Russell up 1% as oil slips, dollar gains
Stocks continued their assent midday, as oil slipped, the greenback gained and investors shrugged off lackluster earnings news from bond insurer MBIA.
At 12:49 p.m. ET the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 1.34%, or 9.63, to 729.68 while the Dow had gained 0.79%, or 100.79, to 12,846.67.
Oil futures continued to slide midday as investors locked in gains from last week. A crude oil contract for the month of June was off roughly $1.21 midday to $124.75, down from the $126 level breached last week.
As oil futures sold off, the dollar rallied against other major currencies, quelling inflation concerns.
Just this morning Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said that housing was still a drag on the economy, and that growth risks were to the downside, but inflation risk was on the upside. Evans also said that U.S. growth should improve in the second half of the year, but that tight credit markets would crimp near-term GDP.
In corporate news, the financial sector is making headlines today. Investors shrugged off MBIA’s (NYSE:MBI) first-quarter results, as the bond insurer swung to a first-quarter loss on account of $3.58 billion unrealized loss on insured derivatives. Shares rallied.
On the flip side, British bank HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) said it will post first-quarter earnings above the year-ago quarter, sending shares higher.
Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. (Nasdq:RIMM) touched a 52-week high intra session after stating Monday morning that it will debut a new blackberry model called the Bold.
Among industry groups, retail technology and apparel are leading, while the coal industry group is down 1.3% mid-session.
In small cap headlines, Radyne Corp. (Nasdaq:RADN), shot up some 44% early this morning on brisk volume after reporting that Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (Nasdaq:CMTL) will acquire the communications equipment company in an all-cash transaction. Preformed Line Products (Nasdaq:PLPC) climbed 14% on earnings while free consumer guides company Primedia Inc. (NYSE:PRM) rallied 17% without fresh news.
On the downside, Gencor Industries Inc. (Nasdaq:GENC) swooned 37% after reporting late Friday that its second-quarter profit plunged 88%. Shares of CryptoLogic Ltd. (Nasdaq:CRYP) skidded midday after the internet gaming software company posted first-quarter earnings this morning substantially below the consensus estimate on Wall Street. Shares of Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. (NYSE:BBW) also lost 9% after the specialty retailer of plush animals was downgraded by Credit Suisse to “neutral” from “outperform.”
