Tag - Tdy

Small-cap stocks gave back a sizable chunk of Monday’s big rally early on today, pressured by concerns that corporate profits are already sloppy and will be further strained by a weak economy going forward. Today’s small-cap gainers are Interwoven, Inc. (Nasdaq:IWOV), StemCells, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEM) and Geron Corp.(Nasdaq:GERN).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The U.S. dollar was up about 0.6% against the euro, which could weigh on commodity markets as well.  
• Crude oil prices tumbled into the stock market opening, clearly rattled by the weak economic data and sloppy profit report from Microsoft.  
• Small-cap stocks took a dive on the opening, pulled down by gloomy economic data and also by worrisome profit numbers from Microsoft and Nokia

Small Cap Gainers:

• Autonomy Corporation announces agreement to acquire Interwoven, Inc.; IWOV shares rise 30% in pre-market on the news. See (Nasdaq:IWOV). 
• StemCells, Inc. up 11% in pre-market on light volume, extending gains the stock made on Wednesday. See (Nasdaq:STEM).  
• Biopharmaceutical company Geron Corp. is up another 7% in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:GERN).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Babcock & Brown Air Ltd. tumbled 28% as the firm said they needed to retain cash and announced a dividend of $0.20 a share. See (NYSE:FLY). 
• Eclipsys Corporation fell 28% as the health-care software and clinical help firm reported quarterly results. See (Nasdaq:ECLP).
• Teledyne Technologies Inc. fell 18% as the electronic systems designer also took an earnings-tied hit. See (NYSE:TDY).

Small-cap stocks took a dive on the opening, pulled down by gloomy economic data and also by worrisome profit numbers from Microsoft and Nokia, which pulled the rug out from under good news from Apple. At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 13.83, or 3.03%, at 442.93.

On the economic data front, housing starts and permits tumbled to a record low in December, with starts sinking 15.5% to an annual unit rate of 550,000, well below the projection of 610,000. The year-over-year decline in starts and permits was the lowest since January 1991.

“Housing starts plunged again in December, their sixth consecutive decline that has pulled starts to record low levels,” Steven Wood, chief economist with Insight Economics, said in an email. “Substantial declines in single family starts over the past two years have helped home builders bring inventories of unsold new homes down significantly. However, those inventories are still elevated because sales of new homes have also fallen sharply. With sales very weak, the credit market still dislocated, and lending standards staying very tight, single family housing starts will remain low for an extended period of time. Housing's contribution to economic growth will be significantly negative again in Q4. The silver lining is that with housing starts now off more than 75% from their peak, housing construction should be getting close to a bottom,” Wood said.

Weekly claims jumped 62,000 last week, rising to 589,000 which was way above the forecast of 553,000. In addition, the number of Americans filing for continuing benefits rose to 4.607 million, which also was above expectations. Stock index futures clearly pulled lower off the gloomy economic data, while yields on Treasury products went lower and prices for interest rate futures rose — all of which reflect money . . .