX International Holdings Limited saw a 16% uptick following a strong sales and earning release late last week. See (Nasdaq:FGXI).
• Noven Pharmaceuticals is up 11% ahead of its scheduled earnings . . .

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