Daily Small Cap Market News and Stock Highlights from SmallCapVoice.com

Falling oil prices and unease over corporate earnings put pressure on stocks Friday.

Stocks are mostly lower in early trading, as investors shed positions in energy, utilities and bank shares.

News that Chevron Corp.’s refining margins fell in the second quarter is adding to the market’s worries.

On a year-over-year basis, Chevron’s overall second-quarter results are forecast to be much lower than those for 2008. Oil prices subsequently resumed their descent early Friday after a slight pop on Thursday, falling below $60 a barrel.

The market is also on edge ahead of more earnings reports, which pick up pace next week. Investors have sent major indexes down about 7 percent since mid-June on the notion that a more than 40 percent run-up in stocks this spring was unwarranted considering the problems that still plague the economy.

One bit of good news Friday: the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $26 billion in May — the lowest level in more than nine years. The report seemed to temper some of the market’s losses.

Investors are also looking to a fresh reading on consumers’ sentiment during July for more clues on the economy, to be released later Friday morning. The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment will come a day after the nation’s retailers reported generally weak sales for June. The market is concerned that consumers, whose spending drives the economy, will keep cutting back as they worry about their job security.

In the first half hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 31.06, or 0.4 percent, to 8,152.11.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 3.29, or 0.4 percent, to 879.39, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.92, or 0.2 percent, to 1,756.47.

Yesterday’s Top Performing Small Cap stock:

U.S. Geothermal Inc. (AMEX: HTM) was a SmallCapVoice.com top performer closing up over 6% on trading volume of 407.157 shares.

U.S. Geothermal Inc., a renewable energy company focused on the production of electricity from geothermal energy, owns and operates geothermal power plants at Raft River, Idaho and San Emidio, Nevada, and is developing the Neal Hot Springs project in Oregon.

Today’s SmallCapVoice.com Hot Stock to Watch:

HearAtLast Holdings, Inc. (Pink Sheets: HRAL)

HearAtLast Holdings, Inc. is a Nevada corporation that owns and operates its wholly-owned subsidiary of hearing stores co-located within select Wal-Mart stores throughout Canada. Their chain of hearing stores specializes in the sale of digital hearing aids and testing services. The Company is the affordable hearing solution for Canadians, combining the most sought after retail space in North America with convenience and location. HearAtLast provides State of the Art Hearing Testing and Dispensing services to individuals with all types of measurable hearing loss.

HearAtLast facilities sell a selection of high quality brand name hearing aids and also offer complimentary screening tests, clinical hearing tests, high end ear buds and assistive listening devices. The Company’s mission is to consolidate the highly fragmented hearing services industry while providing unparalleled service to the estimated 30+ million hearing impaired individuals throughout North America. After a prescription is approved, the independent on-site audiologists and hearing aid practitioners at HearAtLast utilize a refined process to dispense the latest in Name Brand digital hearing aids.

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