Tag - Mi

Small-cap stocks remained in negative territory into midday action, but rallied well off the morning lows as bargain hunters swooped in, hoping that this latest foray toward the range lows offered buying opportunity once again. Gains for airline, biotech, mining and IT stocks helped ease some of the losses endured in bank, financial, homebuilder and insurance shares. At 12:25 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 3, or 0.67%, at 444.94, after hitting an intraday low at 438.12.

The market fell hard early this morning, with the Dow sinking to the lowest point since the November lows were forged, while small caps appeared poised to test the January range lows. The market just didn’t believe a “too good to be true” retail sales report, which left another dreary reading on the employment picture as the only place to hang one’s trading cap. For those keeping score, the retail sales report was pegged up 1.0%, versus a forecast for a slide of 0.7%, while the weekly unemployment claims report came in at 623,000, slightly above the 610,000 projection. In the background of today’s news, investors continue to fret about the bank bail out plan and whether or not the stimulus bill will have too deep of a lag time to rescue the stock market in the near term.

Biotech stocks were among the top performers so far today, with the AMEX Biotechnology Index up 1.2%. In addition, the AMEX Airline Index was clinging to positive ground, up 0.2% as crude oil prices remained weak.

Speaking of “black gold” — crude prices fell below $35 a barrel this morning as worries about soft demand amid the U.S. recession continue to smack down buyers that are seduced by talk of OPEC production cuts. The dip in crude oil prices likely weighed on energy shares, which were off about 1% into mid-session.

Despite pockets of strength today, key “theme” groups, like banks and homebuilders were carrying the torch for the bears. The ISE Homebuilder Index was . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed slightly higher today on news that a deal was hammered out on the stimulus bill. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were First M&F Corp. (Nasdaq:FMFC), Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE:MI) and Golden Star Resources (AMEX:GSS).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The MBA Mortgage Application Index fell 24.5% today despite a mild dip on fixed rate mortgages, which suggests that the housing market is still struggling mightily.
• Economist Steve Wood: "The housing market is still mired in a deep recession with no indication that a bottom has yet been reached."
• The monthly trade report was released, showed the smallest trade gap in nearly six years, but that gap was still a tad bigger than expected.
• Bank shares were a bright spot for the market today, with the KBW Banking Index rising about 5%. 
• Gold stocks were a source of strength today, likely bolstered by investors looking for a hard goods safe haven away from struggling equities.
• Crude oil prices tumbled 4.2%, losing $1.61 to $35.94 a barrel, pulled down by a surprisingly large build on weekly inventories.
• Copper prices in U.S. trading tumbled some 5% amid news that China’s January imports of copper fell 19%.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Small-cap banks dominated the biggest percentage gainers today, with firms like First M&F Corp. climbing back from a big slide Tuesday. FMFC gained about 21% on the session. See (Nasdaq:FMFC).
• Small-cap bank Marshall & Ilsley Corp. rose 12% today, gaining back some of the 26% spiral from Tuesday. See (NYSE:MI).
• Several small-cap gold stocks were a hot item today, including . . .

Small-cap stocks edged higher Wednesday, finding an afternoon reprieve when news broke that a deal was hammered out on the stimulus bill, which lifted the market back up out of the red. Downtrodden bank and financial stocks provided a lift to the market, as did gold stocks, helping to counter weakness in the technology arena. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed up 2.18, or 0.49%, at 447.95 and is now down 10.3% for the year. Meanwhile, the Dow is off 9.5% for 2009, while the S&P 500 is down 7.6%.

The market still seemed a little shell shocked after Tuesday’s swoon when the bank rescue plan didn’t seem to play well with investors. Reaching a deal on the stimulus plan was just a matter of timing and there is a sense that it will take many months for the plan to generate help for the struggling economy, so perhaps it’s not a surprise that bounce off the stimulus deal didn’t seem to have a lot of traction. For the record, the deal comes in at $789 billion and a vote on the final product could take place Thursday and would most likely get a very fast stamp of approval from the White House.

In other policy events today, banking executives spent the day in Washington testifying about the first batch of TARP money that was doled out last year. Bank shares were a bright spot for the market today, with the KBW Banking Index rising about 5%. Small-cap banks dominated the biggest percentage gainers today, with firms like First M&F Corp. (Nasdaq:FMFC) climbing back from a big slide Tuesday. FMFC gained about 21% on the session. Small-cap bank Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE:MI) rose 12% today, gaining back some of the 26% spiral from Tuesday; still MI shares are down about 85% from the September 2008 peak.

Gold stocks were a source of strength today, likely bolstered by investors looking for a hard goods safe haven away from struggling equities and also amid talk that asset managers have been ramping up allocation percentages on gold investments. Gold futures climbed some 3% on the day, while the Gold and Silver Index . . .

Small-cap stocks collapsed Tuesday as investors worried that a new plan to rescue a teetering banking system might be “too little, too late” to stave off a deepening recession or unclog credit lines. Even a one-two punch of a new bank plan coupled with Senate approval for a massive $838 billion stimulus bill wasn’t enough to bring cheer to worried investors. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed down 22.17, or 4.74%, at 445.77, giving back most of last week’s hard-fought gain in breakneck fashion, while generating the second-largest one-day decline of 2009. For the year, the Russell is now off 10.7%, while the Dow is down 10.1% and the S&P 500 8.4%.

Going into today’s trading the market was clearly focused on a bevy of events coming out of Washington, including the Treasury Department’s official unveiling of the bank rescue project; the Senate vote on the stimulus package and testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before the House Financial Services Committee. Apparently, it was three strikes and the market was out for today’s big events, but clearly the dominant force was the initial selling wave triggered after the bank plan was formally announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Was it simply a case of “buy-the-rumor, sell-the-fact” selling from investors who had previously bid up bank stocks ahead of the news, or was there a deep-seated disappointment about the plan? “I think there was a little of both, but the biggest thing is that investors are worried that the current problems are just too big to fix quickly by having taxpayers absorb the risk from banks on their toxic holdings,” one veteran trader told smallcapinvestor.com.

As for the Senate’s long-awaited okay on the stimulus program there will still be a process in which the Senate’s bill and a House version signed two weeks ago will be meshed out together before a final bill is presented to President Obama to be signed into law. For the most part, investors have viewed the stimulus package as more of a long-term recovery tool than an immediate panacea for the economy . . .

Small-cap stocks took flight Friday, as investors gambled that a terrible report on employment would be just the tonic needed to ignite a decisive push forward on a bank bailout plan and an aggressive fiscal stimulus package. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) gained 15.63, or 3.43% to 470.70, generating the third-best daily gain of the year. For 2009, the Russell is now down 5.8%, while the Dow is off 5.6% and the S&P 500 down 3.7%.

Although it might seem peculiar for the stock market to stage one of the best rallies of the year on a day in which the unemployment rate climbed to 16-year highs and amid news that January saw the largest amount of job losses in 34 years, investors decided that the worrisome news on the job front would light a fire under lawmakers to set aside partisan politics and quickly deliver a powerful stimulus package to jump-start the ailing economy. In addition, the market was already hoping for a bank bailout plan to be unveiled Monday, and now the need to help banks and spur lending seems even more pressing.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is slated to hold a press conference Monday at noon to discuss details on the plan to stabilize the financial system and President Obama named an advisory panel on Friday led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to guide the rescue effort for the economy. Obama today said it was “inexcusable and irresponsible” for lawmakers to get bogged down, distracted or delay while millions of Americans were being put out of work...

Small-cap stocks remained sharply lower into mid-session trading, pulled down by sinking bank and financial stocks, which cascaded into other groups. A fresh batch of economic data this morning was weak as expected, but relatively tame and did little to lessen ongoing worries about the credit crunch and a deep recession.Some of today’s small-cap gainers were Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc (NYSE:JAV), Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:PPHM) and West Marine, Inc. (Nasdaq:WMAR).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Copper pulled into negative territory on the economy jitters and a strong dollar keeping many physical markets on the defensive.  
• Crude oil futures tumbled below $35 a barrel to fresh contract lows today amid worries about global demand.  
• Energy shares were also starting to sink heading into the afternoon, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund off 2.7%.  
• The KBW Banking Index was down 8.5% at midday and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund was off 6.6%. 

Small Cap Gainers:

• Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc. rallied 21% on a volume spike amid news that the firm signed a $71 million deal for a European marketing partnership. See (NYSE:JAV).  
• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. climbed 7% to six-month highs on a volume burst. See (Nasdaq:PPHM).  
• West Marine, Inc. raises FY 2008 earnings outlook; shares up 7%. See (Nasdaq:WMAR).
• Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. is seeing its best volume in more than a month, rising about 1.7% in the process. See (Nasdaq:RMCF).

Small Cap Losers:

• Liberty Shipping withdraws offer for International Shipholding Corporation; ISH shares fall 25%. See (NYSE:ISH).  
• Marshall & Ilsley is down 23% after falling to a Q4 loss of $403.9M, cutting 850 jobs. See (NYSE:MI).
• Cynsosure Inc. gapped lower and fell 13% as the maker of medical treatment systems for aesthetic procedures released preliminary results. See (Nasdaq:CYNO).   
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. is down 12% and has been sinking fast the last several sessions. See (Nasdaq:RRGB).

Small caps declined after the opening, made a brief resurgence during the second hour of regular trading but have continued their descent in the afternoon. Concerns about the financial sector and FedEx Corp.’s (NYSE:FDX) warning that low demand and high fuel costs will impact profits kept investors gloomy. At 1:39 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was off 9.03, or 1.23%, at 727.54.

Regional banks are taking a beating, with Marshall & Iisley Corp. (NYSE:MI) sinking 4% to a new 52-week low on analyst downgrades while Zions Bancorporation (Nasdaq:ZION) also set a fresh 52-week low, losing about 3%. Unfortunately, the news remains depressing for banks and other financial stocks, with Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq:FITB) losing 14% during the afternoon session. Within the financial arena, large-cap futures and commodities broker MF Global (NYSE:MF) is plunging some 38% after the Bermuda-based firm said revenues were below the forecast and news that the company will sell convertible securities to raise capital and . . .

Small-cap stocks pressed lower on the opening as a fresh batch of earnings failed to impress investors in the aftermath of Monday’s rout on financial stocks and as crude oil drifted up to $135 dollars a barrel. At 10:00 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was off 5.56, or 0.76%, at 731.01.

Regional banks were hammered Monday, with Marshall & Iisley Corp. (NYSE:MI) sinking 5% to 52-week lows on analyst downgrades while Zions Bancorporation (Nasdaq:ZION) also set 52-week lows, losing about 10%. Unfortunately, the news remains gloomy for banks and other financial stocks, with Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq:FITB) shedding 16% shortly after today’s opening. Within the financial arena, large-cap futures and commodities broker MF Global (NYSE:MF) tumbled 22% as the firm said revenues were below the forecast and news that the company will sell convertible securities to raise capital and pay down debt.

The “headline” financial stock coming into today’s action was Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which reported quarterly results that were slightly above the forecast. However, the firm was still pulled into the red, down about 6% in early trading.

Outside of the financial world, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) earnings came in below the forecast, and their outlook for 2009 was dreadfully in line with surging energy costs that are hurting results for the package courier. When the FedEx news came out before the opening, it sparked about a three handle additional decline in large-cap S&P 500 futures.

Speaking of surging energy, crude oil prices climbed back to the $135 dollar a barrel level ahead of the stock market opening on concerns about a potential strike in Nigeria that could crimp output. Crude oil pulled back toward $134 dollars, but should gather direction for the day from the latest stocks data, which will come out . . .