Tag - Xtxi

Stocks are rallying during Monday trading, boosted by surprise increases in pending home sales and construction spending.

At 3:03 pm ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) is up 2.73% at 500.27, while the Dow is up 2.17% and the S&P 500 is up 2.61%.

Today the National Association of Realtors said its index of pending sales for previously occupied homes rose 3.2% to 84.6. Also out today was data from the Commerce Department that showed construction spending rose 0.3% -- the best showing since last September.

Small-cap natural gas company Crosstex Energy Inc. (Nasdaq:XTXI) is up 64% this afternoon amid rising natural gas prices and a rally in energy and commodities sectors. Meanwhile, small-cap footwear manufacturer Crocs, Inc. (Nasdaq:CROX) is climbing nearly 40% higher today on heavy volume ahead of its earnings release on Thursday.

*****Last week, the Baltimore Sun laid off 61 employees. I heard that a couple reporters were actually called on the phone while they were sitting in the press box covering an Orioles game and told they were no longer Sun reporters.

It’s no secret that the newspaper biz has gotten tough. The Sun’s parent, the Tribune Company, filed for bankruptcy protection in December of 2008 after its chairman, Sam Zell, took the company private. Analysts knew he was loading too much debt on the company, but the decline in advertising revenues at newspaper . . .

Small-cap stocks went into a tailspin in early trading, pulled down by a gloomy report on the jobs front ahead of Friday’s key employment release. In addition, some big companies announced plans to slash workers or cautioned on the outlook, which sent a chill into a market that started out the year on a decent roll. At 9:59 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was off 9.96, or 1.93% at 504.75.

The big scare this morning came from the ADP National Employment survey, which showed that the private sector lost a stunning 693,000 jobs in December, way above the 476,000 lost in November and also well clear of the forecast for a decline of 480,000. This marked the largest decline since the ADP report was started back in 2001. The methodology for this report was tweaked, which could take some edge off the big decline in jobs, but the market clearly was stressed by the report. The ADP data also will heighten concerns about the employment picture ahead of Friday’s big ...

Crosstex Energy (Nasdaq:XTXI) was down nearly 15% this morning to a new 52-week low after an analyst downgraded its stock to “sell.”

Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock because of asset damages the midstream natural gas company suffered from recent hurricanes.

On Sept. 26, Dallas-based Crosstex said one of its plants will not be operational for at least four to six weeks due to damage from Hurricane Ike. Also, the company noted that several of its offshore production platforms and pipelines transporting gas production to the Pelican and Bluewater processing plants were damaged by the storm.

By mid-morning the stock is at $21.29, down $3.68 from Tuesday’s close, after having traded as low as $19.92 earlier in the day. Previously, the stock had ranged between $22.65 and $40.39 during the past 52 weeks.

For detailed price information and news stories on Crosstex Energy, click XTXI.