Tag - NASDAQGS:SOHU

Small-cap stocks tumbled to fresh move lows early Monday, slipping to the lowest point on intraday charts since August 2003, but mounted a nice recovery rally on a stronger-than-forecast new home sales release. The early decline was fueled by steep losses in global equity trading overnight, which underscored fear of a global growth slowdown. Today’s small-cap gainers are Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq:PENN), Pilgrim’s Pride (NYSE:PPC) and ATP Oil & Gas (Nasdaq:ATPG).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Commodities in general were taking a hit this morning, pulled down by a strong tone in the U.S. dollar, which rose to the highest point versus the euro since April 2006.  
• Small caps tumbled to fresh move lows early Monday, slipping to the lowest point on intraday charts since August 2003, but mounted a nice recovery on a stronger-than-forecast new home sales release.
• Looking at the chart picture, if the Russell quickly cascades through Friday’s low this morning, then it opens the door to another leg down.  
• The strong dollar and fears of a global recession took a toll on commodities, with crude oil down more than $2 a barrel.  
• Global stock markets were on fire sale, with Japan’s Nikkei sinking 6% to the lowest close since 1982, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index collapsed 12.7%, the largest 1-day drop in 9 years.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Penn National Gaming up 12% after Q3 EPS vaulted on settlement payment, raises 2008 earnings guidance. See (Nasdaq:PENN).  
• Pilgrim's Pride gets extension on temporary waiver under its credit facilities through November 26, up 11%. See (NYSE:PPC).
• ATP Oil & Gas to buyback 10% of shares outstanding, shares gain 11%.
See (Nasdaq:ATPG).
• Sohu.com posts Q3 above the Street, guides Q4 above estimates, initiates $150M share repurchase program. See (Nasdaq:SOHU).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Natures Sunshine Products Inc. is down 36%, gapping lower, but on light volume. See (Nasdaq:NATR).  
• Timken sinks 30% on no fresh news. See (NYSE:TKR).
• Bolt Technology skids 28% on no fresh news. See (Nasdaq:BOLT)
• Seanergy Maritime Corp. is off about 27%, also on a light volume opening slide. See (Nasdaq:SHIP).  
• Ariba slides 20% despite an upgrade by Cowen and actions to streamline its sourcing and contract management processes. (Nasdaq:ARBA).   

There have been graduations and degradations, but the results are in. Russell Investments has reconstituted its small-cap Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) index.

In an effort to maintain true representation of global equity markets and ensure changes in the market are accurately reflected, Russell Investments annually rebalances all of its indices, including the Russell 2000.

Through all the shuffling, health care saw the most action on the upside. Fifty-three health-care companies were invited to join the small-cap index, while 30 companies were ousted according to the Associated Press.

Biomarin Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq:BMRN), Hologic Inc. (Nasdaq:HOLX), Illumina Inc. (Nasdaq:ILMN), Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. (AMEX:IMA) and Perrigo Co. (Nasdaq:PRGO) graduated to the Russell 1000, Russell’s large-cap index, from the Russell 2000. PDL BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq:PDLI), on the other hand, slid to the Russell 2000 from the Russell 1000.

Following the health care sector, the technology and consumer discretionary sectors saw the most additions to the Russell, while consumer discretionary also saw the most deletions, unsurprising with the strapped consumer.

Thirty-seven technology companies were added, while 24 were jettisoned. Ansys Inc. (Nasdaq:ANSS), Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq:EQIX), Flir Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:FLIR), Nuance Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:NUAN), On Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:ONNN) and SAIC Inc. (NYSE:SAI) climbed to the Russell 1000 from the Russell 2000. Acxiom Corp. (Nasdaq:ACXM), Riverbed Technology Inc. (Nasdaq:RVBD), Sanmina-SCI Corp. (Nasdaq:SANM) and Verifone . . .