Nasdaq hits record to start September | Airport screenings fall | Time for small caps?

WED, SEP 01, 2021

EVENING BRIEF

AS OF WED, SEP 01, 2021 • 04:11 ET

DJIA		35312.53
		-0.14%	-48.20

S&P 500		4524.09
		+0.03%	+1.41

NASDAQ		15309.38
		+0.33%	+50.15

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DOW
NAME	LAST	CHG	%CHG
AAPL	152.51	+0.68	+0.45%
INTC	53.67	-0.39	-0.72%
MSFT	301.83	-0.05	-0.02%

S&P 500
NAME	LAST	CHG	%CHG
WFC	43.45	-2.25	-4.92%
AAPL	152.51	+0.68	+0.45%
F	13.11	+0.08	+0.61%

NASDAQ
NAME	LAST	CHG	%CHG
AAPL	152.51	+0.68	+0.45%
AMD	109.99	-0.73	-0.66%
NVDA	224.41	+0.56	+0.25%

EDITOR'S NOTE

The S&P 500 was largely flat on Wednesday to kick off the month of September while the Nasdaq Composite hit another all-time high.

But it was small cap stocks that made some of the biggest moves in the market. The Russell 2000 index, the benchmark for that group, gained 0.6% Wednesday following a 2.1% gain in August.

The action in small cap stocks is tied to a bigger trade, according to analysts and investors, who say the shares move higher with value stocks and cyclical stocks and expect them to begin to outperform around the end of the year as Covid outbreaks peak and the economic data improves.

"To me, the biggest thing that's happening here is Covid and delta," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group told CNBC. "We're setting ourselves up for a second round of a mini reopening where delta peaks and when it does, confidence returns, jobs reports pick up and that should take portfolio managers back towards cyclicals, small and international stocks."

Still, September is generally a month investors look to for a pullback, especially this year since there hasn't been a correction of 5% since last October.

Solar stock Sunrun, whose stock is down about 30% for the year, jumped Wednesday after JPMorgan predicted a comeback that would take the shares 90% higher. The bank also added the stock to its top picks for September.

Zoom shares bounced on news that Ark's Cathie Wood bought 200,000 shares of the video conferencing company on the dip, when it crashed by about 16% Tuesday.