The Night Watch: Alloy Gains Ground, West Marine Dives

After-hours traders again had little news to focus on Wednesday, and as a result, widely held industrial and technology shares were occupying most of the spots on the Instinet volume leader board.

One exception was Farmer Mac (AGM). The stock was the most active issue, but it was unchanged from the 4 p.m. EDT close at $25.60. During regular trading, Farmer Mac lost almost 15%. Last week, the company asked the New York Stock Exchange to investigate trading in its stock, which Farmer Mac believes has been under siege of late by short-sellers.

Overall, volume was on the light side. In the first hour of extra trading, about 1.5 million shares changed hands among the 20 most active stocks on the Instinet platform.

Cisco (CSCO) was up 0.1% to $15.67, and Intel (INTC) was unchanged at $27.28. The Nasdaq 100 Unit Trust (QQQ) was flat at $30.29.

Among the few companies with news, Alloy (ALOY), a direct marketing company that focuses its efforts on young people, was up 3.4% to $13.54. After the close, the company said it turned a profit in the latest first quarter and beat analysts' estimates. West Marine (WMAR), however, dropped 12% to $14.90 after the boating products seller said same-store sales fell 1.9% in May.

Elsewhere, Procter & Gamble (PG) was inching up 0.2% to $87.20. Microsoft (MSFT) and the S&P 500 Depositary Receipts (SPY) were unchanged. Oracle (ORCL) was up 1%, and Siebel (SEBL) was adding 1.4%.

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