Early Movers: Pump Up the Volume

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Several small-cap stocks were poised to move on above-average volume during Wednesday's session

Novavax (NVAX) rose by 7 cents, or 1.8%, to $3.92 in the premarket session after the company said it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Xcellerex to develop a large-scale manufacturing process for its 2009 H1N1 influenza VLP vaccine. The three-month average daily volume for Novavax is 8.1 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Cascade Financial (CASB) surged by 55 cents, or 35.7%, to $2.09 in the premarket session after the company late Tuesday said it had third-quarter earnings of $1 million, or 9 cents a share, After adjustments for the preferred stock dividend and accretion of the issuance discount on the U.S. Treasury preferred stock. Analysts had expected a loss of 53 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters. The three-month average daily volume for Cascade Financial is 34,000, according to Yahoo! Finance.

CombinatoRx (CRXX) jumped by 17 cents, or 12.8%, to $1.50 in the premarket session after the company said data from a 12-month phase II trial demonstrated that Synavive-treated subjects with knee osteoarthritis maintained efficacy levels. "Synavive appears to be well-tolerated and efficacious in reducing the signs and symptoms of knee OA over a 3 to 12-month period," said Robert Forrester, interim president and CEO of CombinatoRx. The three-month average daily volume for CombinatoRx is 715,000, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Antigenics (AGEN) plummeted by 89 cents, or 42.6%, to $1.20 in the premarket session after the company said it was told by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency to anticipate a negative opinion on the marketing authorization application for Oncophage in early-stage, localized renal cell carcinoma. The three-month average daily volume for Antigenics is 2.8 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York.

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