Tag - Mtl

Small-cap stocks extended the morning free fall, with financial, retail and commodity sectors all taking a beating as investors recoiled from a batch of brutal manufacturing data from around the world and fretted about the true eventual returns from this holiday spending season. Today's small-cap gainers are Premiere Global Services (NYSE:PGI), Emrise Corp. (NYSE:ERI) and VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY).

Today's Market Watch highlights included:

• Retail stocks were down today, with the S&P Retail Index at -5.7% despite early press reports that Black Friday was a success.  
• The Commodity Research Bureau Index of 19 physical markets was down 3.2% at midday.  
• The dollar was firm against the euro, which further played into the collapse in commodity markets.  
• Crude oil prices were down some 8% so far today, with U.S. crude benchmark values slipping through the $50 support line.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Shares of Premiere Global Services are up 30% after Oppenheimer & Co. upgraded the company to "outperform" from "perform." See (NYSE:PGI).  
• Emrise Corp. up 12% after receiving $1 million in new orders for in-flight entertainment products. See (NYSE:ERI).  
• VAALCO Energy up 11% on heavy volume. See (NYSE:EGY).  
• Nektar Therapeutics up about 10% on lower-than-average volume. See (Nasdaq:NKTR).

Small Cap Losers:

• China Valves Technology Inc. collapsed 79% on the China manufacturing woes, but it should be noted that this stock rarely trades much anyhow and was down on less than 1,000 shares trading today. See (Nasdaq:CVVT).  
• Russian steelmakers Mechel, TMK request a total of $3 billion in state loans to refinance their foreign debt. MTL is down 28.5%. See (NYSE:MTL).
• Excel Maritime Carriers dives 27% today following a downgrade last week from Cantor Fitzgerald to "sell" from "hold." See (NYSE:EXM).
• Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. tumbled 23% as the offshore drilling platform specialist was caught in the undertow of the slide in energy values. See (Nasdaq:GIFI).  
• Talbot's falls another 22% today following a widened Q3 net loss, conference call last week. See (NYSE:TLB).