Small-cap stocks pushed higher in a relatively tame session, with morning pressure from concerns about sloppy sales at Wal-Mart countered by optimism for massive infrastructure spending projects in the months ahead. Perhaps the story lines simply balanced out each other, or perhaps the market was taking a little “breather” ahead of Friday’s big jobs report. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed up 4.91, or 0.99% at 502.01 and is now up 0.5% for the year; meanwhile the Dow is off 0.3% for 2009 and the S&P 500 is up 0.7%.

The day started off with a thud as the Wal-Mart worries ignited fears that if consumer spending is slack at discounters, then how bad might it be for higher-end fare? Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) reported same-store sales were up 1.7% in December, which missed the forecast for a rise of 2.8%. WMT was a drag on large-cap index products throughout the day, and eventually lost more than 7%.

There actually was plenty of movement today in the retail arena, with most stores now coming out with monthly same-store results. However, for every Wal-Mart, Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE:LTD) and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF), all of which fell on weak numbers, there was a Sears Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq:SHLD), which jumped 23%. If you owned stock in any retailers, chances are you experienced ...

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