Russell 2000 leads the decline

14 Mar

Yesterday, we noted: ‘Today’s notable losers are NVIDIA and Tesla which are both down over 3%’. Well, we can repeat that again today, Thursday afternoon. Other tech majors are holding up so far. But it’s worth noting that the Russell 2000, which unlike the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100, has failed to make a fresh record high this year, is down 1.7% at the time of writing. As of last night it was 15% below its all-time high from November 2021. And today it’s leading the other major US indices lower. This may be a warning that all is not quite as bullish as everyone thinks. The Russell is an index of 2,000 US mid/small caps. It is a diverse index of domestically-focused stocks, so quite unlike the multinationals you find in the other majors. It has, like the Dow Transports, lagged the majors, even though it has joined in with the bull run since late October. If it manages to bounce back and recover today's lost ground, then that will help support the view that there’s more life in the bull market. But if it continues to sell off into next week, it’s a warning that something worrying is going on under the bonnet.