Tag - MDS

Small-cap stocks remained higher into the midday time frame, but the market did pull back well off the morning highs. A White House lifeline to automakers lifted market sentiment, and tech stocks were solid performers, helping to counter declines in retail and some commodity names, but the morning rise appeared to be on precarious footing heading into afternoon trading. At 12:28 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 7.17, or 1.50%, at 486.34.

Looking at S&P sector activity, the best performers were industrial real estate investment trusts (REITS), automobile manufacturers, IT consulting firms, gas utilities companies, managed health care firms, home entertainment software — and interestingly, oil exploration, oil production, and oil equipment and services firms. In fact, energy stocks were actually up about 1% at midday, even though crude oil prices were down about $0.70 a barrel and tumbled to fresh 4 ½-year lows earlier today.

The market could be vulnerable to a “buy-the-rumor, sell-the-fact” response to the automaker bailout now that the aid package is a known event. The UAW (autoworkers union) has already asked President-elect Obama to step in and address “unfair” terms within the bailout package.

Looking again at sector activity, the poorest performing groups included forest products, steel companies, home improvement retailers, footwear manufacturers, department stores and apparel and accessories firms. The S&P Retail Index was off 2.2%. This is supposed to be the busiest shopping weekend of the year, but it will take a miracle to put a nice pretty Christmas bow on this recession-year . . .

Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc. (Nasdaq: MFLX), BioSphere Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: BSMD) and 1st Independence Financial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FIFG) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage gainers: