Tag - Chg

Small-cap stocks remained higher into midday trading, with retailer, airline and technology shares leading the way in quiet pre-holiday activity. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are: National CineMedia Inc. (Nasdaq:LOPE), Synta Pharma (NYSE:CHG), and Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd.(NYSE:GNK).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• Advancers are leading decliners on the Russell 2000 by 1,261 to 496. Nearly 60 companies are unchanged.   Dec 31, 2008 11:17am
• Small-caps edged higher in early trading, lifted in very light pre-holiday activity by the bullish surprise on weekly claims and mild support from gains in overseas trading.   Dec 31, 2008 10:02am
• The Russell 2000 chart reflects a market stuck in a consolidation range, but the quick bounce off key short-term support near 461 was a promising development.   Dec 31, 2008 8:45am
• Stock index futures had a brief, mild upside pop on the claims report, but the move seemed muted relative to the surprise element of the news.

Small Cap Gainers:

•In-theater advertising seller National CineMedia Inc. is up 12% to $10.11. (See Nasdaq:NCMI)  
•Synta Pharma continued to rise after Tuesday's announcement that it entered into a pact with Roche. Shares are up 13% to $6.45. (See Nasdaq:SNTA) 
• Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. is up 16.4% to $14.72. On Tuesday the company said it has taken delivery of a new ship chartered by Cargill International. (See NYSE:GNK)

Small Cap Losers:

• Nalco Holding Co. is down 20% to $11.21 after topping the list of biggest percentage gainers on the NYSE at the close Tuesday. (See NYSE:NLC)
• VeriFone Holdings is down 10% to $5.02. After Tuesday's close, the company said it will file its annual report with the SEC late as it assesses changes. (See NYSE:PAY)
• Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp. is down 8% to $26.27 after reporting late Tuesday it is likely to take a material impairment charge in Q4. (See NYSE:PGC)
• Ceradyne Inc. is down 5.7% to $19.43 after Morgan Joseph downgraded the technical ceramics products maker to "Hold" from "Buy." (See NYSE:CRDN)  

Small-cap stocks pushed higher Tuesday, recapturing all of Monday’s decline as the market continues to gyrate in a sideways consolidation range on light holiday volume. The market started out on a firm note tied to an extension of the Treasury’s automaker bailout, and never looked back. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are: Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq:LOPE), CH Energy Group (NYSE:CHG), and Force Protection (Nasdaq:FRPT).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• For now, volume is thinned out by the holiday, and it is best not to make too much of the tame price action.  
• However, if the market starts to trade sideways for too long without managing a push through upside resistance, then it will simply look like a new lower ceiling.  
• For the most part, the sideways action is consistent with a bottoming process off the massive bear market collapse.  
• The chart picture remains stuck in a sideways consolidation pattern.  
• The market started out on a firm note tied to an extension of the Treasury’s automaker bailout, and never looked back

Small Cap Gainers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk highs: Grand Canyon Education, CH Energy Group, Force Protection, Rochester Medical and South Jersey Industries. See (Nasdaq:LOPE, NYSE:CHG, Nasdaq:FRPT, Nasdaq:ROCM, NYSE:SJI ) 
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk lows: Skilled Healthcare Group, Blue Square Israel Ltd, and Take-Two Interactive Software. (See NYSE:SKH, NYSE:BSI, Nasdaq:TTWO) 
• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• Boutique investment banking firm Evercore Partners is down 8.7% to $12.05 after Keefe Bruyette downgrade to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." See (NYSE:EVR) 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq:OPTR), Ocwen Financial Corp (Nasdaq:OCN) and Force Protection Inc (Nasdaq:FRPT) are among the new 52-week highs in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: CH Energy Group Inc (Nasdaq:CHG), Benjamin Franklin Bancorp Inc (Nasdaq:BFBC), Rochester Medical Corp (Nasdaq:ROCM), SXC Health Solutions Corp (Nasdaq:SXCI), Grand Canyon Education Inc (Nasdaq:LOPE) and Shenandoah Telecommunications Co (Nasdaq:SHEN).

Small-cap stocks pushed higher into mid-session, lifted by gains in technology stocks, retailers, homebuilders and insurers, which more than countered weakness in commodity names. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are : Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq:LOPE), CH Energy Group (NYSE:CHG), and Force Protection (Nasdaq:FRPT).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• Retailer shares were on the rise today, with the S&P Retail Index up 2.0%.  
• Homebuilders were once again attracting buyers after several days of setbacks. The ISE Homebuilder Index was up 3.7%, handily outpacing the overall market advance.
• The best performers: commercial printers, auto parts suppliers, chemical companies, office electronics firms, wireless telecoms, motorcycle manufacturers, life health insurers and tire companies.  
• A better-than-expected showing on Midwest manufacturing kept all the fresh economic news from being awful, and even that number was still historically low. 
• The market was able to weather another batch of troubling data on the economy, with home prices generating the largest decline on record and consumer confidence sinking to a record low.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk highs: Grand Canyon Education, CH Energy Group, Force Protection, Rochester Medical and South Jersey Industries. See (Nasdaq:LOPE, NYSE:CHG, Nasdaq:FRPT, Nasdaq:ROCM, NYSE:SJI ) 
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk lows: Skilled Healthcare Group, Blue Square Israel Ltd, and Take-Two Interactive Software. (See NYSE:SKH, NYSE:BSI, Nasdaq:TTWO) 
• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• Boutique investment banking firm Evercore Partners is down 8.7% to $12.05 after Keefe Bruyette downgrade to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." See (NYSE:EVR) 

Grand Canyon Education Inc (Nasdaq:LOPE), Media & Entertainment Holdings  (Nasdaq:TVH) and CH Energy Group Inc (Nasdaq:CHG) are among the new 52-week highs in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Small-cap stocks edged lower a relatively quiet opening, as jitters about the financial arena and rising crude oil prices were countered by decent earnings news. At 10:00 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 3.71, or 0.52%, at 706.63.

Federal regulators seized a couple of small banks over the weekend, which cast a modest negative pall over the financial sector this morning. The FDIC took over the First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank NA of California and sold the banks to Mutual Omaha Bank. Small banks dominated the list of largest percentage losers on the Nasdaq Exchange early this morning.

Concerns about the health of the financial system pulled down the U.S. dollar, which was off about 0.2% against the euro and 0.1% versus the yen. Treasury prices also were on a bid on the bank failure news, but volume was light.

Crude oil prices were pushing higher early this morning, buoyed by reports of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria and a fire at a Kuwait refinery. Crude prices on the NYMEX were up nearly 1% in the morning trade, approaching $124.50 dollars a barrel.

While the crude oil pop and the bank failures were negative elements in play this morning for equities, the news didn’t exactly spark a firestorm of selling in stocks, and investors appeared to be waiting for a stronger directional bias to emerge.

It is a big week for earnings, with about 118 of the S&P 500 slated to report quarterly results. One of the key names this morning was Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT), as the maker of Oreo cookies beat the forecast and was up about 2.5% shortly after the open.

One of the biggest percentage movers among large-caps this morning was Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq:AMGN), which jumped nearly 15% on news that a trial for an osteoporosis drug went well. Also, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. announced plans for an IPO, which suggested to some that the market . . .

CH Energy Group (NYSE: CHG) today lowered its 2007 full-year earnings guidance due to a lower earnings contribution from the company’s Griffith fuel distribution subsidiary and higher corn prices coupled with lower ethanol prices.

The Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based company said it now forecasts earnings between $2.50 and $2.70 per share, down from the previously forecasted range of $2.55 and $2.80.

With regard to the Griffith fuel distribution subsidiary, the small cap said earnings contributions were depressed by $0.05 as the result of unusually warm weather at the beginning of the current heating season. Specifically, CH Energy said it lowered its estimate to between $0.20 and $0.25 per share from $0.25 and $0.30 per share.

Additionally, corn prices and lower ethanol prices have caused CH Energy to lower its earnings expectations for its Cornhusker Energy Lexington plant. The firm now expects earnings for this unit to range between $0.40 and $0.45 per share, down from previously forecasted $0.40 and $0.50 per share.

The small cap also noted that 2007 earnings expectations for its regulated utility Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation remain unchanged at between $1.90 and $2 per share.

Shares of CH Energy Group (CHG) were halted in pre-market trading.

CH Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CHG) shares are down after the utilities holding company reported third-quarter net income of $4.33 million, or $0.27 per share, below analyst estimates of $0.28 per share and down 61% from $10.97 million, or $0.70 per share, a year earlier.

During 2006, the Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based company’s third quarter included benefits from changes in regulatory provisions, one-time and unusual items of $0.31 per share.

The firm’s quarterly operating revenues grew to $260.12 million, below Wall Street projections of $270.98 million and from $239.82 million during the same period of 2006.

Despite the quarterly profit decline, CH Energy maintains its fiscal year outlook of income in the range of $2.55 to $2.80 per share, compared with Wall Street estimates of $2.64 per share. Last year, the company earned $2.73 per share.

In afternoon trading, CHG shares are down 1.93%, or $0.92, at $46.72. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have ranged from $42.85 to $54.92.