Tag - B

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) managed to end Monday in the green, rising 1.28% at closing. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were TransGlobe Energy Corporation (NYSE:TGA), RXi Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:EAT) and Anaren Inc. (Nasdaq:ANEN).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Existing home sales came in at an annual rate of 4.74M units, above the forecast of 4.4M. Sales were up 6.5%, compared with a slide of 9.4% in Nov.
• Leading indicators came in at +0.3%, better than the projection for -0.3%. This marked the first rise in leading indicators since June 2008.
• For the New Year, the Russell is now down 9.9%, while the Dow is off 7.5% and the S&P 500 is down 7.3%.
• Commodities in general rose slightly on the day, with the Commodity Research Bureau Index up 0.6%. 
• The biggest percentage movers today were dominated by small banks and financial institutions (the KBW Banking Index tumbled 1.7%). 
• Looking at the chart picture for small caps, the market is basically waffling up and down in the range set on Obama’s inauguration day.
• The market will get more information on the housing sector via Thursday’s . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) has reversed and shed its morning gains. At 1:08 p.m. ET, the small-cap index had dropped 3.69 points, or 0.54%, to 678.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) was off 72.54 points, or 0.59%, to 12,320.12.

Small caps lost ground and slipped into the red at about 12 p.m. ET as the morning’s bullish sentiment evaporated. There’s no readily apparent reason for the reversal.

Stocks opened in the green on news that Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) saw a decline in fiscal first-quarter profit but still beat expectations. That’s good news for investors worried that the pain that from Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) could spread to other investment banks.

Meanwhile, shares of credit card company Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) debuted today with a rise of over 30%.