The market soared higher yesterday. Volume was unimpressive, but the bulls won the day again. The market was propped higher by energy stocks and telecom, but the buying was not broad-based like we

The market closed down again, but the selling was less decisive. The indices had spurts of positive trading during the day as well. Energy stocks sold in late day trade as oil prices declined from

The market notched more gains last week as the indices roared higher. Most of the major indices closed the week at new highs, and despite overbought conditions, showed no signs of turning. While the

The market moved sideways today, but it finished above the

The broad markets were all down today on the negative outlook from the World Bank. The Dow was down 2.35% to close at 8,339; the Nasdaq posted even bigger losses, down 3.35%, closing at 1,766; and the S&P 500 shaved 3.06% off from its open.

The Russell 2000, the widely followed index of the 2,000 largest small cap stocks, was down 3.68% to close at 494.

Fighting the overall downward trend and leading small-caps was Specialty Underwriters' Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq:SUAI) posting at 56% gain to close at $6.18 on news that it agreed to be purchased by Tower Group (Nasdaq:TWGP) at year end. Specialty Underwriters' offers commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States. Tower Group was down 4% to close at $23.04.

Other small-caps bucking the selling include Oncothyreon (Nasdaq:ONTY) up 33% on news of testing start for a late-stage study on the breast cancer treatment Stimuvax; MTR Gaming (Nasdaq:MNTG) up 21%; and Security National Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:SNFCA) up 20%.

Leading small-cap decliners today was LodgeNet Interactive (Nasdaq:LNET) posting a 22% loss for the day to close at $3.54. LodgeNet, a provider of Internet and advertising services, announced on Monday that it plans a profit offering of $50 million worth of convertible preferred shares. One half of the proceeds will be used to pay down the outstanding balance on its loan while the remainder will be used as general working capital.

Other small-cap decliners include Rex Energy (Nasdaq:REXX) down 19.5%; Warren Resources (Nasdaq:WRES) down 20%; and China Medical (Nasdaq:CMED) down 19%.

*****Oil is down again. The World Bank has lowered its growth projections for the global economy. In March, the World Bank was calling for a 1.7% contraction in global GDP. Now, it says the global economy will shrink by 2.7%. That's a pretty big revision.

The forecasts for China and India are about the only bright spots.

Traders are taking profits on oil stocks, which suggests they don't see a lot of upside for oil prices right now. Demand is still down, and we're not seeing a runaway economic recovery.

*****Here's your look ahead at the economic data for the week. Tomorrow, June 24, we get existing home sales.

We get new home sales on Wednesday as well as durable goods orders, oil inventories and the Fed will tell us that they aren't changing the overnight lending rate.

Durable goods orders will be a market mover. Last month, you'll recall, the number came in above expectations. Another strong reading would be great, but I have my doubts that it will happen. We should be expecting month to month swings in data like durable goods orders. It seems too early to establish a trend higher.

Thursday, we get initial jobless claims and the final First Quarter GDP number. The initial report is that the economy contracted at a 5.7% annualized rate. There may be an upward revision but I doubt that would be significant. Investors want to believe that the economy bottomed in the First Quarter, so this number gets a pass.

Finally on Friday, we get personal income and spending, the Michigan sentiment review.

*****Jason Cimpl, technical analyst at TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts, gave us his weekly forecast for the major indices on Friday. If you missed it, here's the LINK. Jason's forecast was near perfect last week. We'll see how he does this week. 

*****We'll be discussing our bullish outlook for commodity stocks in next Wednesday's Video Conference. It's titled Inflation Busters: Discover the Stocks to Grow and Protect Your Wealth and will air on Wednesday, June 24 at 6 pm. It's free to attend, you can sign up HERE.

 

Stocks turned lower during Thursday trading after a new jobless claims report released today cast a pall on a rally that began days ago.

At 12:13 pm ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) is down 3.37, or 0.81%, at 414.26, while the Dow is down 1.12%, at 7,402.71, and S&P 500 is down 0.99% at 786.51.

Stocks opened higher this morning on lingering investor enthusiasm over Wednesday’s news that the Fed is planning to pump $1 trillion into the economy. The good news failed to last long though as new jobless claims data this morning showed a higher-than-expected drop of 646,000, while continuing claims set a new record.

Small caps making double-digit gains this afternoon include dry-bulk shipper DryShips (Nasdaq:DRYS), which is up 22% after announcing a $630 million three-year contract from Petrobras. Energy companies are also rising today as oil is climbing back above $50 per barrel. James River Coal (Nasdaq:JRCC) is up 19% on lower-than-average volume, while Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX) is up over 27%.

Rambo Bernanke

On Wednesday, the FOMC voted unanimously to buy over $1 trillion dollars in U.S. Treasury bills, corporate bonds, mortgages and consumer debt.

Chief economist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. called it a “Rambo Fed” move in a Bloomberg interview.

Bonds immediately rallied, with the 10-year note putting in the biggest one-day gain since 1962. Stocks rallied, too, which is a bit unusual. Bond and stock prices tend to move in opposite directions. When stocks appear risky, money goes into the safe haven of bonds, and vice versa. But these are strange times, and with the Fed taking unprecedented steps to ward off deflation and get lending moving again, it’s not that surprising that some old relationships are being tested.

Bernanke’s intent is clear – he wants to make sure interest rates stay low. Overnight interest rates are already zero. Any more easing and the Fed . . .

Small-cap stocks extended the opening slide after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson suggested that the government’s initial plan to rescue our fragile financial system by scooping up bad debt off the books of financial firms wasn’t that great of an idea after all. A lack of confidence in the rescue plan simply added to existing jitters about the economy and the corporate profit outlook. Today’s small-cap gainers are Rex Energy (Nasdaq:REXX), CTC Media (Nasdaq:CTCM) and Ticketmaster (Nasdaq:TKTM).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Anything currently linked to Russia is trouble; the Russian Stock Exchange closed for 2 days to stem massive selling in Russian equities.  
• The U.S. dollar was down mildly against the euro, but absolutely tanking against the Japanese yen, losing some 2.1%.  
• Treasury markets rallied as equity markets tumbled, reflecting flight toward “safe haven” outlets and away from stocks.  
• Small caps are down neaerly 4% after Paulson said the govt. would scrap the original “rescue” plan, in lieu of a better alternative.  

Small Cap Gainers:

• Rex Energy trading up over 10% after clocking a profit in Q3 on Nov. 7. See (Nasdaq:REXX).
• CTC Media reports inducement grant under NASDAQ marketplace rule 4350. Shares up 8.4%. See (Nasdaq:CTCM).  
• Ticketmaster Entertainment posts Q3 revenue increase, removes convenience fees for certain concerts. Shares trading up 6% this morning. See (Nasdaq:TKTM).  
• FalconStor Software, Inc. up 5% on higher-than-average volume. See (Nasdaq:FALC).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC tumbled 24% on news that ratings agency Moody’s downgraded the firm’s debt. See (NYSE:WBD).  
• Though crude prices are down, select airlines are struggling. UAL Corp. is down 23%, US Airways is off 20% and Alaska Air is down 7.5%. See (Nasdaq:UAUA), (NYSE:LCC) and (NYSE:ALK).  
• Central European Distribution Corp., the largest vodka producer in Poland, tumbled 21%. See (Nasdaq:CEDC).  
• Hadera Paper Ltd., an Israeli company that specializes in manufacturing and recycling of paper products, was off 20% after reporting earnings. See (NYSE:AIP).  

Home Inns & Hotel Management Inc. (Nasdaq:HMIN), (Royale Energy Inc (Nasdaq:ROYL) and DRDGold, Ltd. (Nasdaq:DROOY) are among the most actively traded companies in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ABAT), The Andersons, Inc. (Nasdaq:ANDE), Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX), The Finish Line, Inc. (Nasdaq:FINL) and Altra Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:AIMC).

Here are the most actively traded companies among small caps:

Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc (Nasdaq:HGR), Titan Machinery Inc (Nasdaq:TITN) and Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners LP (Nasdaq:PSE) are among the new 52-week highs in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Here are the new 52-week highs among small caps:

Insulet Corp (Nasdaq:PODD), Alvarion Ltd (Nasdaq:ALVR) and Superior Essex Inc (Nasdaq:SPSX) are among the most actively traded companies in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Solarfun Power Holdings Co Ltd (Nasdaq:SOLF), Tercica Inc (Nasdaq:TRCA), Canadian Solar Inc (Nasdaq:CSIQ), Crocs Inc (Nasdaq:CROX), Royale Energy Inc (Nasdaq:ROYL) and Rex Energy Corp (Nasdaq:REXX).

Here are the most actively traded companies among small caps:

Rex Energy Corp (Nasdaq:REXX), Sequenom Inc (Nasdaq:SQNM) and Superior Well Services Inc (Nasdaq:SWSI) are among the new 52-week highs in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Cytori Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq:CYTX), Third Wave Technologies Inc (Nasdaq:TWTI) and SeaChange International Inc (Nasdaq:SEAC) are also among the new 52-week highs.

Overture Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq:NLX), Newpark Resources Inc (Nasdaq:NR) and Sports Properties Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq:HMR) were additionally included among the results.

Here are the new 52-week highs among small caps:

Rex Energy Corporation (Nasdaq:REXX) 
State College, Pa.
http://www.rexenergy.com/
 
52-week low/high: $7.55/$25.49
Shares Outstanding: 31 million
Market Capitalization: $733 million

These days, Pennsylvania isn't only about the Amish, the Pittsburgh Steelers and a pro-Hillary Clinton vote. Unbeknownst to many, oil has taken center stage, in the form of oil exploration company Rex Energy Corporation (Nasdaq:REXX).

Rex Energy is based in State College, Pa., best known as home to Penn State University. The company has been scoring key explorations in its back yard of the Appalachian region of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Rex also operates in the Illinois Basin region of Illinois and Indiana, the New Albany shale deposit throughout southern Indiana, and in the Permian region found in Texas and New Mexico.

Riding a wave of improved drilling techniques, better exploration technologies and soaring demand, Rex is off to a fast and furious start as a public company. With oil and natural gas prices shooting to stratospheric heights, smaller companies with a track record and decent potential have enticed investors to take notice.

Since emerging through an initial public offering last summer from a variety of partnerships and tiny entities, Rex has roared to life with a steady stream of announcements of added drilling acreage and project successes.

Technology is also driving Rex’s growth. For example, in the Illinois Basin from the 1960s through the 1980s, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), the former Texaco, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Shell developed surfactant-polymer projects that became cost-prohibitive when oil was trading far below $50 a barrel. At double that price, there's money to be made from some of these difficult-to-deliver deposits. Rex is testing a process known as alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding that reduces production costs.

Thus far, Rex has been successful at finding its black gold: for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, the company clocked in operating revenues of $18.4 million, a 40.3% increase compared with operating revenues of $13.1 million for the same period in 2007. Production volumes were 257,370 barrels of oil equivalent, up 3.3% from the same period in 2007.  Although the company reported a loss before provision for taxes of $12 million for the first quarter of 2008, compared with a net loss of $5 million for the first quarter of 2007, EBITDAX was $8.7 million in the first quarter of 2008. This was an increase of 67.1% over the same quarter of 2007, and an increase of 20.8% over the fourth quarter of 2007.

"This was a solid quarter with both revenue and EBITDAX experiencing strong growth over the first quarter of 2007. We were able to continue a trend of steady production growth despite experiencing record levels of flooding in the Illinois Basin, which caused us to shut-in some of our oil fields for periods during the quarter,” said Benjamin Hulburt, president and CEO of Rex Energy.

For more on the company, read Rex Energy: Eureka!.

Note: Rex Energy Corporation (Nasdaq:REXX) is on the "Watch List" of Growth Report, a subscription investment newsletter from Business Financial Publishing, which also publishes SmallCapInvestor.com. As a Watch List company, Rex Energy displays many characteristics found in successful stock winners, and is being closely monitored for possible inclusion in the Growth Report portfolio at a later date.

Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX), City Holding Company (Nasdaq:CHCO) and Axsys Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:AXYS) were among the new 52-week highs established during Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million.

Natus Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq:BABY), Approach Resources Inc. (Nasdaq:AREX) and K-Tron International, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTII) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are Friday's 52-week small-cap highs:

Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX), AgFeed Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:FEED) and Badger Meter, Inc. (AMEX:BMI) were among the new 52-week highs established during Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million.

James River Coal Co. (Nasdaq:JRCC), Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP) and CP HOLDRS (NYSE:HCH) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are Wednesday's 52-week small-cap highs:

Small-cap stocks gapped higher on the opening Wednesday and never looked back, closing near the highs in an impressive display of strength. In the end, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) climbed 21.32, or 3.08% to 713.39, comfortably notching the fifth-largest one-day percentage gain of the year.

Bulls came out of the gate this morning charging amid perceptions of decent earnings releases from a couple of  big name companies, and a bevy of morning economic reports didn’t contain enough bad news — or at least bad surprises — to quell the buying tide. The headline events for Wednesday’s advance actually kicked off just after the close Tuesday when earnings for Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC) exceeded expectations. The market also saw earnings news from banking giant JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and smaller firm Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) as perhaps the light at the end of a dark tunnel for financial institutions that were hit hard by the recent credit crunch and the downfall of Bear Stearns.

It was heartening, if somewhat risky, to see investors find the silver lining in the aforementioned economic reports. Before the regular opening, traders were faced with CPI and Housing Starts, and then Industrial Production data early into the session. The inflation data was essentially in line with the market forecast, and . . .

Brigham Exploration Co. (Nasdaq:BEXP), Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX) and Exponent, Inc. (Nasdaq:EXPO) were among the new 52-week highs established during Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million.

T-3 Energy Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:TTES), United States Oil Fund LP (AMEX:USO) and CP HOLDRS (NYSE:HCH) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are Tuesday's 52-week small-cap highs:

WSI Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:WSCI), K-Tron International, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTII) and Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP) were among the new 52-week highs established during Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million. 

Argan, Inc. (AMEX:AGX), Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX) and Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are today's 52-week small-cap highs:

Rex Energy Corporation (Nasdaq: REXX) is a small-cap lion on the prowl to find those elusive oil and gas pockets in some of the oldest regions left untouched and abandoned by many of the biggest companies.

Riding a wave of improved drilling techniques, better exploration technologies and soaring demand, Rex Energy is off to a fast and furious start as a public company. With oil and natural gas prices shooting to stratospheric heights, smaller companies with a track record and decent potential have enticed investors to take notice.

Since emerging through an initial public offering last summer from a melange of partnerships and tiny entities, Rex Energy has roared to life with a steady stream of announcements of added drilling acreage and project successes.

Industry analysts have issued favorable reports on Rex Energy, with Thomson Financial finding that the five firms following the company have given the stock either a “buy” or “strong buy” rating.
 
The trading range for Rex Energy shares since the late-July IPO at $11 has been fairly wide, with the low of $7.55 coming last Sept. 14 and the $17.95 high seen on Feb. 26, following the release of impressive fourth-quarter results, discounting one-time charges. Shares have declined since then (closing at $16.25 on Wednesday), mostly on the overall market’s sour mood and a speedup in the announced departure of company president Thomas Shields. The stock offering did allow Rex Energy to pay off three-quarters of its outstanding debt and set up a new credit line.