Tag - Schl

The weekly jobless claims rose again and remained above 400,000, which is not a good sign. But that didn't stop Dutch staffing giant Randstad from offering $771 million for SFN Group (NYSE: SFN), an American competitor.

The deal will double Randstad's U.S. presence. SFN's stock led all small caps with a 51.1 percent increase on the day.

Expecting other consolidations in the staffing business, traders also bid up On Assignment (Nasdaq: ASGN) 10.9 percent, making it one of the better-performing small caps.

As of press time, 2:00 P.M. Eastern Time, stocks have jumped on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment that he believes that the U.S. economy is on the verge of recovery.

Currently in Jackson, Wyoming for the annual Federal Reserve conference, Chairman Bernanke stated, "the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good", however warning that lending-a key driver of U.S. economic activity for businesses and consumers alike-has not yet returned to normal.

Indeed, looking to the future Mr. Bernanke said, "Looking forward, we must urgently address structural weaknesses in the financial system, in particular in the regulatory framework, to ensure that the enormous costs of the past two years will not be borne again."

The Dow as trading at 9,479, up 129 points; the Nasdaq was at 2,011, up 22 points; and the S&P 500 was up 15 points, trading at 1,022.

The Russell 2000, a composite of leading small-cap stocks like 3Com (Nasdaq:COMS), Oilsands Quest (Amex:BQI), Palm (Nasdaq:PALM), and Scholastic (Nasdaq:SCHL), was 12 points to 580.

Advances were leading declines by a margin of 4 to 1 on the NYSE and 7 to 3 on both the Nasdaq and Amex exchanges.

Leading price movers in the small-cap space include Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq:SBGI), up 42%; Wireless Ronin Technologies (Nasdaq:RNIN), up 40%; and Rentech (Amex:RTK), up 21%.

*****We all know that it's news that moves the stock market. But it's also true that not all news is created equal...

Trina Solar Ltd. (Nasdaq:TSL), LDK Solar Co Ltd. (Nasdaq:LDK) and Citi Trends Inc. (Nasdaq:CTRN) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq:CSIQ), Texas Industries Inc. (Nasdaq:TXI), Scholastic Corp. (Nasdaq:SCHL), Gibraltar Industries Inc. (Nasdaq:ROCK), GT Solar International Inc. (Nasdaq:SOLR) and Woodward Governor Co. (Nasdaq:WGOV).

Take Two Interactive Software Inc. (Nasdaq:TTWO), Tennant Co (Nasdaq:TNC) and Integral System Inc. (Nasdaq:ISYS) are among the biggest percentage losers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Scholastic Corp. (Nasdaq:SCHL), Citizens Holdings Co. (Nasdaq:CIZN), Ensign Group Inc. (Nasdaq:ENSG), Stone Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:SGY), MDS Inc. (Nasdaq:MDZ) and Stewardship Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:SSFN).

Small-cap stocks were slightly lower early this morning, pulled down by a rash of weak profit reports and gloomy outlooks amid ongoing concerns about the economic environment. Energy stocks were a soft spot for the market as crude oil tumbled to fresh four-year lows. At 10:05 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 1.24, or 0.20%, at 485.35.

The Philly Fed report came in at 39.3, which was up from last month’s reading, but still slightly below the consensus forecast. The leading indicators report was down 0.4%, which was in line with projections.

Earlier this morning ahead of the opening, the weekly claims report came in at 554,000, which was in line with market projections, but still awful historically. The four-week moving average on claims rose to 543,750, which is the highest level since December 1982. Continuing claims edged down 4.384 million, down from 4.431, which is a mildly positive development – but again, these numbers are still among the highest in a generation and the overall employment picture in the United States is expected to get worse over the next couple of months.

Bullish traders will say that all the dreadful economic news is a known factor and is already priced into the market. What’s more, most of the profit news has been awful as well, but is also subject to the “been there, done that” market response. This morning, analysts at UBS lowered their forecast for 2009 profit estimates for the . . .