Tag - Mee

Small-cap stocks remained higher into mid-session, underpinned by a few bright spots on the earnings front, M&A enthusiasm and confirmation of Timothy Geithner’s appointment as Treasury Department Secretary. However, record low consumer confidence kept some buyers at bay. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX), Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE:PCX) and Massey Energy Co. (NYSE:MEE).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Outside of coal, energy shares are down, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund off about 0.1% in line with slumping crude oil futures.  
• The chart picture for small caps shows that the market is trapped in a mini-range loosely defined by the inauguration day collapse.  
• Copper took a 5% nosedive in overseas trading, which is a troubling sign for the economy as copper is a key ingredient in building.  
• On Thursday, new home sales data will help provide further information about the housing market.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Netflix Inc. jumped 14% on heavy volume following surprisingly positive earnings figures. See (Nasdaq:NFLX).   
• Among coal stocks, small-cap company Patriot Coal Corp. was up 2.7%, while Massey Energy Co. was up 3.2%. See (NYSE:PCX) and (NYSE:MEE).
• Resource America Inc. was only slightly higher at midday, but was seeing unusually brisk volume, especially for such a tight daily range. See (Nasdaq:REXI).

Small Cap Losers:

• Olin Corp. fell 12% on brisk volume tied to earnings news. See (Nasdaq:OLIN).  
• UAL Corp., parent company of United Airlines, is off about 8%. See (Nasdaq:UAUA).  
• The AMEX Airline Index was off 6.3%, with small-cap carrier US Airways Group Inc. down 12%. See (NYSE:LCC).
• LivePerson Inc. was off about 2.6% on a jump in turnover without any apparent fresh news. See (Nasdaq:LPSN).  

Small-cap stocks remained higher into mid-session, underpinned by a few bright spots on the earnings front, M&A enthusiasm and confirmation of Timothy Geithner’s appointment as Treasury Department Secretary. However, record low consumer confidence kept some buyers at bay. At 12:22 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 6.45, or 1.43%, at 456.39.

The consumer confidence report came in this morning at 37.7, which was below the forecast of 39 and at record lows as consumers fret about sinking house prices and rising unemployment. Speaking of house prices, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index tumbled 18.2% from year-ago levels, which clouded some of the optimism from Monday’s more upbeat existing home sales data.

As for big-cap earnings news, American Express, US Steel and Texas Instruments helped offset weak reports from Verizon Communications and DuPont Co. and provided a small sliver of hope that an awful earnings season will still serve up some glimmer of good news.

Looking at sector activity so far today, coal stocks, steel companies, health-care distributors, diversified banks, motorcycle manufacturers, industrial conglomerates, advertising agencies, office electronics and semiconductor firms were the top performers. On the downside, airlines, oil refiners, electrical equipment manufacturers, telecoms, internet retailers, home improvement retailers, home furnishing retailers and food distributors were the weakest performers.

Looking at airlines, the AMEX Airline Index was off 6.3%, with small-cap carrier US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE:LCC) down 12%. Meanwhile, UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA) was off about 8%. The big news on the airline front came from big-cap carrier Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL), as the world’s largest firm tumbled 18% . . .

Small-cap stocks turned in their best performance of the New Year today, as investors decided that a dreary picture of the current economic environment would simply make it that much easier for incoming President-elect Obama to push through a big fiscal stimulus package. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed up 9.68, or 1.92% at 514.71, the highest daily finish since November 4. For the first three days of trading in 2009, the Russell is up 3.1%, while the Dow is up 2.7% and the S&P 500 is up 3.5%.

In what promises to be a very busy week on the economic data front, the market skipped merrily through several gloomy reports today, with services sector activity, pending home sales and factory orders all consistent with an economy mired deep in recession. Even when a report beats the forecast, as was the case with today’s ISM Non-Manufacturing report on services sector activity, it’s still a low number historically. For the record, the ISM report came in at 40.6, well above the consensus projection of 37.0 and a nice turn of events considering the ISM’s tally on manufacturing Friday reflected a 28-year low.

Elsewhere on the data front, factory orders came in down 4.6%, which was quite a bit ...