Small caps down slightly
After a brief opening bounce, small-cap stocks are down slightly from Wednesday, but have been mostly steady in Thursday’s session. At 12:03 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 0.02, or 0.17%, at 716.04.
After skyrocketing crude oil sent stocks earthward during Wednesday’s action, sturdy results from Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Costco (Nasdaq:COST) offered early encouragement to traders. In the midday session, Wal-Mart is up 1.3% while Costco is down 0.1%. Also supporting bullish sentiments was footwear maker Crocs Inc.’s (Nasdaq:CROX) offered a solid outlook for the remainder of the year. CROX is up more than 16% shortly before noon.
Soaring crude oil futures eased somewhat to $122.53 a barrel after touching a record-high of $123.93. The dollar is stronger against the euro at $1.5395 after yesterday’s closing of $1.5406.
On the economic data front, the weekly claims data came in slightly better than the median forecast at 365,000 versus 375,000, but the report had very little impact on the market. The 10:00 a.m. ET wholesale inventories report came in soft at down 0.1% compared with the forecast for a gain of 0.5%. However, the wholesale inventory report is for March data (considered dated by many traders) and had little impact on prices when released.
In international news, the Bank of England decided not to cut rates due to inflation concerns. Also giving credibility to the idea that central banks are holding off on rate cuts, the European Central Bank is expected to keep rates at 4%.
Among broad market sectors, big winners include companies involved with gold and silver, metal mining, construction and agricultural machinery, iron and steel and insurance. Sectors losing ground include security systems, audio and video equipment, hotels, consumer financial services, life insurance and catalog and mail-order retail.
Among individual small-cap stocks with upward momentum, lawn products and pet supply maker Central Garden & Pet Co. (Nasdaq:CENT) is up about 28% after posting better-than-expected revenue for the second quarter. Gibraltar Steel Corp. (Nasdaq:ROCK) jumped some 27%, gapping higher, on an earnings-tied boost. Overhill Farms, Inc. (AMEX:OFI) shares are surging 25% after the frozen food manufacturer reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $66.4 million, besting Wall Street’s expectation of $57 million.
Among small caps losing ground, Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:KFS) is falling about 29% after swinging to a first-quarter loss. Tool maker Hardinge Inc. (Nasdaq:HDNG) is off 19% on soft earnings and Akeena Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq:AKNS) is down some 18%, also on weak earnings.
