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Mid-cap stocks have been anything but middling in 2009.

They’ve been the sweet spot for investors still leery of the large-cap stocks that burned them in the recent past. Too many big-name companies also seem to be offering only downsizing as a strategy these days.

With large caps and small caps garnering all the attention, mid caps usually fall between the cracks.

Yet mid-cap growth funds are up 34 percent and mid-cap value funds up 31 percent this year, according to Lipper Inc. Both have surpassed the 26 percent increase of the average diversified stock fund.

"Mid-cap stocks are a neglected part of the market, a well-kept secret not a lot of investors know about," said Patrick Dunkerley, portfolio manager for Scout Mid Cap Fund, which is up 40 percent this year. "It’s no surprise they’re outperforming this year, since half the time coming out of an economic downturn mid caps outperform and half the time small caps outperform."

Mid-cap (which stands for middle capitalization) stocks are loosely defined as those of companies with capitalizations between $2 billion and $10 billion. It is a squishy term whose parameters can vary considerably from investment firm to investment firm. It basically encompasses companies that aren’t either big or small, and that concept is in the eye of the beholder.

"Mid-cap companies can still be nimble like their small-cap counterparts and aren’t as bloated as the larger companies," said Scott Grittinger, principal in McCarthy Grittinger Weil Financial Group LLC in Milwaukee. "They have the ability to grow but aren’t considered risky start-ups anymore."

With money now heading to more aggressive investments such as junk bonds; emerging market stocks and bonds; and smaller stocks, noted Grittinger, mid-cap stocks offer a modestly aggressive possibility. A mid-cap company typically has a better management team, more financial liquidity and greater opportunity to raise capital through loans and initial public offerings than the small-cap counterparts.

"Mid-cap companies have had good strong earnings, and many have beaten the estimates," observed Tom Roseen, senior research analyst with Lipper Inc. in Denver. "Investors are reaching for larger capitalizations but don’t seem interested in reaching for the biggest of the big."

Mid-cap portfolio managers sometimes have a blend of mid-cap and small-cap stocks but won’t venture into large-cap territory, Roseen said. Only if a portfolio manager has a strong buy-and-hold philosophy will a mid cap that has grown into a large cap be kept.

Here are some mid-cap stocks priced right and worthy of investment, according to Scout Mid Cap’s Dunkerley:

— Cimarex Energy Co., a producer of natural gas and oil whose stock is inexpensive, has a long runway ahead of it as it drills its properties, expands production and increases earnings.

— Priceline.com Inc., a global phenomenon with about 70 percent of its profits coming from Europe, has been increasing revenue at a 30 percent annual clip while taking market share from online sites and travel agents.

— Terex Corp., a maker of road pavers, construction machinery and mining equipment, is a cheap stock that will benefit whenever the world’s economy perks up and infrastructure needs are being met.

— Allegheny Technologies Inc., a fabricator of high-strength metals used in the oil and gas industries, deepwater drilling and jet planes, is out of favor now but well-positioned for the long haul.

Scout Mid Cap Fund has 66 stock holdings with average market capitalization of $6.2 billion. This "no-load" (no sales charge) fund requires a $1,000 minimum initial investment and has an annual expense ratio of 1.4 percent.

"We do rigorous fundamental research on companies, and we like a strong liquidity position, strong cash flow, strong balance sheet, good valuation and a strong catalyst to drive growth," said Dunkerley. "We really don’t like ‘gotchas’ like bad management or litigation."

Roseen sees a number of mid caps positioned to do well. In technology, he points out Salesforce.com Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc.. Among retailers, he notes Urban Outfitters Inc., Tiffany & Co. and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Turning to mid-cap funds, Grittinger especially likes T. Rowe Price Mid Cap Growth Fund, up 39 percent this year, because of proven portfolio manager Brian Berghuis who has been with it since 1992. The fund was closed to new investors in 2003 because of rapid asset growth but reopened in 2008 after the market drop had reduced its size.

"Unlike many mid-cap growth mangers, Berghuis does pay attention to valuations, and that appeals to us," said Grittinger, also noting that solid balance sheets and diversity of industries are hallmarks of that fund’s holdings. "Growth at any price is a loser’s game."

The largest holdings in its 141-stock portfolio include Agnico-Eagle Mines, Global Payments Inc., Marriott International Inc., The Western Union Co., Expedia Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc.. T. Rowe Price Mid Cap Growth is a no-load fund with a $2,500 minimum initial investment and an annual expense ratio of 0.82 percent.

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The Toronto stock market closed slightly higher Friday as investors tried to take the Dubai credit crisis in stride, hoping that it won't stall the global economic recovery.

"Really, after a pretty good dunking yesterday, the TSX is holding in quite nicely today," said Blair Falconer, portfolio manager at HSBC Securities Canada.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed 27.61 points higher at 11,464.41 after tumbling 200 points Thursday in the wake of an announcement that Dubai World, a government investment company, had asked creditors to postpone its forthcoming payments on US$60 billion in debt until May.

Thursday's loss was responsible for a TSX loss of 114.92 points or one per cent this past week.

New York markets finished sharply lower Friday, catching up with the losses racked up by other global markets after being closed Thursday over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

The Dow Jones industrial averaged closed down 154.48 points at 10,309.92 at the end of a shortened session. The blue chip index was flat for the week, up a slight eight points.

The Dubai announcement Wednesday stoked fears of a potential default and contagion around the global financial system, particularly in emerging markets. But a day later, investors were taking a harder look at what the Dubai debt crises means.

"This is tantamount to a sovereign default and so that's what makes it a lot more serious than most," added Falconer.

He observed that investors felt better Friday knowing that Canadian financials have limited or no exposure to the Dubai debt and "also the fact that the European banks, which do have exposure, cleared the decks fairly quickly by saying here's what our exposure is."

"People were able to say OK, it's spread around fairly well; it's not one country taking a major hit; it looks OK."

The Canadian dollar was down 0.09 of a cent to 94.21 cents US after a flight to the greenback had sent the loonie down 1.35 US cents on Thursday.

The financial sector led gainers, up 0.8 per cent with investors confident the Canadian banking sector won't be affected by the Dubai issue. CIBC (TSX: CM) gained 80 cents to $68.80 while Royal Bank (TSX: RY) advanced 82 cents to $56.70.

Railway stocks took the industrials sector ahead 0.91 per cent, with Canadian National Railways (TSX: CNR) up 64 cents to $55.64. CN was meeting with the union representing 1,700 locomotive engineers in advance of a midnight Friday night strike deadline.

Commodities were also weaker, but well off early lows, with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange falling $1 advance payday loans.91 from Wednesday's close to US$76.05 a barrel. The energy sector was off 0.12 per cent.

The gold sector was off 1.83 per cent as bullion prices also gave up ground with the December gold contract on the Nymex down $12.80 to US$1,174.20 an ounce. Iamgold (TSX: IMG) lost 36 cents to $19.68 while Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) faded 24 cents to $13.04.

December copper was down seven cents to US$3.09 a pound and the base metals sector fell per 0.92 per cent. Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) lost 48 cents to $12.51.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved down 13.77 points to 1,405.6.

New York's Nasdaq composite index lost 37.61 points to 2,138.44 while the S&P 500 was down 19.14 points at 1,091.49.

The latest trouble on markets came as the U.S. kicked off the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season – coincidentally called Black Friday. Investors will be tracking news from retailers for insights into how much consumers will spend in the coming month. Consumer spending is the biggest driver of the U.S. economy.

European bourses advanced following steep losses on Thursday. London's FTSE 100 was 0.99 per cent higher, Frankfurt's DAX was ahead 1.27 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 1.15 per cent.

In economic news, Statistics Canada says the country's current account fell to a record deficit in the third quarter to a seasonally adjusted $13.1 billion. The agency says the shortfall was largely due to a $4-billion deficit in the exchange of goods, as imports outstripped exports.

On the corporate front, Mosaid Technologies Inc. (TSX: MSD) said Thursday it earned $5 million or 49 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 31 compared with a loss of $3.4 million or 33 cents per diluted share a year ago. Revenue in the quarter totalled $17.3 million, up from $13.8 million. Its shares ran ahead $1.20 to $19.06.

Canwest Global Communications (TSXV:CGS) said overall revenue in its latest quarter fell to $624 million, down 13 per cent from a year earlier. The media company has put its conventional television operations under court protection while working out a restructuring plan with creditors.

Canwest's net loss for its fiscal fourth quarter was reduced to $111 million from $1.02 billion a year ago, when the company recognized a number of extraordinary expenses. Its shares on the Venture exchange were unchanged at eight cents.

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China’s government-funded economic growth faces an “inevitable” slump because the nation’s export-led strategy isn’t sustainable, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to the Chinese central bank.

“The investment rate cannot increase forever,” Yu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in a speech in Melbourne last night. “The growth rate of China’s exports cannot remain persistently higher than that of the global economy. Overcapacity will surface and correction is inevitable.”

China’s economy grew 8.9 percent in the third quarter, the fastest expansion in a year, spurred by an unprecedented $1.3 trillion of loans this year and a $586 billion stimulus package running through 2010. China’s leaders may highlight inflation concerns at a meeting this month to set economic priorities for 2010 without changing existing fiscal and monetary policies, economists said yesterday.

“Expansionary fiscal and monetary policies have succeeded in arresting a fall in growth,” Yu said. “However, the medium and long-term impacts of the expansionary policies are worrying.”

Those effects include overcapacity, a decline in investment efficiency that will weigh on long-term growth, poor infrastructure efficiency, an increase in non-performing loans, and loose monetary policy, he said.

“There is no need for China to drop the benchmark interest rate to such a low level,” he said. “If commercial banks had been allowed to make decisions based purely on economic considerations, growth of credit and money supply would not have been so fast. There would have been less need to worry about the possibility of a rising non-performing loan ratio, a worsening economic structure and resurgent asset bubbles.”

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Human Genome Sciences Inc. announced today it’s submitted its second application so far this year to federal regulators to sell a drug on the market, this most recent being for its hepatitis C treatment called Zalbin.

With these applications, including a third that the Rockville biotech plans to submit in the first half of next year for a lupus treatment, Human Genome Sciences hopes to sell its first drugs on the commercial market by the end of next year — a major milestone for the 17-year-old company.

In May, Human Genome Sciences applied to the Food and Drug Administration for approval to sell its anthrax treatment, though that submission hit a stumbling block earlier this month when regulators said they still needed further information before they could sign off on it. The company has already sold several lots of that drug to the federal government for its national stockpile.

For Zalbin, Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ:HGSI) is relying on results from two late-stage human clinical studies that enrolled a total 2,255 patients. The data showed that Zalbin performed comparably to its competitor, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.’s Pegasys, with half the number of injections — every two weeks instead of every week.

But those results, while meeting federally set endpoints, failed to excite Wall Street, which drove down the company’s stock price by 55 percent in one day to new lows below $1. Analysts said at the time that the study data didn’t differentiate Zalbin enough from the pharmacy’s current offerings and expressed skepticism that the fewer dosages alone could attract enough physicians and patients to result in healthy market share fast cash advance loan.

Instead, investors are more anxiously awaiting Human Genome Sciences’ third offering to the commercial market: what could be the first federally approved lupus treatment in decades. The local company’s drug, called Benlysta, exceeded expectations in two late-stage studies announced in July and November, sending the company’s market cap and stock soaring to new 52-week highs.

Under a partnership agreement signed in 2006 with Novartis AG for Zalbin, Human Genome Sciences will sell the drug jointly and share equally in costs and profits for U.S. sales if it gets approved. Novartis will apply by year’s end for approval to sell the drug in other countries, starting with Europe, under the brand name Joulferon.

The partnership will yield Human Genome Sciences royalties, and as much as $300 million more in payments from Novartis for meeting certain regulatory and commercial milestones.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about 3.2 million Americans have chronic hepatitis C, a viral infection that kills 8,000 to 10,000 people each year.

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A surge in pre-holiday listings was blamed for troubles with eBay Inc.'s search system for much of the weekend.

The problem began Saturday morning when shoppers began noticing that they couldn't find items for sale using eBay's search in the U.S. and some overseas marketplaces.

The company reported the problem at 11:17 a.m. on Saturday in a note on its site, but eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) reported full service was restored by Sunday afternoon.

The company said that it saw a 33 percent increase in live listings, compared to last year, which triggered its weekend problems.

Ebay further said full credits for all affected items will be issued for this title search outage, according to its outage policy, referring users to its page here fast payday loans.

President Lorrie Norrington issued an apology, saying, "We know this is a really busy time for sellers ramping up for the holiday season. We’re sorry that this technical issue occurred, causing search to return limited or no results throughout the day Saturday, and we regret any potential impact to your business."

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Boxing Day deals in November?

As the economy continues to wobble, Canadian retailers are offering deeper discounts, keeping stores open longer, and using frequent and sometimes shorter sales to attract whatever holiday shoppers might be in the market this year.

Sears Canada said Thursday it is offering "Boxing Day" pricing on a wide range of items this weekend. For three days only.

Wal-Mart Canada said it’s dropping a "record number" of prices between now and Christmas to help Canadians stay on budget this holiday season.

The retailers cite specific discounts on everything from iPods to cooking sets and clothing.

While the idea of offering Boxing Day deals ahead of Christmas started a few years ago, this could be the first time the term has been used this early in the season, industry analysts said.

They say it’s an indication just how competitive holiday sales could become this year as unemployment remains stubbornly high and consumers worry about future job losses.

"For sure the consumer is very price sensitive and so those who offer the opening price points, the sense there will be good deals, are going to attract more traffic into the stores," said Wendy Evans, president of the retail consulting firm Evans and Company.

The idea is to grab consumers’ attention and an early share of the holiday market "by creating the perception of being very price oriented," Evans said.

Grocery stores, like Loblaw Cos. Ltd., which now sell clothing as well as food, are predicting price competition this holiday season will be fierce. That means department stores, like Sears, "are going to be dragged into the fray," Evans said.

Sears Canada’s chief executive officer Dene Rogers vowed earlier this week to use "aggressive marketing" strategies to boost sales, noting consumers are worried about future employment.

The retailer, which reported Wednesday that sales fell 7.6 per cent to $1.3 billion in the previous three months, wants "to convey to customers that we have the holiday season’s most wanted products at prices that can’t be beat," Rogers said.

Wal-Mart Canada, which said it expects to cut prices on 18,000 items this month, 20 per cent more than last year, said it’s trying to help Canadians make their dollars go further.

The price-cutting comes as a new survey suggests this will be the worst season for holiday shopping since 2005.

Just under six in 10 Canadians say they plan to spend the same amount as they did last year, about one-third plan to spend less and 8 per cent plan to spend more, according to TNS Canadian Facts.

"We often hear talk of so-called cautious optimism. But these results suggest now is a time for cautious negativism. Clearly, the floor hasn’t collapsed but it might be time to start looking for cracks," TNS vice-president and research director Michael Antecol said in a statement.

The Toronto-based research firm’s Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 95.5 points. That’s down 2.5 points since last month and down 3.7 points since August.

The numbers have slipped in all categories, TNS also said. Consumers are less confident about the present and the future and also say they’re less likely to make a big purchase at this time.

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Facebook Inc. stock's price on private exchanges has jumped up to 42 percent in the past four months as membership of the social networking site topped 300 million and the company turned cash flow positive, according to Bloomberg News.

Facebook shares are currently selling for about $21 each at SecondMarket, up from $14 .77 in July.

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Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson is launching a new gold fund, which will include $250 million of his own personal investment, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Paulson is among a number of hedge funds managers stocking up on the precious metal, for centuries considered a hedge against inflation, as governments around the world ramp up spending to combat recession.

Citing three investors, the Journal said the fund will focus on gold mining stocks and gold-related investments.

Paulson spoke about the new fund, which will begin on January 1, at a meeting with his investors in New York on Tuesday.

Paulson’s combined gold and gold-related investments make up about half of his firm Paulson & Co’s holdings bad credit cash loans.

Paulson already owns big stakes in gold miners AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, Kinross Gold Corp and Gold Fields Ltd.

He is also by far the biggest shareholder of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-back exchange-traded fund (ETF). His investment in the ETF is valued at about $3.53 billion on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Paulson & Co declined to comment.

(Reporting by Frank Tang; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

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The dollar slipped on Monday as traders took a lack of agreement on currencies among Asian and U.S. leaders as a cue to sell the greenback, even as speculation of a near-term yuan appreciation cooled.

The U.S. currency also came under selling pressure with European shares rising and gold hitting a fresh record high, suggesting an increase in risk appetite.

The United States and China failed to reach an agreement over currencies at a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore over the weekend, resulting in the omission to a reference to "market-oriented exchange rates" from the communique.

Analysts said the APEC meeting offered little new direction on currencies, which traders took as a green light to keep the dollar’s ongoing downtrend intact on the view that U.S. interest rates will stay low as those in other countries eventually rise.

"There were no comments against the weak dollar (from APEC), and that’s giving the market free rein to sell the dollar," said Ante Praefcke, currency strategist at Commerzbank in London.

The disagreement between Washington and Beijing comes as U.S. President Barack Obama visits China this week. The yuan’s peg to the dollar keeps the Chinese currency weak against its U.S. counterpart, and any yuan appreciation is seen weakening the dollar.

The dollar was down roughly 0.5% to 74.990, near a 15-month trough hit last week.

The euro rose 0.4% to $1.4975, edging closer to the psychologically key $1.50 level. Market participants said the euro was supported by a 0 installment payday loans.7% rise in European shares in early trade.

The dollar slipped 0.3 % to ¥89.50.

Traders offered limited reaction to data showing Japan’s economy grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in the third quarter as stimulus lifted consumer spending and capital spending rose.

U.S. retail sales awaited

Trading ranges were small as the market watched comments from the International Monetary Fund on Monday saying a stronger yuan was part of the reforms Beijing needed to boost domestic consumption.

Also on Monday, a Chinese Commerce Ministry official said the country should keep the currency stable as it was beneficial to a global recovery.

Traders were also looking at flow direction, watching for yen outflows from Japanese investment trusts launching on Monday and Tuesday, as well as looking for signs of yen repatriation from U.S. Treasury coupon flows which fell due on Nov. 15.

A final reading of euro zone inflation for October is due to be released later Monday, but with little in the way of economic data or events in the European session, analysts said the market would be watching U.S. retail sales due later in the day.

A Reuters poll showed expectations for sales to rise in October, reversing a fall the previous month, and analysts said a strong reading boost risk appetite, which may push the dollar lower. 

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Japanese Trade Minister Masayuki Naoshima apologized for speaking about third-quarter GDP data to oil industry executives on Monday ahead of its official release.

“I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t know it was due to be released at 8:50 a.m. (2350 GMT) so I thought it would be OK to talk about it,” Naoshima told reporters.

“I apologize for causing trouble and I’ll be careful from now on.”

Naoshima added that he told the industry officials about the GDP figures because people were concerned about the state of the economy.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Writing by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Rodney Joyce)

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