Tag - HT

Small-cap stocks opened lower, tugged down by a sobering picture of the jobs situation in the United States after the monthly employment report showed a staggering number of jobs have been lost in November. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are Liquidity Services Inc.  (Nasdaq:LQDT), Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE:ABG) and FairPoint Communications (Nasdaq:FRP).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• With crude oil prices wobbling and the jobs picture darkening, energy shares were in retreat mode early today.  
• Overnight, India, the second-largest country on the planet in terms of population, announced their first price reduction for gas prices in two years.  
• Worries about demand destruction amid a global recession continue to pummel energy prices.
• Data this morning revealed that job losses in Canada climbed to the highest point in 26 years.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Liquidity Services Inc. rose 11% as the online auction company received an earnings-tied boost. See (Nasdaq:LQDT).   
• Asbury Automotive Group up 10% on very light volume. See (NYSE:ABG).  
• FairPoint Communications up 5% after declaring fourth-quarter dividend. See (NYSE:FRP).
• Hersha Hospitality Trust announces fourth-quarter dividends. See (NYSE:HT).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Movado shares drop 14% after Q3 earnings drop 41%. See (NYSE:MOV).  
• Berry Petroleum Company down 25% as energy is getting pummeled today. See (NYSE:BRY). 
•  International Coal Group also feeling the heat today with other energy stocks; shares are down 20% near a 52-week low of $1.50. See (NYSE:ICO).  
• Orbitz Worldwide falls 13% as online travel sites slump on lower traffic. See (NYSE:OWW).  

Small-cap stocks turned lower in choppy trade, unable to sustain buying enthusiasm from Tuesday’s dramatic surge as crude oil prices pushed higher overnight, sparking profit-taking from hot money traders who caught the bounce. At 9:54 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 3.80, or 0.56%, at 678.92.

Crude oil futures bounced nearly $2 dollars a barrel to about $138 dollars heading into the stock market open. Energy markets were lifted by reports that Iran test fired missiles to show that they would retaliate if Israel attacks their nuclear production facilities.

Losses were limited by gains in overseas equities trading. Hong Kong stocks rallied 2.7%, China was up 3.9%, Australia up 1.6%, India shares jumped 4.6% and Singapore markets were up 1%, catching up with the big move in U.S. equities from Tuesday.

Earlier this morning, the MBA Mortgage Applications Survey rose 7.5% in the latest weekly period, the second consecutive weekly advance. However, this data series can be volatile, and the total level of mortgage applications are still 18% below last year’s figures. The purchase index on the report rose 6.7%, but is also down 19.4% from 2007. The release of the numbers ahead of the open appeared to have very little immediate trading impact on after-hours stock index markets.

The official start of the earnings season kicked off in fine fettle as Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) rose more than 4% on the open this morning after quarterly results came in better than expected, and helped calm pre-earnings season angst about profits. Other large caps in the news included Nucor Corp. (NYSE:NUE), which jumped nearly 5% early following an analyst upgrade. Airlines were soft this morning with . . .