Russell ends Friday lower
After a brief rise after the opening, small-cap stocks headed lower after a gloomy consumer sentiment encouraged sellers. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) shed 2.21, or 0.3%, at 741.17 during Friday’s session.
At 10 a.m. ET, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment survey came in at 59.5, which was below the projection of 62. The figure was the lowest May reading since 1980, and underscores consumer fears about surging gas and food prices.
April housing starts came in at an annualized rate of 1.032 million units, which was well above the forecast of 940,000. In addition, permits were up 4.9%. These numbers, however, are still weak numbers since the number was fueled by multi-family units — not single-family homes.
Oil prices touched new highs, propelled by an increase in Goldman Sachs’ oil price estimate to $141 a barrel in late 2008. In midday Friday action, crude futures were up $2.63 to $126.75 a barrel in New York.
Sectors in favor during midday trading included gold and silver, oil and gas, coal, oil and gas operations and oil well services. On the downside, technology retailers, apparel retailers, department and discount stores, casinos and footwear companies were attracting sellers.
Among individual small caps, Exar Corp. (Nasdaq:EXAR) tumbled 12%, Trico Marine Services (Nasdaq:TRMA) fell 6% amid news that the company will acquire outstanding shares of DeepOcean. On the upside, China Precision Steel (Nasdaq:CPSL) was up 37%.
