Russell closes up 5%; BBX, DIN and DKS lead gainers
Today marked the third time in four days that stock market investors chose to dismiss dreary economic data as a non-event, and this time around they did it on the biggest report of them all – the monthly Labor Department report on employment. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed up nearly 5%. Some of today's small-cap gainers included BankAtlantic Bancorp (NYSE:BBX), DineEquity (NYSE:DIN) and Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS).
Other Market Watch highlights included:
- The headline figure for the employment report showed that a jolting 533,000 non-farm jobs were lost in November, way above the forecast for a decline of 300,000.
- The unemployment rate rose to 6.7%, a 15-year high and the November job losses were the steepest in 34 years.
- For the year, the Russell is now down 40%, while the Dow is off 35% and the S&P 500 is down 40%.
- Financial, homebuilding and retailer stocks powered the advance Friday.
- The drag on stocks today came from the energy arena. Early on, energy stocks were down some 5%.
- Crude oil futures finished out the session down $2.86/barrel to $40.81, hitting the lowest point in 4 years amid worries about demand.
- Merrill Lynch said crude oil prices could drop to $25 a barrel if China demand slips noticeably.
- BankAtlantic Bancorp up 26% on higher-than-average volume, rising with other financial stocks today. See (NYSE:BBX).
- DineEquity Inc. jumped 32% as the operator of Ihop and Appleby restaurants got a boost from a major shareholder saying they would look to maximize value. See (NYSE:DIN).
- Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. jumped 18%, getting a ride with other retailer stocks on hopes for a recovery in consumer spending. See (NYSE:DKS).
- Athenahealth Inc. rallied 17% as the Internet physician practices firm shot to the highest daily close since early October on solid volume. See (Nasdaq:ATHN).
- Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. tumbled 34% as the biopharma firm announced plans to change its clinical focus and realign management. See (Nasdaq:OREX).
- Packaging Corp. fell 12.3% on a disappointing Q4 EPS outlook. See (NYSE:PKG).
- Universal Technical Institute fell 11% as the technical training school took a nosedive without any apparent fresh news behind the move. See (NYSE:UTI).
