Tag - FSP

Small-cap stocks pushed higher Tuesday, recapturing all of Monday’s decline as the market continues to gyrate in a sideways consolidation range on light holiday volume. The market started out on a firm note tied to an extension of the Treasury’s automaker bailout, and never looked back. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are: Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq:LOPE), CH Energy Group (NYSE:CHG), and Force Protection (Nasdaq:FRPT).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• For now, volume is thinned out by the holiday, and it is best not to make too much of the tame price action.  
• However, if the market starts to trade sideways for too long without managing a push through upside resistance, then it will simply look like a new lower ceiling.  
• For the most part, the sideways action is consistent with a bottoming process off the massive bear market collapse.  
• The chart picture remains stuck in a sideways consolidation pattern.  
• The market started out on a firm note tied to an extension of the Treasury’s automaker bailout, and never looked back

Small Cap Gainers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk highs: Grand Canyon Education, CH Energy Group, Force Protection, Rochester Medical and South Jersey Industries. See (Nasdaq:LOPE, NYSE:CHG, Nasdaq:FRPT, Nasdaq:ROCM, NYSE:SJI ) 
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk lows: Skilled Healthcare Group, Blue Square Israel Ltd, and Take-Two Interactive Software. (See NYSE:SKH, NYSE:BSI, Nasdaq:TTWO) 
• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• Boutique investment banking firm Evercore Partners is down 8.7% to $12.05 after Keefe Bruyette downgrade to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." See (NYSE:EVR) 

Small-cap stocks pushed higher into mid-session, lifted by gains in technology stocks, retailers, homebuilders and insurers, which more than countered weakness in commodity names. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are : Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq:LOPE), CH Energy Group (NYSE:CHG), and Force Protection (Nasdaq:FRPT).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• Retailer shares were on the rise today, with the S&P Retail Index up 2.0%.  
• Homebuilders were once again attracting buyers after several days of setbacks. The ISE Homebuilder Index was up 3.7%, handily outpacing the overall market advance.
• The best performers: commercial printers, auto parts suppliers, chemical companies, office electronics firms, wireless telecoms, motorcycle manufacturers, life health insurers and tire companies.  
• A better-than-expected showing on Midwest manufacturing kept all the fresh economic news from being awful, and even that number was still historically low. 
• The market was able to weather another batch of troubling data on the economy, with home prices generating the largest decline on record and consumer confidence sinking to a record low.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk highs: Grand Canyon Education, CH Energy Group, Force Protection, Rochester Medical and South Jersey Industries. See (Nasdaq:LOPE, NYSE:CHG, Nasdaq:FRPT, Nasdaq:ROCM, NYSE:SJI ) 
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk lows: Skilled Healthcare Group, Blue Square Israel Ltd, and Take-Two Interactive Software. (See NYSE:SKH, NYSE:BSI, Nasdaq:TTWO) 
• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• Boutique investment banking firm Evercore Partners is down 8.7% to $12.05 after Keefe Bruyette downgrade to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." See (NYSE:EVR) 

Small-cap stocks pushed higher in early trading, lifted by news that General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) will receive an additional $6 billion in rescue funds, including a $5-billion stake in the financing arm, GMAC. In other developments, a better-than-feared reading on Midwest manufacturing helped soothe the pain from a weak consumer confidence figure. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are Savient Pharma (Nasdaq:SVNT), Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSE:FSP), and Elizabeth Arden Inc. (Nasdaq:RDEN).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• Even though crude oil prices were lower, commodities in general were holding together fairly well, underpinned by a drop in the U.S. dollar against the euro. 
• The Consumer Confidence report came in at 38.0, which was below the forecast of 45.2. Today’s reading marked a record low for consumer confidence as unemployment is on the rise.  
• The Chicago Purchasing Manager’s Survey came in at 34.1, which was better than the forecast and which marked the first rise since August.  
• The Case-Shiller Home Price Index came in at minus 18% in October vs. year-ago levels, which reflects a record annual price decline. However, traders noted the data is dated.  

Small Cap Gainers:

• Savient Pharma is up 11% to $5.47 after news late Mon. that the FDA is giving fast review to its gout drug. See (Nasdaq:SVNT)  
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  
• AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. is up 8.8% in pre-market, to $12.19. See (Nasdaq:AFSI)


Small Cap Losers:

• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• The Finish Line, Inc. is one of the biggest small-cap losers in pre-market trading this morning, down 6.7% to $5.00. See (Nasdaq:FINL)
• Auto supplier Gentex is down 4% in pre-market trading to $7.99 a share. See (Nasdaq:GNTX)  

FirstCity Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:FCFC), Naugatuck Valley Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:NVSL) and West Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq:WTBA) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Franklin Street Properties Corp. (Nasdaq:FSP), NetScout Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:NTCT), American Commercial Lines Inc. (Nasdaq:ACLI), Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:PGC), Citizens & Northern Corp. (Nasdaq:CZNC) and Lawson Products Inc. (Nasdaq:LAWS).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

Small-cap stocks are treading higher in afternoon trading, boosted by healthy earnings on the banking front and mergers and acquisitions news. At 2:07 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 2.96, or 0.43%, at 696.04. As oil prices rose and two pharmaceutical blue chips delayed reporting their quarterly results, the broader market was down in afternoon trading. The Dow lost 36.88, or 0.32%, to 11,459.69.

The leading indicators report, which came out at 10:00 a.m. ET, was in line with the forecast for a dip of 0.1% and had almost no immediate impact on the market. Overall, this is a very light week for economic data, but it will be a huge week for earnings results.

Pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE:SGP) delayed releasing their second-quarter earnings until after the closing to let researchers report results from a study of a cholesterol drug marketed by the two companies in a joint venture.

In what has become an ongoing trend, a major U.S. bank has posted better-than-expected earnings. This time around, the good news was from Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), as the nation’s largest retail bank topped the Street earnings forecast and jumped 7% in the afternoon session. The earnings surprise follows on the heels of better-than-expected results last week from Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC), JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C).

Within the financial spectrum, government-sponsored mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) were solidly higher this morning in the wake of weekend comments from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said that he expects Congress to quickly pass his bail-out program for GSEs. Paulson . . .

Arthrocare Corp (Nasdaq:ARTC), Charlotte Russe Holding Inc (Nasdaq:CHIC) and City Bank (Nasdaq:CTBK) are among the biggest percentage losers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Franklin Street Properties Corp (Nasdaq:FSP), Astec Industries Inc (Nasdaq:ASTE), Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc (Nasdaq:PNFP), Royal Bank Pennsyl Inc (Nasdaq:RBPAA), Newcastle Invest Corp(Nasdaq:NCT) and GTSI Corp (Nasdaq:GTSI).

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

Real estate investment trust Franklin Street Properties Corp. (AMEX:FSP) is off 10% today after the company declared a quarterly dividend that was 39% lower than its previous quarterly dividend. The quarterly dividend is $0.19 per common share, payable on Aug. 20 to shareholders of record as of July 31.

“A significant slowing of activity in, and lower profit contribution from, [Franklin Street Properties’] two transactional businesses, investment banking and property dispositions, has occurred since the onset of the 'credit crunch' and its associated complications for real estate and the broader capital markets,” said George Carter, president and CEO, in a statement. “The downturn in these two businesses began in the third quarter of 2007; and, to date, neither one has shown any near-term visibility for a sustained upturn.”

In today’s trading, the Wakefield, Mass.-based company is at $12.97, down $1.30 from Friday’s close.