Midday Movers: Pump Up the Volume

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Several small-cap stocks were moving on above-average volume during Friday's session.

Synovus Financial (SNV) dropped by 74 cents, or 20.8%, to $2.83 after the company late Thursday posted a loss of $437.7 million, or $1.27 a share, swelling from a year ago and nearly doubling the loss analysts expected. Volume topped 43.8 million shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 13.3 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Elan (ELN) tumbled by $1, or 15.5%, to $5.44 after reports that European regulators are investigating reports of 23 cases of Tysabri patients with a potentially fatal brain infection. Tysabri is a multiple sclerosis drug developed by Elan and partner Biogen Idec (BIIB). Volume topped 32.6 million shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 2.7 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Grubb & Ellis (GBE) rose by 24 cents, or 16%, to $1.74 after the company said it would sell 900,000 shares of convertible preferred stock for $90 million in gross proceeds in order to boost capital levels. Some investors posting on Internet message boards said the announcement effectively means massive dilution to save the company. Volume topped 2.2 million shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 867,000, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Columbia Laboratories (CBRX) slumped by 25 cents, or nearly 20%, to $1.02 after the company said it will sell 10.9 million shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 5,450,000 shares of its common stock in a registered direct offering. The transaction will raise approximately $11.7 million, the company said. Each unit will be sold at a negotiated price of $1.08 per unit. Volume topped 2 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 182,000, according to the Nasdaq.