Investors are watching small caps heat up on an otherwise slow Tuesday morning, with the Russell 2000 climbing 1% and outpacing its larger peers, amid growing bets on a Fed rate cut next month.
- TNA ETF is rocketing as Russell 2000 rallies. Check live prices here.
The small-cap benchmark jumped to its highest since mid-December 2024 and is now on track for its strongest monthly outperformance versus the S&P 500 since July 2024. That's a clear sign investors are shifting into more economically sensitive names on hopes of looser monetary policy.
While the Russell 2000 made a clean move higher, the S&P 500 stayed flat near 6,450, the Nasdaq 100 inched up 0.2% to 23,481 and the Dow Jones hovered around 45,300.
Wall Street is largely in wait-and-see mode ahead of Wednesday’s NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) quarterly result.
Oil prices gave back recent gains, dragging energy stocks down 0.8%. West Texas Intermediate crude fell more than 2% to $63 per barrel, snapping a four-day winning streak.
Bond yields moved slightly lower, with the 10-year Treasury yield dipping two basis points to 4.26%, showing little reaction after President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, who said she would not voluntarily resign.
Gold prices rose 0.6% to $3,385 per ounce, hitting their highest level in two weeks. Traders appear to be buying the dip in the metal amid ongoing rate-cut chatter and geopolitical uncertainties.
In crypto, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 0.3%, dropping below $110,000 and extending its losing streak to four days. Surprisingly, other crypto and altcoins showed strength with Ethereum (CRYTPO: ETH) jumping 3.8% and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) up 3.6%.
Tuesday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day % chg |
| • Russell 2000 | 2,361.69 | 1.0% |
| • Nasdaq 100 | 23,474.91 | 0.2% |
| • S&P 500 | 6,446.93 | 0.1% |
| • Dow Jones | 45,318.91 | 0.1% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) flattened at $591.18.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) inched 0.1% up to $453.26.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) edged 0.1% up to $570.82.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 0.9% to $234.49.
- The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) outperformed, up 0.6%; the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) lagged, down 0.7%.
Stocks On The Move Tuesday
- Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) rallied over 4% after its GLP-1 pill showed a 10.5% weight loss in type 2 diabetes patients.
- Heico Corp. (NYSE:HEI) soared 8% after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
- Keuring Dr. Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) fell another 5.5%, extending Monday's 11.5% drop, as investors balked at its $18.4 billion plan to acquire JDE Peet's and then split into two separate companies.
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