Tag - EPEX

Small-cap stocks pushed higher in morning trade, carried on the wings of a renewed rally in the U.S. dollar and a slide in global commodities — particularly crude oil. At 9:59 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 5.24, or 0.69%, at 759.62; the morning peak in the Russell marked the highest intraday price since Jan. 2.

Small-cap stocks are on the verge of posting the highest weekly close of 2008, a remarkable achievement considering the Dow and S&P 500 are still suffering losses in the 11% range so far this year. Any close today above 747.38 would do the trick. If the Russell were to really catch fire today and push above 766.03, then small caps would actually be in positive territory for the year. The reason it takes a big leap from current yearly high weekly closing levels to positive territory is because the market got hammered the very first trading day of the year and also fell hard when staking the June peak.

Back to the big news today — the U.S. dollar stormed to fresh move highs overnight against both the euro and the Japanese yen, climbing about 0.6% versus both currency markets. The strong upside push in the greenback clearly had a bearish impact on commodities, most notably the crude oil market. Crude oil tumbled some $2 dollars a barrel back below $113 and was hovering just above three-month lows early this morning. The story in commodities wasn’t just an energy tale, however; palladium was down 5% this morning, cocoa was off 2.5%, sugar was down 2.2%, copper tumbled 2.7% in London trading and aluminum prices hit a six-month low. The recent collapse in commodities markets (the Commodity Research Bureau Index has tumbled 17% from the July high) has provided some relief on the inflation front and bolstered investor psychology that consumer spending won’t be crushed by higher gasoline and food prices.

In addition to the dollar/commodities theme, the market also got some bright news this morning on the manufacturing front. The NY Manufacturing Survey came out at plus 2.77, which was much stronger than the forecast for minus 4.4, and marked the first positive reading since April. This survey is for August and marks one of the earliest manufacturing reports of the month, setting a positive tone going forward. When the NY report came out ahead of the opening, stock index futures and the . . .

Small-cap stocks closed slightly lower Tuesday, but did stage an impressive bounce off four-month lows. A massive slide in crude oil prices helped offset sluggish economic data, ongoing concerns about financial systemic risk and an overseas rout in equities that underscored a lack of confidence in U.S. instruments and sparked a historic slide in the U.S. dollar. At the end of a tumultuous session, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) fell 2.15, or 0.32%, to 662.35.

The dramatic recovery rally off fresh move lows in the Russell formed a decent bullish reversal pattern on daily charts while providing some immediate validation of the March bottom by showing there are investors who see value in that zone. The sudden influx of volatility also fits with bottoming action that was forged back in January and March when the market started to trade in frantic fashion, whipsawing both longs and shorts. Just how wild was today’s session in small caps? Some of the most astounding days of the last 12 months saw the Russell trade in a 20-handle range. Today’s range was more than 26 handles; the last time we saw sessions this crazy at major turning points was back in mid-March at the lows and back in late January (also at the lows).

Once again, small caps paced the rally over the Dow and S&P 500, which is a little bit of a caution sign since the Dow/Russell spread has been collapsing during the big overall market decline off the June highs. However, small caps weren’t the only leaders today as tech stocks were mildly firm, with the Nasdaq up slightly. Also, there was some rotation into the buy-side on pharmaceuticals, with the AMEX Pharmaceuticals Index rising 1.1%.

Crude oil futures collapsed some $6 dollars a barrel, the largest one-day decline in 17 years. In an interesting twist, crude oil traders blamed the slide on worries about the U.S. economy and the fragile stock market, while stock market traders pointed to the collapse in crude oil prices as the primary motivator for today’s recovery. “Regardless of which side is wagging the dog’s tail, the market is doing what it needs . . .

Small caps have been on a rollercoaster ride in Tuesday’s trading, falling in morning trading on soft economic data, a global rout in equities and a record-low U.S. dollar, but rebounding in afternoon trading after crude oil plunged more than $8. Continuing worries over the health of the American economy prompted a widespread sell-off in stocks, which sent oil dropping. At 1:10 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 6.5, or 0.98%, at 671.

In a highly volatile session, crude oil has fallen $8.14 from its intraday high to $137.04 a barrel in recent trading.

In testimony this morning, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the U.S. economy is faced with "numerous difficulties.” Bernanke’s comments came on the heels of the Fed and Treasury’s announcement that it would financially support Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) if necessary. The Fed chairman said that the financial markets remain under “considerable stress” and that consumer spending was likely to be “restrained” in coming quarters.

On the inflation front, the PPI headline figure came in at plus 1.8%, which was well ahead of the forecast for a rise of 1.3% and the year-over-year figure was a sobering plus 9.2%, the largest rise since June 1981. On the consumer spending ledger, the news was also dour, with June retail sales up just 0.1%, well down from the median forecast for a rise of 0.4% as car sales notched their biggest drop in more than two years. Even when excluding autos, June sales were up just 0.8%, which also missed the forecast for a rise of 1%.

Retail sales in May were strong, and although this month’s figure missed the estimate, it was still a decent number. The problem is that May and June sales were temporarily boosted by government stimulus checks and the strength is seen as temporary from most analysts. “Despite recent strength, consumers are slowly and grudgingly succumbing to job losses, high energy prices, the housing meltdown and the financial market turmoil,” Steven Wood, chief economist with Insight Economics, said in an email.

The U.S. dollar was dumped en masse as global investors elected to steer clear of financial uncertainty. The greenback has recovered some losses during . . .

Edge Petroleum Corp (Nasdaq:EPEX), CSG Systems International Inc (Nasdaq:CSGS) and Coldwater Creek Inc (Nasdaq:CWTR) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: FCStone Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCSX), Dycom Industries Inc (Nasdaq:DY), United Community Banks Inc (Nasdaq:UCBI), City Bank (Nasdaq:CTBK), Ardea Biosciences Inc (Nasdaq:RDEA) and Apex Silver Mines Ltd (Nasdaq:SIL).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

Edge Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq:EPEX) is up 16% today after announcing Chaparral Energy Inc. would purchase the company in an all-stock transaction. Chaparral will become a publicly traded company after the merger is finalized. Houston-based Edge and Oklahoma City-based Chaparral are both oil and natural gas producing companies. Under the terms of the deal, Chaparral stockholders would own 86% of the combined company and Edge stockholders would make up the remaining 14%.

In today’s trading, Edge Petroleum is at $5.43 at 10:46 a.m. ET, up $0.74 from Monday’s close. During the past year, the company’s shares have ranged from $3.75 to $15.20.

Small-cap stocks fell hard this morning, pulled down by soft economic data, a global rout in equities, record lows in the U.S. dollar and a sobering outlook from central bank leaders. At 10:02 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 13.92, or 2.09%, at 650.59, the lowest level seen since March.

In Senate testimony this morning, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will address the economy and monetary policy. In a release of the advance text, Bernanke said that the financial markets remain under “considerable stress” and that consumer spending was likely to be “restrained” in coming quarters. The immediate response to the Bernanke text headlines was that stock markets extended the morning slide.

The stock market was already taking a beating in after-hours trading before a fresh batch of economic data came out on the weak side ahead of the opening. On the inflation front, the PPI headline figure came in at plus 1.8%, which was well ahead of the forecast for a rise of 1.3% and the year-over-year figure was a sobering plus 9.2%, the largest rise since June 1981. On the consumer spending ledger, the news was also dour, with June retail sales up just 0.1%, well down from the median forecast for a rise of 0.4% as car sales notched their biggest drop in more than two years. Even when excluding autos, June sales were up just 0.8%, which also missed the forecast for a rise of 1%.

Retail sales in May were strong, and although this month’s figure missed the estimate, it was still a decent number. The problem is that May and June sales were temporarily boosted by government stimulus checks and the strength is seen as temporary from most analysts. “Despite recent strength, consumers are slowly and grudgingly succumbing to job losses, high energy prices, the housing meltdown and the financial market turmoil,” Steven Wood, chief economist with Insight Economics, . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) is little changed this afternoon. At 2:47 p.m. ET, the small-cap index had added 2.57 points, or 0.34%, to 756.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) was up 30.24 points, or 0.23%, to 13,262.71.

The day began with news that Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) swung to a fourth-quarter loss due to $9.4 billion in mortgage-related write-downs. Like many of its peers facing similar circumstances, the New York-based financial services giant responded by saying that it will sell as much as 9.9% of itself for a cash infusion of $5 billion. In this case, help came from a Chinese sovereign fund.

Investors were apparently unsure what to make of the news, because the Russell 2000 opened with a decline but quickly moved higher, only to fall again at about 11:30 a.m. ET along with the Dow. At about 2 p.m. both indices rose again.

In other financial news, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced after the start of trading that it auctioned $20 billion in a special operation at an interest rate of 4.65%. The auction, which was held on Monday, saw 93 bidders ask for a total of $61.55 billion, a sign that commercial banks are thirsty for money to help their balance sheets and improve liquidity.

The auction was part of the Fed’s previously announced plan to alleviate the global credit squeeze with periodic lending of funds. Also participating are the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MNTA), Jones Soda Co. (Nasdaq: JSDA) and Xinhua Finance Media Ltd. (Nasdaq: XFML) are among the most actively traded companies in Tuesday pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $750 million:

Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE: OXM), Edge Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq: EPEX) and Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCE) were among the new 52-week lows established Tuesday among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million.

Here are today's 52-week small-cap lows:

Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE: OXM), Perficient, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRFT) and KMG Chemicals, Inc. (Nasdaq: KMGB) are among the biggest percentage losers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage losers:

Edge Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq: EPEX), Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVN) and China Shenghuo Pharmaceutical Hldg, Inc. (AMEX: KUN) are among the biggest percentage losers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage losers:

Shares of Edge Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq: EPEX) have fallen to a new 52-week low on news before the opening that the oil and natural gas exploration company will decrease its third-quarter production.

The production forecast for the third quarter of 2007 is being lowered to between 6.1 billion of cubic feet equivalent (bcfe) and 6.3 bcfe, the Houston-based company said. The previous projection was for production of between 6.7 billion to 7.1 bcfe.

For the entire 2007, Edge reported that it expects production of between 24.7 billion and 25.3 bcfe, compared with a previous forecast of production between 26 billion and 27 bcfe.

“We have not been able to increase our production to the levels originally forecast,” said president, chairman and CEO John Elias in a statement.

Elias blamed the shortfall on the shutdown of an oil field in Texas due to flooding and the temporary loss of production from four fields in Arkansas.

“Compounding the loss of this expected production, natural gas prices since the first quarter of 2006 have taken a divergent path from crude oil,” added Elias. “Recent spot prices for natural gas in south Texas have been as low as $5.50, as compared to crude oil in the low $80s. Given Edge’s predominate weighting towards natural gas in its reserves and production, this gas price decline has reduced the expected cash flow as compared to Edge’s original budget and plan.”

Shares of Houston-based oil and gas explorer Edge Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq: EPEX) are trading higher on news after Thursday’s close that the company expects first-quarter production to rise to record levels.  At 10:10 a.m. ET shares were up $0.21, or 1.54%, to $13.81.

Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 was down 2.68 points, or 0.32 percent, to 831.12, following news before the start of trading that U.S. GDP grew only 1.3% in the first quarter of 2007.