Russell pushes higher on earnings, M&A deal

Small-cap stocks pushed slightly higher on the open, lifted by positive earnings news on the banking front and by fresh M&A developments. At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 2.59, or 0.37% at 695.68.

The leading indicators report, which came out at 10:00 a.m. ET, was in line with the forecast for a dip of 0.1% and had almost no immediate impact on the market. Overall, this is a very light week for economic data, but it will be a huge week for earnings results.

In what has become an ongoing trend, a major U.S. bank has posted better-than-expected earnings. This time around, the good news was from Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), as the nation’s largest retail bank topped the Street earnings forecast and jumped 7% shortly after the open. The earnings surprise follows on the heels of better-than-expected results last week from Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C).

Within the financial spectrum, government-sponsored mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) were solidly higher this morning in the wake of weekend comments from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said that he expects Congress to quickly pass his bail-out program for GSEs. Paulson also said that 99% of the nation’s banks were healthy, but that the U.S. economy could be in a period of slow growth for “a while.”

Traders will keep a close watch on crude oil price movement this morning as the market for black gold was on the rise into the stock market opening, up about $1.50 dollars a barrel near $130.50. The energy market was walking a tightrope between soft demand concerns vs. holding a weather premium as Tropical Storm Dolly . . .

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