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The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) rose higher at closing, outpacing many large-cap indices that slumped on weak financial and energy stocks. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were Integrated Electrical Services (Nasdaq:IESC), Blyth (NYSE:BTH) and Volt Information (NYSE:VOL).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The personal income data came in at minus 0.2%, which was slightly below the forecast for a decline of 0.3%.
• For the year, personal income was up 3.7%, which marked the smallest rise since 2003. 
• The ISM Manufacturing Survey came in at 35.6, which was a little better than the projection of 33, but still historically low.
• For the year, the Russell is down 9.9%, while the Dow is off 9.5% and the S&P 500 is down 8.6%.
• The tech-laden Nasdaq 100 advanced 1.3% on the day, with semiconductor stocks, systems software manufacturers and telecoms leading the way.
• It was interesting to see small caps diverge away from energy stocks today, as the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund fell 1.6%.
• More often than not, small caps tend to track energy trends fairly closely, partly because of all the small-cap energy firms in play.
• The U.S. dollar started out the day higher against the euro, but gave back those gains by the close. 

Small Cap Gainers:

• Integrated Electrical Services Inc. jumped 26% ahead of earnings news slated to come after Monday’s close. See (Nasdaq:IESC).
• Blyth Inc. staged an impressive bullish key reversal by making new lows for the move then storming higher on unusually brisk volume. The home fragrance . . .

Small-cap stocks turned higher in choppy trade into midday, with pressure from soft energy and financial shares countered by gains in retail and technology stocks. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were Blyth Inc. (NYSE:BTH), Volt Information Science Inc. (NYSE:VOL) and Preformed Line Products Co. (Nasdaq:PLPC).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Energy stocks were among the worst performers so far today, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund off 2%.  
• The yield on benchmark 10-year notes, which moves inverse to price, was down 2.6% as demand was solid for credit instruments.  
• Treasury markets continued to rise through mid-session trading, which may have siphoned some money away from equities.   
• Small caps turned higher in choppy trade into midday, with pressure from soft energy and financial shares countered by gains in retail and technology stocks.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Blyth Inc. jumped 29% on unusually heavy volume, recovering nicely from news lows set late last week after the home fragrance and home décor firm announced a reverse stock split. See (NYSE:BTH).  
• Volt Information Science Inc. rose 21% recovering from a wild up and down session Friday in conjunction with earnings news. See (NYSE:VOL). 
• Preformed Line Products Co. was up 18% without any apparent fresh news, as the network line maintenance company mounted a big bounce off move lows forged last week. See (Nasdaq:PLPC).  
• Inter Parfums Inc. was up 7.4% after a rocky few days of trading surrounding earnings results from late January. See (Nasdaq:IPAR). 

Small Cap Losers:

• Las Vegas Sands Corp. tumbles 12% after naming Bradley Stone as president of global operations and construction See (NYSE:LVS).  
• Signet Jewelers Ltd. tumbled 14% as the specialty jewelry retailer fell to new 52-week lows. See (NYSE:SIG). 

Small-cap stocks vacillated back and forth in positive and negative territory into the midday time frame, with support from a pocket of upbeat earnings, an optimistic outlook from major PC-maker Hewlett-Packard and strong energy shares countering a soft tone in financials, tech stocks and ongoing concerns about the fragile global economy.  Today’s small-cap gainers are DHT Maritime Inc. (NYSE:DHT), Tetra Technologies Inc. (NYSE:TTI) and Zones, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZONS). 

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The slip back below 450 raised caution flags for the Russell going into the afternoon, especially with all these wild last hour moves we’ve been seeing in stocks lately.
•  JP Morgan: Commodity prices – especially agriculture products – should outperform energy and industrial raw material products in 2009.
• The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund was up more than 2% at mid-session.  
• Energy stocks were among the best performers so far today as crude oil prices reversed overnight losses.

Small Cap Gainers:

• DHT Maritime Inc., a tanker ship operator, jumped 17% after releasing earnings numbers today. See (NYSE:DHT).  
• Tetra Technologies Inc. jumped 15% as the oil and gas services company tries to mount a comeback after sinking to fresh lows last week. See (NYSE:TTI).  
• Reseller of IT products Zones, Inc. up 8.3% after announcing merger agreement with Zones Acquisition Corp. See (Nasdaq:ZONS).
• Two Warren Resources executives buy 65,000 shares late last week; shares are up over 7% today. See (Nasdaq:WRES).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Saks slides to loss in Q3 on weak margins, charges; shares dive 24%. See (NYSE:SKS).
• Las Vegas Sands Corp. slumped 16% as the embattled casino operator hovers near record lows even though auditors recently removed doubts about the firm maintaining as a “going concern.” See (NYSE:LVS).  
• Central Vermont Public Services Corp. is down 10% following news it would announce a public stock offering. See (NYSE:CV).  
• W.R. Grace & Co. continues to slide today, making a new 52-week low of $3.30 from a 52-week high of $30. Last week the company was considering a bankruptcy reorganization plan. See (NYSE:GRA).  

Small-cap stocks vacillated back and forth in positive and negative territory into the midday time frame, with support from a pocket of upbeat earnings, an optimistic outlook from major PC-maker Hewlett-Packard and strong energy shares countering a soft tone in financials, tech stocks and ongoing concerns about the fragile global economy. At 12:41 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 3.17, or 0.70%, at 448.12, lagging mild gains in the broad S&P 500 and large-cap Dow.

Energy stocks were among the best performers so far today as crude oil prices reversed overnight losses and investors looked to find bargains in the downtrodden sector. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund was up more than 2% at mid-session. Elsewhere on the commodities scene, analysts at JP Morgan said that commodity prices – especially agriculture products – should outperform energy and industrial raw material products in 2009.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) stunned investors this morning by not only reaffirming the current profit outlook, but by raising guidance for next year, breaking a long string of corporate expectations that were forecasting declines. If the world’s largest computer maker was still looking at greener pastures next year, then investors reasoned it could spread to a host of entities. HPQ was up some 12%. Elsewhere on the big-cap earnings front, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) topped the profit forecast and jumped 6%.

That’s not to say that everything was rosy among the earnings releases today. Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW), who makes the flat glass to stick on all those flat-panel television monitors and computer screens, said fourth-quarter revenue will fall short of expectations. GLW stock was off 15% at midday.

In the small-cap universe, DHT Maritime Inc. (NYSE:DHT), a tanker ship operator, jumped 17% after releasing earnings numbers today. Chiquita Brands International Inc. (NYSE:CQB) rallied 17% amid analyst upgrades for the banana producer. Tetra Technologies Inc. (NYSE:TTI) jumped 15% as the oil and gas services company tries to mount a comeback after sinking to fresh lows last week. On the downside, Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) slumped 16% as the embattled casino operator hovers near record lows even though auditors recently removed doubts . . .

Small-cap stocks surged midday buoyed by a rallying U.S. dollar, falling oil prices and better-than-expected economic data.

At 1:41 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 12.26, or 1.71%, to 728.44, while the Dow spiked 183.03, or 1.43%, to 13,003.16.

The greenback has been charging higher today. Midday, the dollar had rallied more than 1% against the euro to $1.5451 — its highest point since late March. The dollar’s rally comes on the heels of Wednesday’s 25 basis point cut in the fed funds rate.

“[The] market is indicating to the Fed that the Fed has done enough,” Andy Busch, Global foreign exchange strategist for BMO Capital Markets said in an email. “Sometimes it is more important to see how the market reacts to data/event rather than the data/event themselves. This is the case today, as we had relatively weak jobless claims coupled with as expected personal income/personal spending and the U.S. dollar rallied hard. To me, this signals a clear break in the downtrend for the U.S. dollar.”

As the dollar rallied, crude oil dipped $2.58 to $110 a barrel, after tumbling hard yesterday on a jump in inventories.

In economic news, better-than-expected numbers from the ISM Manufacturing Survey and consumer spending helped lift stocks.

The ISM Manufacturing Survey — released at 10:00 a.m. ET — came in at 48.6%, slightly above the forecasted 48%. While, anything below 50 signifies contraction, the index has not fallen far enough to signal a broader recession. Skittish traders were also calmed after the Commerce Department reported this morning that consumer spending rose a more-than-predicted 0.4% in March. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the GDP. 

On a cloudier economic note, investors shrugged off worse-than-expected economic data. The Construction Spending report, which came out this morning, was down 1.1%, which was below the forecasted loss of 0.6%.

Weekly Jobless Claims data reported this morning before the opening also clocked in worse than anticipated. For the week ended April 26, jobless claims jumped to 380,000, above the forecasted 360,000.

Small-cap stocks are expected to open flat to slightly higher this morning following a mild pullback from overnight gains on the personal income and weekly claims reports. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was last up 0.2% in after-hours trading, which would translate to a cash opening near 717.50.

The personal income data came in at 0.3%, which was slightly below the forecast of 0.4%; meanwhile, the weekly claims figure was at 380,000 versus the forecast of 360,000. Normally, the weekly claims report wouldn’t be of great interest, but we are just one day removed from the employment report tomorrow, so any jobs data gets cranked up a notch. From a data standpoint, the biggest number for today comes in at 10:00 a.m. ET, with the ISM Manufacturing Survey. In addition, vehicle sales data will come out during the session, which could have an impact on automaker and supplier shares.

In overnight trading, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.6%, European markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday, and England’s FTSE was up slightly . . .

If the names Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon ring a bell, then so should the name Dover Downs, the site of Dover International Raceway (or the “Monster Mile”) a long-time fixture on the NASCAR circuit. To race fans, Dover is synonymous with racing. 

But Dover is more than a racing – much more. In fact, two companies stand where there was once one: Dover Motorsports (NYSE: DVD) and Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment (NYSE: DDE). For investing fans, the latter holds the greater intrigue. 

Dover Downs Gaming ($247 million in annual revenue) consists of Dover Downs Slots – a 97,000 square-foot video lottery (slots) casino complex; the Dover Downs Hotel – an admixture of luxury accommodations,  conference hall, banquet, fine dining, ballrooms and concert hall facilities; and Dover Downs Raceway – a harness racing track with parimutuel wagering on live and simulcast horse races.  

An appropriate description of Dover Downs is that it's not too hot (Las Vegas) and it's not too cold (Deadwood, South Dakota).  It splits the market, though tacking more toward a luxurious Vegas flare. Most of its customers are drawn from the densely populated Mid-Atlantic states.  Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. are all located within a two-hour drive. 

Besides benefiting from a favorable geographic, Dover Downs also benefits from favorable legislative diktats. Only three existing horse racing facilities in Delaware are permitted a gaming license, while slot-machine operations are verboten in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.