Small-Stock Indexes Lose Ground On Profit Warnings, Oil Prices
Dow Jones Newswires</br></br>NEW YORK -- Selling in the tobacco group combined with profit warnings and high oil prices to nudge small-capitalization stocks into the minus column with the overall market.</br></br>Investors shunned tobacco stocks ahead of the government's opening arguments in its $280 billion civil racketeering lawsuit against the cigarette industry this week. Vector Group tumbled 89 cents, or 5.6%, to $14.93, and Universal Corp. lost 60 cents, or 1.4%, to 43.97, both on the New York Stock Exchange.</br></br>Large-cap Colgate-Palmolive's profit warning sent shares of consumer-products makers tumbling. Fragrance and decor company Blyth slipped 34 cents, or 1.1%, to 31.06, while scented-candle maker Yankee Candle Co. slipped 12 cents, or 0.4%, to 27.88, both on the New York Stock Exchange.</br></br>On top of these developments, oil prices closed above $46 a barrel in New York, reigniting concerns about the impact high fuel costs may have on consumer spending. When crude-oil prices rise above $45 a barrel, "you are just taking money out of people's pockets," said Michael O'Hare, head of block trading at Lehman Brothers.