Russell slightly lower; UAUA, CIT and AKT lead gainers
The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) remained a smidge lower into the midday, but well off the morning lows as gains in the technology arena spilled over into the broad market. Concerns about the economy, a moribund housing market and expiration jitters kept a lid on some buying interest, but the market was trying to spark a rally heading toward the afternoon. Today’s small-cap gainers are UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA), CIT (NYSE:CIT) and Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AKT). Other Market Watch highlights today include:
• Light, sweet crude for November delivery is up $1.66 to $71.51 a barrel. On Thursday, it sank to a 14-month low on worries about a deep global recession obliterating fuel demand.
• BMO Capital's Andy Busch to SCI: "There is a serious need to educate the banking sector participants on the changes in the Treasury programs the Fed programs directed at easing the credit crunch."
• Outside of the gold market, commodity stocks were doing well today, with coal, steel, gas utilities, oil exploration, gas storage and agriculture products all up.
• On the downside, anything tied to housing was struggling, including home furnishing stocks and homebuilder shares. Bank stocks and financial shares were also lagging the general market.
• The expiration of options on stocks today likely played a role in some of the market’s struggles as the directional bias into expiration is clearly toward lower prices.
Small Cap Gainers:
• CIT (NYSE:CIT) loss widens; vendor finance write-down hurts. Shares of the finance company are soaring 47%.
• United Air’s parent UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA) is up 20% today, extending its rise from Thursday.
• Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AKT) is soaring nearly 30% on news it is working on a plan to send to the Treasury.
• Cash distribution announced by Mesabi Trust (NYSE:MSB). Shares pop 17%.
Small Cap Losers:
• Pilgrims Pride Corp. (NYSE:PPC) is off some 23% as the company is facing deadlines on credit payments.
• Libbey (NYSE:LBY) preliminary Q3 net income declines marginally; issues Q4 revenue outlook, lowers FY08 revenue view. Shares down 36%.
• Pozen Inc. (Nasdaq:POZN) is off some 33% as the firm was informed by the FDA of an internal review for ulcer trials.
• Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:ESLR) off 11% after reporting a wider net loss in Q3 and a sharp decline in margins.
