Stocks Closed Higher Yesterday, Small-Cap Russell 2000 Finally Makes New All-Time High After 3 Long Years Stocks closed higher yesterday to kick off the shortened Thanksgiving trading week. The small-cap Russell 2000 led the way again with an outsized gain of 1.47%, followed by the mid-cap S&P 400 with 1.45%. The Dow came in third with 0.99%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 0.30% and 0.27% respectively. The Russell 2000, after 3 long years, finally eclipsed their previous all-time high from 11/8/21. For context, the S&P 500 took out their previous all-time high (from 1/4/22) on 1/19/24. (Roughly two years and two weeks vs. three years.) Yesterday also saw the Dow make a new all-time high and close. Same goes for the mid-cap S&P 400. (The Dow first took out their previous high back in late 2022, while the mid-caps did it in early 2024.) The Russell was the last of the major indexes to accomplish that feat. And that bodes well for the breadth expansion that is currently underway. Some of the headlines yesterday attributed some of the rally to President-elect Trump's pick for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. The market cheered the news (which was announced last Friday after the close). He's a hedge fund manager with a deep understanding of the financial markets and the economy. Before the open yesterday, Bath & Body Works posted a positive EPS surprise of 6.52%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.99%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 2.08% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 3.21%. They were up 16.5% in the regular session following earnings. After the close, Woodward (provider of energy control solutions to Aerospace and Industrial markets) posted a positive EPS surprise of 15.6%, and a positive sales surprise of 5.90%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 6.02% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 9.96%. They were up 2.01% in the regular session before earnings, and jumped more than 13% in after-hours trade following earnings. Today we'll hear from another 157 companies on deck to report including Analog Devices, DICK'S Sporting Goods and Best Buy before the open, and Dell Technologies, CrowdStrike and HP after the close. In other news yesterday, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index came in at -0.40 vs. last month's -0.27. The 3-month average was at -0.24 vs. last month's -0.21. The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey saw the General Activity Index come in at -2.7 vs. last month's -3.0 and views for -3.9. The Production Index was at -0.9 vs. last month's 14.6. Today we'll get the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the FHFA House Price Index, New Home Sales, the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, Consumer Sentiment, and the FOMC Minutes from the last Fed meeting on 11/6-7. This week should be a busy week. The markets are closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. And then a half day on Friday (Black Friday). So everything will be compressed into 3 and a half trading days (actually, now just 2 and a half trading days including today). But it should be an exciting week, especially since stocks typically go up the week of Thanksgiving. The week is off to a great start after yesterday. Let's see if the market can keep it going today. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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