Russell 2000 falls on poor earnings
The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) retreated today following news of a shaky start to the earnings season. The small-cap index let go 0.53 points, or 0.06%, to 845.19. The Dow dropped 85.84 points, or 0.61%, to 14,078.69.
On a year-to-date basis, the Russell 2000 is up 7.3%, while the Dow has advanced 12.9%.
Small-cap futures were pointing up but the Russell 2000 fell along with the other major indices and spent the entire session in negative territory.
The bears first reacted to news that aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) missed Wall Street’s profit expectations. The New York-based company reported a net income of $0.63 per share, while analysts were forecasting $0.64 per share. That disappointed investors hoping for a strong start to the third-quarter earnings season.
Stocks went sliding and fell to their lowest levels in the early afternoon on news that workers at Chrysler LLC started walking out of select factories following a failure to reach a contract agreement with the United Auto Workers union. The newly private automaker wants to cut operating costs while the UAW is focusing on job security.
Here are the day’s biggest percentage gainers and losers, along with top volume leaders, among companies with a market cap between $100 million and $750 million:
Biggest percentage gainers:
• Origin Agritech Ltd. (SEED), up 64% on news that the maker of seeds has been chosen by Forbes Asia as one of the continent's 200 best companies with annual sales of less than $1 billion.
• Shengdatech Inc. (SDTH), up 25%.
• Ninetowns Internet Technology Group Co. Ltd. (NINE), up 23%.
Biggest percentage losers:
• KMG Chemicals Inc. (KMGB), down 16% on news it missed fourth-quarter earnings expectations.
• POZEN Inc. (POZN), down 10%.
• Transition Therapeutic Inc. (TTHI), off 10%.
Top Volume leaders:
• SEED: 21,727,400 shares traded.
• China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (CSUN): 14,254,900 shares traded.
• NINE: 8,521,400 shares traded.
