David beats Goliath today.

The NASDAQ index has been the Goliath in 2024. The gains for the index reached close to 25%. That is huge – and it's only July.

Meanwhile, the small guy on the block, the small-cap Russell 2000 has suffered. Before today, the gain for the year was only 1% – 2%. When the NASDAQ rises by 25% and the small-cap Russell is only 1/2%, it might as well been negative.

Today, the Russell 2000 took out its slingshot and slay the Nasdaq giant.

The final numbers are showing:

  • NASDAQ index fell -364.04 points or -1.95% to 18283.41. That was the worst trading day since April 30 and the fourth worst day for the year (the worst day was on January 31 with a decline of -2.23%)
  • Russell 2000 Ross 73.28 points or 3.57% to 2125.03.. That was its best day of the year and the best day going back to November 14 when the index surged 5.44%

In between those extremes, the Dow Industrial Average rose, and the S&P index fell. The final numbers are showing:

  • Dow Industrial Average average rose 32.39 points or 0.08% at 39753.76
  • S&P index fell -49.37 points or -0.88% at 5584.55
  • NASDAQ index fell -364.04 points or -1.95% at 18283.41
  • Russell 2000+73.28 points or 3.57% at 2125.03

Of note is that although the S&P index fell, 7 of the 11 sectors actually rose with only four declining.

The losing sectors were led by

  • Information technology sector which fell -2.74%
  • telecommunications services also tumbled by -2.56%
  • consumer discretionary fell 1.47%

The winners today included:

  • Real estate surged 2.66%
  • Utilities rose 1.84%
  • Materials rose 1.49%.
  • Industrials rose 1.24%.
  • Energy rose 1.09%

Needless to say the Magnificent 7 did not have a good day after leading the market all through 2024:

  • Tesla tumbled -8.44% after it delayed its Robo taxi press conference. The price is now slightly negative on the year after recent gains
  • Meta Platforms fell -4.11%.
  • Amazon fell -2.37%
  • Nvidia fell -5.57%
  • Alphabet fell -2.93%
  • Apple snapped its seven-day went straight with a decline of -2.32%
  • Microsoft fell -2.48%

David slayed Goliath today, but the giant still has some life and tomorrow may be another day. For what would make life worse for Goliath, CLICK HERE