Major US stock indexes go nowhere; small caps slump
The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.2% while the Russell 2000 hit a speed bump, falling 1.1% on the day.
It was a relatively quiet session with total volumes off about 10% from their trailing one-month average as traders await a bevy of market-moving catalysts on deck. This week, we’ll get a ton of US labor market data, the Federal Reserve meets, and a significant chunk of the S&P 500 is due to report earnings, including Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
Consumer discretionary was far and away the best-performing S&P sector ETF, up 1.7% thanks in large part to a 5.6% surge in shares of Tesla. Energy was at the bottom of the table as commodity prices hit their lowest level of 2024.
McDonald’s was a big gainer on earnings, up 3.7% as investors warmed to its plan to refocus on value offerings after suffering a decline in same-store sales.
The slump in small caps was punctuated by a decline in smaller US financial institutions, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF off 2.1% in its worst day since late May.
