The Fed held rates steady with two hawkish dissents, Oracle’s aggressive long-term targets lifted AI names, but Alphabet fell about 9% after missing expectations.
A wave of AI-related deals sent semiconductor shares soaring, helping the Nasdaq rally while investors prepared for the Fed and crucial earnings from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet.
Meta’s offering and Anthropic’s IPO filing answered questions about where the money will come from.
I’ve mentioned the equal-weight S&P as an important indicator before. But now, I’m watching the Russell 2000 because it might have even better guidance for traders and investors.
Let’s dig in following an up day on Wall Street to see what’s happened and what to expect.
Brent topped $116 and stocks pulled back on fears of renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities after the midterm elections. For the week, small caps led with the Russell 2000 up 2% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped.
Worries about the sustainability of the AI trade surfaced once again, driving down a swath of related stocks, but other stocks rallied as Treasury yields dropped the most since August 2025, seeing equal-weight vs cap-weight the most extreme since 2024.
The gap is closing, but the opportunity is in new leaders, not broken AI names.
Blowout SpaceX results lifted a swath of AI names, sending the Nasdaq up over 1%.
Easing long-term yields and oil prices lifted the Russell 2000 to its best day since early August and saw 9 of 11 S&P 500 sectors higher, even as weakness in Tech dragged on the cap-weighted index.
