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Small-cap stocks opened with a strong bid this morning, boosted by encouraging signs in the bank lending market, a rise in energy stocks on analyst upgrades and a perception that a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was slightly more upbeat than recent appearance. At 10:08 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 10.33, or 1.96%, at 536.76.

The initial rush of Bernanke headlines (his speech is released with a time embargo to selected media outlets before he starts talking) included a line that there were some encouraging signs in credit markets and another point that falling commodity prices will bring inflation down (which makes it more likely to see more rate cuts by the Fed).

The leading indicators report came in at 0.3%, which was quite a bit better than the forecast for a dip of 0.2%. This marked the first monthly rise on indicators since April and was clearly good news, but the report often flies under the radar and was particularly overshadowed by the Bernanke watch.

Crude oil futures were up about $1.50 a barrel, providing a lift to energy-sensitive stocks and also to commodities in general. Grains futures were called solidly higher this morning and a bounce in physical markets could provide some relief to downtrodden commodity-themed stocks.

Lost in the shuffle of the inter-bank lending dip and the Bernanke headlines today is the fact that we are deep into peak earnings now, with some one-third . . .

Small-cap stocks proved that Friday’s failure in the afterglow of the financial rescue plan was no quirk as the Russell 2000 snapped key psychological support at 600 at the same time that the Dow breached the big 10,000 benchmark. At 1:29 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 32.95, or 5.32%, at 586.45, the lowest level since May 2005.

Today’s slide has been remarkable so far not just for the severity of the decline, but also for the broad-based nature of the move. At midday, not one single broad S&P sector group was in positive territory though there were a stunning 10 groups with losses beyond 10%. While the steepest losses were tied to commodity themes, financial shares were also getting hammered with the Financial Select Sector SPDR sinking more than 5% and the PHLX KBW Banking Index down more than 7%.

The U.S. dollar was on a roll against the euro, rising to 13-month highs, but the strong dollar also makes commodities priced in dollar terms more expensive (although clearly the bigger concern was tied to demand worries amid a global downturn). The Commodity Research Bureau Index was down 3.8% at mid-session to the lowest point in more than 12 months. Corn, cotton and cattle futures all collapsed down their daily trading limits on futures markets, and the commodity most equities traders keep an eye on — crude oil — was off some $4 a barrel to some eight-month lows.

Looking at stock market sectors, oil and gas drillers were getting drilled, steel stocks were hammered, oil refinery shares were slippery, coal stocks were getting burned and even metal and mining stocks were caving in. The U.S. dollar was up more than 2% against the euro, or a stunning 289 basis points. Unfortunately, the rally in the greenback versus the euro was more a reflection of worries about the eurozone economy than strength in the U.S. market. The euro/yen currency cross was down a mind-boggling 6.2%, or some 900 bps, which borders on the absurd for . . .