Tag - NYSE:NNI

Stocks were up today in reversing the downward trend from the week with leadership from financials and healthcare. Most notably blue chips JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JP), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and Merck (NYSE:MRK) were up. Rounding out the leaders in financial were Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).

The Dow ended the day's trading session up 0.69% to close at 8,555 while the Nasdaq declined 0.02% and the S&P 500 saw gains, closing at 918, up 0.84%.

Small-cap bellwether Russell 2000 Index, representing the 2,000 largest small-cap stocks, closed up 0.36% to 509.

Leading small cap gainers reflected the broader push top leaders in financials including National Penn Bancshares (Nasdaq:NPBC) up 31.4%; American Capital (Nasdaq:ACAS) up 27.1%. Other gainers include Myriad Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MYRXV) up 15.7%; Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) up 30.5%; and Talbots (NYSE:TLB) up 16%.

Small-cap decliners were lead by Liz Claiborne (NYSE:LIZ) down 25.9%, on forecasts of larger than expected losses. The company gave no indication for the larger losses other than the message from all apparel companies that consumers are cutting back on what they consider nonessential purchases. Liz Claiborne reported a loss of 37 cents per share in the first quarter, excluding one-time items. Analysts had forecast 33 cent loss per share for the second quarter. No guidance was provided by the company as to what the revised forecast might be. This played into investor concerns as sellers look to unload shares as reflected in higher than normal volume.

In other news concerning Liz Claiborne, the company announced yesterday that it intends to offer $75 million in convertible senior note due 2014. It is the company's intention to use the proceeds to pay down a portion of borrowings under an amended credit facility. 

*****10 banks have paid back $68 billion in TARP loans. Including some smaller banks that have already repaid loans, the total is now over $70 billion. Even though the repaid money was raised from secondary stock offerings, which dilute shareholder value, it's still something of a positive sign, I suppose.

Now, what's going to happen to the money? Will it sit in the TARP fund? Will it be used to back other loans to small businesses?

This is an inflation issue. The money supply has increased by around $1 trillion in the last year (much of the bailout "funds" have been loan and asset guarantees that haven't increased the money supply, yet). It's the Fed's job to contract the money supply to keep price inflation in check.

This is the problem with creating money - you have to be willing to "uncreate" it at some point. With unemployment as high as it is, inflation is not yet a concern. But that will change eventually, and the Fed will have to have the resolve to contract the money supply when the economy starts showing signs of life.

As we've seen in the past, an economy that gets hooked on liquidity is very hard to wean. I personally have my doubts as to whether this Fed will be able to avoid the Greenspan legacy of allowing asset bubbles to form. So we want to be ready to profit form whatever asset bubbles arise in the future.

This is one of the topics we'll be discussing in next Wednesday's Video Conference. It's titled Inflation Busters: Discover the Stocks to Grow and Protect Your Wealth and will air on Wednesday, June 24 at 6:00 P.M. It's free to attend, you can sign up HERE

*****Stocks are trying to put an end to the sell-off that started with Monday's big decline. The S&P 500 is within a few points of its 200-day moving average. It's also less than 20 points from its 50-day moving average.

One of the simplest trend following systems focuses on the crossover of the 50-day and 200-day MA. When the 50-day MA crosses above the 200-day MA, it signals a trend change from bear to bull. When the 50-day MA falls below the 200-day MA, it signals a change from bull to bear.

So, the current trading is very significant to technical traders. The S&P 500 is flirting with a major buy signal. It should be noted that the Nasdaq flashed the moving average crossover buy signal a few days ago. I would view the moving average crossover on the S&P to be confirmation of the Nasdaq signal.

*****Jason Cimpl, technical analyst at TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts, isn't waiting. He's expecting a strong bounce and recommended 3 upside positions to his readers yesterday. One of them, the Direxion Technology Bull (NYSE:TYH), is a leveraged ETF that seeks triple the daily gains on the Russell 1000 Technology Index. That trade finished the day with a 3% gain.

Don't forget the new Daily Profit feature - Jason will give us another video chart analysis session tomorrow. In last Friday's edition he pretty much nailed this week's trading so I can't wait to see what he has to say about next week.
 
*****I'm itching to recommend a new stock to Daily Profit readers. We did pretty well with Graham Corp (AMEX:GHM) and Hovnanian (NYSE:HOV) earlier in this rally. 

I can't say I feel comfortable recommending Molecular Insight Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq:MIPI), but the story that came out yesterday is pretty darned interesting. The biotech announced that it can both detect and treat prostate cancer with its imaging agent, Trofex. And instead of the usual 5 tests including MRI and ultrasound, Molecular Insight can collect the necessary data for diagnosis within 2 hours of the Trofex injection.

The stock was up 42% to $6.24 yesterday. Of course, like most small biotechs, Molecular Insight is burning through cash like a teenager at the mall. But if this technology is viable, the stock will go a lot higher than $6.24.

Just thought you'd like to know…talk to you tomorrow.

 

 

National Penn Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq:NPBC), Nelnet Inc. (Nasdaq:NNI) and Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:MIPI) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: ChinaCast Education Corp. (Nasdaq:CAST), Wonder Auto Technology Inc. (Nasdaq:WATG), Fuel Systems Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq:FSYS), Celldex Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:CLDX), Fuqi International Inc. (Nasdaq:FUQI) and Talbots Inc. (Nasdaq:TLB).

First Financial Service Corp. (Nasdaq:FFKY), First California Financial Group Inc. (Nasdaq:FCAL) and BCB Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq:BCBP) are among the biggest percentage losers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Carrols Restaurant Group (Nasdaq:TAST), Hurco Cos Inc. (Nasdaq:HURC), Nelnet Inc. (Nasdaq:NNI), United Western Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq:UWBK), Exelixis Inc. (Nasdaq:EXEL) and Exelixis Inc. (Nasdaq:EXEL).

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. (Nasdaq:AGM), STEC Inc. (Nasdaq:STEC) and O'Charley's Inc. (Nasdaq:CHUX) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Winn Dixie Stores Inc. (Nasdaq:WINN), Nelnet Inc. (Nasdaq:NNI), Kenexa Corp. (Nasdaq:KNXA), RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq:RXII), Insight Enterprises Inc. (Nasdaq:NSIT) and Consolidated Water Co. Ltd (Nasdaq:CWCO).

Nelnet Inc. (Nasdaq:NNI), Student Loan Corp. (Nasdaq:STU) and CDI Corp. (Nasdaq:CDI) are among the biggest percentage losers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: True Religion Apparel Inc. (Nasdaq:TRLG), Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq:GDP), Kronos Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq:KRO), TAL International Group Inc. (Nasdaq:TAL), Kindred Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:KND) and Indiana Community Bancorp (Nasdaq:INCB).

Starrett LS Co. (Nasdaq:SCX), Union Bankshares Inc. (Nasdaq:UNB) and PeopleSupport Inc. (Nasdaq:PSPT) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: NewStar Financial Inc. (Nasdaq:NEWS), Oneida Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:ONFC), Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq:SNTA), CBL & Associates REIT (Nasdaq:CBL), Nelnet Inc. (Nasdaq:NNI) and Cheniere Energy Partners L P (Nasdaq:CQP).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

Small-cap stocks edged lower shortly after the opening, pulled down by weakness in the financial arena, a bounce in crude oil prices and long profit-taking following two sessions of huge gains. At 10:00 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 4.22, or 0.56%, at 746.84. The Dow was off 0.58%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.51%.

Financial stocks were back in the spotlight this morning, pulled down by a batch of fresh bearish news overnight and a spate of analyst downgrades in various big names. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Wachovia Corp. (NYSE:WB) were pressured by the auction-rate security fiasco, as WB settled a probe on the issue and lowered Q2 numbers, while MS offered to reimburse investors. It’s a painful hit to the bottom line that the number one bank Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) already has faced. In addition, Oppenheimer analysts lowered the outlook for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS). Shortly after the open, MS was down 3.0%, WB off 4.5%, C down 1.2% and GS down 3.3%. The Financial Select SPDR was down 1.9%.

The market also frowned upon a sudden recovery bounce in crude oil prices, which saw the market on black gold move from three-month lows near $113 overnight back toward the $115 zone into the stock market opening. The rise in crude was tied to news that some production and transport in the Georgia region was going to be offline, even though Russian officials have ordered an end to the military conflict.

Elsewhere on the commodity inflation front, corn futures were called lower following USDA’s August production report, which forecast a larger crop than expected. However, softs markets were climbing this morning and the iPath GSCI Total Return commodities index was up about 0.3% in early trading. After huge declines in recent days, a consolidation move or bounce in commodities certainly wouldn’t . . .

Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) is up 11% after investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. upgraded the education planning and financing company to “outperform” from “market perform.” Friedman, however, reduced its target price to $13.50 from $14. In a note to investors, Friedman analyst Matt Snowling said governmental actions designed to strengthen the student lending market should benefit Nelnet. Snowling believes the stock is trading below the intrinsic value of the company.

Spherion Corp (Nasdaq:SFN), Image Sensing Systems Inc (Nasdaq:ISNS) and Amcore Financial Inc (Nasdaq:AMFI) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: TomoTherapy Inc (Nasdaq:TOMO), HireRight Inc (Nasdaq:HIRE), Pantry Inc (Nasdaq:PTRY), Community Capital Corp (Nasdaq:CPBK), Gateway Financial Holdings Inc (Nasdaq:GBTS) and Nelnet Inc (Nasdaq:NNI).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) posted a rise on a quiet day that saw investors go bargain hunting. The small-cap index advanced 0.85 points, or 0.12%, to 699.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) climbed 57.88 points, or 0.48%, to 12,240.01.

On a year-to-date basis, the Russell 2000 has let go 8.65%, while the Dow has retreated 7.73% and the S&P 500 has declined 8.80%.

Trading began on a bearish note but the bulls returned during the second half of the session as investors took a second look at stocks that had declined for four of the past five days.

The futures were pointing up and the Russell 2000 opened in the green but stayed there only minutes, weighed down by news of more credit problems stemming from the slump in the U.S. housing sector.

Insurer American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) announced that it may have to write off billions in mortgage debt and would need to change the way it values its credit default swaps involving collateralized debt obligations.
That news hurt financials, with shares of insurance companies being among the biggest losers today.

The small-cap index dropped to its lowest levels during today’s session at about 10:20 a.m. ET, but began a choppy ascent into positive territory at about 1 p.m. ET.

With little on the economic front, news that Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) rejected a $42 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) grabbed the headlines.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is expected to make an improved offer.