Tag - Swwc

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) started out the week with a whimper, unable to build on initial enthusiasm about a big stimulus plan out of China. Today’s small-cap gainers are Centennial Communications (Nasdaq:CYCL), American International Group (NYSE:AFF) and Wavecom SA (Nasdaq:WVCM).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Coal, agriculture products, aluminum, gold, metals and mining stocks and oil and gas drillers are top performers today.
• Anything REITS was getting hammered, as were automakers, wireless telecoms and investment bank stocks.
• Energy traders continue to be ultra sensitive to declines in equities, fearing a troubled economy will squash demand. 
• Copper jumped 8% in Asia, gold was on a roll and crude oil climbed 4% into the U.S. open.
• Crude oil futures eventually closed up about $1 a barrel for the day.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Centennial Communications Corp. soared 103% on unusually brisk volume on news that AT&T (NYSE:T) would buy the rural phone company for $944 million. See (Nasdaq:CYCL).
• U.S. plans more aid for AIG; shares closed up 62%. See (NYSE:AFF). 
• Wavecom SA jumped 23% on news that a hostile takeover of the firm was underway for the embedded wireless technology maker. See (Nasdaq:WVCM).

Small Cap Losers:

• Allied Capital Corp. tumbled some 43% today, as third quarter results did not impress investors. See (NYSE:ALD).
• Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. was off 37% as the outdoor advertising firm also get a thumbs down on earnings news. See (NYSE:CCO).
• Southwest Water Company dropped 37% as the water, wastewater and public works firm announced it will delay third quarter 10-Q filings (SEC quarterly . . .

Small-cap stocks started out the week with a whimper, unable to build on initial enthusiasm about a big stimulus plan out of China. In the end, worries about the economy, sagging financial shares and a belly flop in REITS was too much to overcome and the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) lost 12.69, or 2.51%, to 493.10. Small caps remained soft relative to large-caps, consistent with investor paranoia about risk right now. The Russell finished the day down 36% for the year, while the Dow is off 33% and the S&P 500 is down 37%.

The market came in on a high after China announced plans overnight to unleash a $586-billion stimulus package, aimed primarily at infrastructure improvements. The news sparked a 7% rally in Chinese stocks, a 5.8% surge in Japan equities and a 2% jump in European shares heading into the U.S. open.  Investors here in America seemed willing at first to carry the baton, with the Russell climbing nearly 2% right off the bat before hitting a wall.

Part of that wall was likely tied to concern about just how China would really funnel money into these projects and how much they were already going to do anyhow. Fair or not, there is a general sense that getting exact numbers out of China is a very inexact science. Still, extra money to pump life into the world’s fourth largest economy is clearly a good thing, and there are other worries to deal with, which also snuffed out some of the initial buying spark.

Commodities came into today’s session on fire overseas, eager to see the China stimulus plan as a bedrock for demand for physical goods. Copper jumped 8% in Asia, gold was on a roll and crude oil climbed 4% into the U.S. open. Although commodities remained a point of strength today for equities (the Commodity Research Bureau Index rose 1.7%), even those overnight gains were difficult to sustain. Crude oil futures eventually closed up about $1 a barrel for the day.

Financial stocks clearly struggled today, and an early lift from a G20 weekend statement supporting coordinated global plans to attack the financial crisis had a very short shelf life. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) climbed nearly 4% on the open, . . .

Small-cap stocks turned lower into midday trading, pulled down by worries about the economy, sinking REITS, soft financial stocks and concern that a big stimulus plan announced by China overnight might not be enough to jolt worldwide economic conditions out of the doldrums. Today’s small-cap gainers are AIG (NYSE:AFF), General Steel Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GSI) and Scopus Video Networks (Nasdaq:SCOP).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• S&P's: U.S. REITS may face more negative rating actions; struggling capital markets, awful real estate fundamentals also threaten REITS.  
• Energy traders continue to be ultra sensitive to declines in equities, fearing a troubled economy will squash demand.  
• Coal, agriculture products, aluminum, gold, metals and mining stocks and oil and gas drillers are top performers today.  
• The Russell was the first major index product to slip into the red, beating the Dow and S&P 500 into negative territory by about an hour.  

Small Cap Gainers:

• U.S. plans more aid for AIG; shares up 62%. See (NYSE:AFF).  
• General Steel Holdings Inc. rallied 21% ahead of its earnings release on Friday. See (NYSE:GSI).  
• Scopus Video Networks announces record Q3 2008 results; shares flying 15% higher. See (Nasdaq:SCOP).
• Top executives to buy back shares of VisionChina Media; shares up 15% in morning trading. See (Nasdaq:VISN).  
• Silver Standard last week turned to profit in Q3; shares up 15% today, rising on a commodities boost seen in the market. See (Nasdaq:SSRI)


Small Cap Losers:

• Southwest Water Company slipped 21% after announcing a delay in filings and a postponement on a conference call. See (Nasdaq:SWWC).  
• General Growth Properties down nearly 20% after a myriad of class-action lawsuits were announced against the REIT over the weekend. See (NYSE:GGP).  
• Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Q3 profit declines; shares slump 18%. See (NYSE:CCO).  
• Newcastle Investment Corp. clocked a Q3 loss on Friday; shares are 17% lower today. See (NYSE:NCT).

Small-cap stocks turned lower into midday trading, pulled down by worries about the economy, sinking REITS, soft financial stocks and concern that a big stimulus plan announced by China overnight might not be enough to jolt worldwide economic conditions out of the doldrums. At 12:16 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 4.05, or 0.80% at 501.75. The Russell was the first major index product to slip into the red, beating the Dow and S&P 500 into negative territory by about an hour.

There are always concerns about how the numbers actually shape up when dealing with details out of China. Skeptics looked at the plan calling for $586 billion worth of stimulus and wondered if most of that money was already planned anyhow, or just how much would actually be put to work. Still, the overall sense was that the China news positive, but that there were still plenty of landmines to avoid in coming months.

Commodity shares were the top performers through the morning, bolstered by the China news, by oversold conditions and by a mild dip in the U.S. dollar versus the euro. Coal, agriculture products, aluminum, gold, metals and mining stocks and oil and gas drillers were among the top broad market sectors today. Meanwhile, anything REITS was getting hammered, as were automakers. Wireless telecoms and investment bank stocks were also attracting heavy selling.

Crude oil prices actually slipped into the red by midday, giving back $4 a barrel worth of gains from overnight. Energy traders continue to be ultra sensitive to declines in equities, fearing a troubled economy will squash demand.

It was interesting to see that the Commodity Research Bureau Index of 19 physical markets was only up 1.4% at midday, not all that dramatic of a move given the overnight rally in crude oil, gold and copper from the China news. Gold seemed to be best commodity performer, perhaps tied to inflation positioning down the road, but commodities in general were backing off the morning highs as the day . . .