Tag - AGO

Assured Guaranty Ltd (Nasdaq:AGO), Photronics Inc (Nasdaq:PLAB) and Royal Bank Pennsyl Inc (Nasdaq:RBPAA) are among the new 52-week lows in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Here are the new 52-week lows among small caps:

After a rocky morning for small caps, stocks edged higher, lifted by plunging crude prices and gains in consumer and retail companies. At 12:46 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 8.85, or 1.27%, at 706.48.

The price of crude oil sank $5 per barrel to $126 at mid-session to a six-week low. Weather forecasts predicted Tropical Storm Dolly will likely miss oil fields and refineries along the Gulf Coast. Previous reports warned the storm would come close to the area, possibly disrupting oil production.

Airline companies jumped on the news with Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE:CAL) and JetBlue Airways Corporation (Nasdaq:JBLU) soaring more than 20% as the fuel costs showed the first signs of decreasing.

Financial stocks took a hit today after the Congressional Budget Office said it could cost the government as much as $25 billion to help troubled Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE). Congress will vote this week on whether Fannie and Freddie will receive government assistance. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today that action must be taken to boost consumer confidence while strengthening the housing market.

Mortgage losses brought down Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB), which posted an unexpected second-quarter loss today of $8.9 billion and announced plans to eliminate 6,350 workers. Investors took solace in the fact that $6.1 billion of that was from a goodwill impairment charge.

Among broad market sectors on the rise are airline transportation; recreational activities; accident and health insurance; and home improvement retailers. Heading downward are coal; oil and gas operations; computer hardware; and computer storage devices.

Small caps leading the pack include Bluegreen Corporation (NYSE:BXG), which is up 90% today’s trading after announcing ahead of the opening its plans . . .

“We are concerned by Moody's announcement at a time when Assured is experiencing broad market acceptance and investor demand for our insured paper,” said Dominic Frederico, president and CEO, in a statement. “We believe it is important for investors to know that Moody's action is not at all reflective of a deterioration in Assured's capital base, credit exposures or earnings outlook.”

In today’s trading, shares of Assured Guaranty are at $9.61 at 10:22 a.m. ET, down $9.14 from Monday’s close. Trading volume is at more than 10.7 million shares, well above the average of 2.7 million shares.

Small-cap stocks pushed lower on the opening, but edged back into the green about 30 minutes after the open as a slide in tech stocks and a turn for the worse for key financial shares was offset by money moving into small-cap commodity and consumer stocks. At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 3.43, or 0.49%, at 694.20.

The tech-laden Nasdaq index bore the brunt of early selling interest, fueled by disappointing earnings results from benchmark companies like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN), which were off 9% and 15% shortly after the open. Also, Vodafone Group (NYSE:VOD) slumped 13% as the mighty European-based mobile phone company lowered its outlook.

Within the financial arena, Wachovia Corp. (NYSE:WB) shed 10% early, snapping a run of positive surprises in the banking sector from recent days. WB, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, posted disappointing earnings, slashed dividends and announced sizable job cuts. Also, American Express (NYSE:AXP) was down 10% after missing the Street’s forecast, which triggered some analyst downgrades and a widening of credit default swap spreads (meaning it costs more to protect debt on the firm).

Comments this morning from Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser had a decidedly hawkish tone and pulled down interest rate futures while supporting the U.S. dollar, but his remarks seemed to have a muted impact on stocks. Plosser said that “we will need to reverse course” on the policy front, and that the inflation picture is getting worse. Plosser is seen as one of the more hawkish members of the Fed and there seems to be a growing divide between policy members lately.

Goldman Sachs analyst Ed McKelvey addressed that very topic in a research report this morning titled “Mixed Messages from the Fed: Listen to Bernanke First.” Goldman’s McKelvey said that not all Fed officials are created equal and that the Bernanke Fed allows more dissent than typical policy boards. More importantly, the . . .