The Money Wise guys are back in the studio after a break and as always, they start with an an overview of Wall Street’s performance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an increase of 645 points, or 1.6%, while the S&P 500 was up by 48 points, or 0.9%. The NASDAQ also experienced a rise, gaining 46 points, or 0.2%. Year-to-date, the Dow Jones is up 6.1%, the S&P 500 has increased by 17.7%, and the NASDAQ has surged by 22.6%. During the week, significant market activity was observed, including intraday all-time highs for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ, although neither closed at those highs. The discussion pointed out the ongoing dominance of big-cap tech companies in driving market performance, with the NASDAQ up 22.6% by mid-July. The conversation also touched on Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s recent testimony and a lighter Consumer Price Index report, which initially boosted market sentiment.

Interestingly, there was notable profit-taking in large-cap tech stocks, with the sale volume indicating computer program trading. This profit-taking benefitted smaller asset classes, like small caps and mid caps, leading to a significant day for diversified portfolios. One standout statistic was the performance differential on Thursday between the Russell 2000 (small cap index) and the NASDAQ, marking the largest such difference since 1986. However, there was no follow-through on Friday, with investments shifting back into large-cap leaders. The market cap-weighted S&P 500 outperformed its equally weighted counterpart, with the former up nearly 18% for the year compared to the latter's 7%. The Russell 2000, though improved, still lagged significantly behind, highlighting the ongoing performance gap.