Tag - Bgc

First M&F Corp. (Nasdaq:FMFC), Alto Palermo SA (Nasdaq:APSA) and General Cable Corp. (Nasdaq:BGC) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday morning's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $2 billion.

Small-cap stocks soared into mid-session trading, with financial, energy and gold stocks driving an impressive rally to provide confirmation of Friday’s big rally. The market continues to find bullish inspiration on economic advisor appointments by President-elect Obama, who announced his team today in just the second major press conference since he won the presidential vote earlier this month. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (NYSE:WBD), General Cable Corp. (NYSE:BGC) and SL Green Realty Corp.  (NYSE:SLG).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Investment banks, brokerage firms, diverse financial instruments, wireless telecoms, homebuilders, coal, real estate services all higher.  
• Gold stocks were seeing huge gains today, boosted by safe haven flows.  
• Commodities in general were a big factor in the stock market rise today, supported by a slide in the U.S. dollar against the euro.  
• Crude oil prices extended the morning rally into midday, rising some $4 a barrel, which stoked a 5% surge in energy stocks. 

Small Cap Gainers:

• Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC jumped 39% as Russia’s largest dairy company generated a huge bounce off 52-week lows set last week. See (NYSE:WBD).  
• General Cable Corp. rallied 36% as the copper, aluminum and fiber optic cable manufacturer rose off last week’s lows with the overall bounce in commodity shares today. See (NYSE:BGC).  
• SL Green Realty Corp. jumped 35% as the real estate investment trust embraced the Citigroup bail out plan, as Citigroup is the firm’s biggest tenant. See (NYSE:SLG).  
• Dress Barn last week reports increase in Q1 sales, shares are up 10% today. See (Nasdaq:DBRN).

Small Cap Losers:

• Ann Taylor swings to Q3 loss, sees tough Q4. Shares are down 8.7% near a 52-week low of $4.21, down from a 52-week high of $32.82. See (NYSE:ANN).  
• China Eastern passenger throughput down 2.72% in October; shares tumble 12%. See (NYSE:CEA).  
• Life Time Fitness down another 10% today after the small cap announced last week that it would cute 100 jobs. See (NYSE:LTM).  
• Tween Brands is down 18% following last week's announcement of a Q3 sales, earnings drop in "challenging environment." See (NYSE:TWB).

Small-cap stocks soared into mid-session trading, with financial, energy and gold stocks driving an impressive rally to provide confirmation of Friday’s big rally. The market continues to find bullish inspiration on economic advisor appointments by President-elect Obama, who announced his team today in just the second major press conference since he won the presidential vote earlier this month. At 12:27 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 16.15, or 3.97%, at 422.69, leaving the market on track for the biggest two-day gain since the Oct. 10 bounce.

Most of Obama’s key selections had already been leaked to the press, and helped fuel the rally on Friday. There is a sense among investors that the fact Obama has made these moves on his economic appointments so quickly shows that the economy is his top priority as the nation lurches through the worst financial malaise since the Great Depression. The market dipped slightly off the highs (losing about 1.5 percentage points) about 15 minutes into Obama’s press conference today when he said that he would not announce a dollar figure for his stimulus plan. There were hopes among some investors that he would announce a plan that was bigger than $700 billion.

The other big news event this morning was a government rescue package for the nation’s No. 2 bank, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C). The plan calls for $306 billion in guarantees on toxic assets and a direct cash injection of $20 billion. Citigroup shares soared some 60% on the news, providing a lift to financial stocks in general as the bailout quashes some systemic risk fears.

Crude oil prices extended the morning rally into midday as well, rising some $4 a barrel, which stoked a 5% surge in energy stocks. Commodities in general were a big factor in the stock market rise today, supported by a slide in the U.S. dollar against the euro (which makes commodities priced in dollar terms more attractive). Gold stocks . . .

North American Energy Partners Inc. (Nasdaq:NOA), Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP (Nasdaq:CLMT) and EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq:EZCH) are among the biggest percentage losers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:AMSC), Jinpan International Ltd. (Nasdaq:JST), Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. (Nasdaq:EXM), Safe Bulkers Inc. (Nasdaq:SB), Otelco Inc. (Nasdaq:OTT) and General Cable Corp. (Nasdaq:BGC).

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps: