Once again, small caps were the place to be. While the Dow Industrials managed a 0.59% gain, the Nasdaq 0.52% and the S&P 500 0.39%, the Russell 2000 finished up 0.79%.
Of today's top small cap movers, I am intrigued by Maguire Properties (NYSE:MPG). It's a REIT (real estate investment trust) which owns mostly office buildings and parking lots in California. In early August, Maguire defaulted on debt payments for 7 properties and had to turn them over to the bank.
The company claims better than $4 billion in assets and has a market cap of just $65 million. There has been recent moves by private equity to start buying distressed real estate. And if the Fed and Treasury are serious about supporting the commercial real estate market with loans and guarantees, beaten down REITs like Maguire Properties could be very attractive. The fact that Maguire was up 29% on nearly 8 times normal volume suggests that somebody out there thinks it's attractive
Jeff
MOF Price at posting:
29.5¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held