Tag - Bpsg

After staying positive through most of Thursday’s trading, small caps eventually tumbled at closing. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were CTC Media (Nasdaq:CTCM), Cogent Communications (Nasdaq:CCOI) and Broadpoint Securities (Nasdaq:BPSG).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed down 8.49, or 2.11%, to 392.95. The Down closed down 1.22% to 7,182.08, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.58% to 752.83.
• For the year, the Russell is now down 21.32%, the Dow is down 18.17% and the S&P 500 is down 16.65%. 
• President Obama's budget proposal was sent to Congress today and projects that the government's deficit for this year will jump to $1.75 trillion
• Today the Commerce Department reported that orders for big-ticket goods plunged by a bigger-than-expected 5.2% in January as global economic troubles cut into demand from U.S., global customers. The report shows that orders have fallen for six straight months.
• New-home sales numbers fell to a record low pace — 10.2% — in Jan. to 309,000. This is the worst number on record since 1963. Prior to the release, the all-time low had been set in Sept. 1981.
• In other data out this morning, the Labor Dept. said continuing jobless claims hit a new record in the second week of Feb., increasing 114,000 to 5.113M. The forecast was for 5M. 
• In overnight news, Swiss banking giant UBS AG has announced it will replace its chief executive.
• Health care stocks led the market lower Thursday after the White House mulls cutting payments to private insurance plans.
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said today that U.S. banks lost . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) posted a decline as investors consolidated their positions following Tuesday’s big rally. The small-cap index declined 17.80 points, or 2.61%, to 664.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) lost 293 points, or 2.36%, to 12,099.66.

On a year-to-date basis, the Russell 2000 has shed 13.30%, while the Dow is down 8.78% and the S&P 500 has let go 11.57%.

Small-cap stocks opened in the green but lost steam and reversed midway through the session. The bullish sentiment in the morning was partially attributed to news that Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) beat analysts’ expectations despite reporting a decline in fiscal first-quarter profit.

That’s good news for investors worried that the pain that from Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) could spread to other investment banks.