Russell closes down 2.3%; MAPP, PALM and CBAN lead gainers

Although today usually marks one of the quietest trading weeks of the year, stocks ended overwhelmingly lower at closing, pulled down by shares of retailer, tech, automotive and energy companies. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are MAP Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MAPP), Palm (Nasdaq:PALM) and Colony Bankcorp (Nasdaq:CBAN).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Automakers were finding out that the glow from Friday’s $13.4 billion dollar White House bailout had a short shelf-life among investors.
• Credit Suisse analysts lowered its rating on GM to “underperform” and cut their price target to $1.
• Despite the soft tone in equities, Treasury markets were relatively tame and actually were lower into the final hour of trading.
• Risk appetite on the equity side of things was also an issue today, with small caps noticeably underperforming large caps most of the day.
• Crude oil prices tumbled again today, pulled down by worries not just about the demand picture from the United States, but also from China.
• Crude oil prices lost almost 6% in U.S. trading, slipping back below $40 a barrel on the close. 

Small Cap Gainers:

• MAP Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MAPP) closed up over 20% after announcing a worldwide collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize a new drug.
• Palm (Nasdaq:PALM) gets $100 million investement, shares rallied . . .

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