Russell soars at closing; ALCO, SMHG and IESC lead gainers
Today the market was oversold on short-term momentum studies entering the session after suffering the worst inauguration day collapse in history. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed up over 5%, but is still down 8.5% for the year. A few small-cap gainers today included Alico (Nasdaq:ALCO), Sanders Morris Harris Group (Nasdaq:SMHG) and Integrated Electrical Services (Nasdaq:IESC).
Other Market Watch highlights included:
- This week’s action is basically devoid of economic indicators, which will put extra attention on various earnings reports, political news and world events.
- Johnson-Redbook Retail Sales came in down 2.3% for last week, yet another gloomy picture of the spending mentality in play right now.
- The Architecture Billings Index rose to 36.4 in December, up from 34.7 the previous month.
- Looking at sector activity today, diverse financial services shares, investment banks and brokerage companies, asset management firms, banks and real estate investment trusts were the biggest gainers.
- The KBW Banking Index rallied 14% after getting walloped on Tuesday and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund was up nearly 15% as investors scoured for bargains.
- On the downside, automobile manufacturers, auto parts suppliers, hypermarkets and apparel firms were soft performers.
- Alico Inc. rose nearly 28%, as the land management company wiped out a huge decline from Tuesday’s session without any apparent fresh news to fuel the recovery bounce; but the rise fit with the strong performance today from REITS. See (Nasdaq:ALCO).
- Financial services company Sanders Morris Harris Group Inc. jumped 20% after setting a new move closing low on Tuesday. See (Nasdaq:SMHG).
- Integrated Electrical Services Inc. rose 19% on moderate volume, also without fresh news. See (Nasdaq:IESC).
- Omnicell Inc. tumbled 22%, gapping lower on unusually heavy volume after the software solutions firm updated guidance. See (Nasdaq:OMCL).
- Nova Chemicals Corp. has $250 million (U.S.) of bonds due in April, investors are jittery about repayment, even though Nova says it has the money. Shares closed down 25% today. See (NYSE:NCX).
- AMR Corp. falls 24% after reporting an in-line Q4 adjusted loss of $0.77, and predicting more tough times ahead. See (NYSE:AMR).
