Russell closes in the red; DRYS, EXM and EGLE lead gainers
The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) reversed course Tuesday, unable to sustain upward momentum from Monday’s surge as weakness in financial and homebuilder stocks and numbing results from the Treasury four-week bill auction overwhelmed support from energy and a surprising upside midday spurt on tech stocks. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are DryShips (Nasdaq:DRYS), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE:EXM) and Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq:EGLE).
Other Market Watch highlights today included:
• For the year, the Dow is now down 34%, while the S&P 500 is down 39%.
• The pending home sales report showed a decline of 0.7% in October.
• Earlier this morning, the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index was down 0.8% for the week on a year-over-year basis.
• Today’s pullback in the stock market comes as a logical “breather” following an impressive two-day run that lifted equities to four-week highs.
• Top performers so far today: aluminum, steel, coal, oil and gas drillers, semiconductors, life insurers and automotive retailers.
• Poorest performers today: real estate investment trusts, air freight couriers, food retail firms and railroads.
• Even though physical commodity prices were soft today, commodity stocks retained a supportive bent for the overall equity market.
• Crude oil prices tumbled $1.64 a barrel, or 3.7% to $42.07, but energy stocks were actually up some 1% into the close.
Small Cap Gainers:
• On the upside of things, dry bulk carriers remained a hot ticket, with Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. (NYSE:EXM) up 38%, Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:EGLE) up 37%, DryShips Inc. (Nasdaq:DRYS) up 36% and Safe Bulkers Inc. (NYSE:SB) climbing 22%.
• Exco Resources Inc. (NYSE:XCO) jumped 28% as the oil and natural gas company announced results on the completion of a Louisiana well.
• KMG Chemicals (Nasdaq:KMGB) up 22% after reporting Q1 results with 145% increase in revenues, reaffirming FY 2009 guidance.
Small Cap Losers:
• Analogic Corp. (Nasdaq:ALOG) gapped lower and shed 28% after the maker of medical imaging systems missed the profit forecast.
• Learning Tree International Inc. (Nasdaq:LTRE) dropped 24% as the education vendor also disappointed investors after releasing quarterly results.
• Rex Stores Corp. (NYSE:RSC) fell 24% as the consumer electronics retailer also took an earnings-tied lump.
