Select a category

Small-cap stocks moved higher early Tuesday. The Russell 2000 was recently up nearly 1%, outperforming the S&P 500 in morning action.

The morning's trading follows a surge in interest in smaller shares. DataTrek Research said in a note Monday that, based on Google Trends, searches for "IWM"—the iShares Russell 2000 exchange-traded fund—recently jumped to multiyear highs.

That comes as the index itself has climbed lately, outperforming the S&P 500 over the past month and, according to Goldman Sachs research, posting its best performance against the Nasdaq 100 since 2002 in a recent two-week period.

"Now, the Russell’s longer-run underperformance versus the S&P 500 has started to reverse, and small investors are taking notice," DataTrek wrote. "Attention drives capital flows. When that focus and money goes into a single stock, it is fair to call it a 'meme' investment."

Some of their recent rise can be attributed to investors' belief that interest-rate cuts are on the horizon, since lower rates can benefit smaller companies that often carry more debt than their larger counterparts. Second-quarter earnings, however, could take some steam out of smaller shares if they point toward a weaker second half—especially, perhaps, if big companies turn in stronger results.

DataTrek believes small caps can continue to perform. "When that interest and capital flows to an entire segment of the market, we have trouble dismissing it outright as a fad," its note read. "No doubt U.S. small caps will be volatile over the next few months, but we still believe they can do well" over the balance of the third quarter.

Comerica Wealth Management predicts two interest-rate cuts this year, a backdrop it said Monday provides "the potential for future tailwinds as the U.S. economy avoids recession."

Read more on Investopedia

Sherwin-Williams (SHW) shares rose Tuesday after the paint maker posted better-than-forecast second-quarter adjusted profit on higher residential sales. The paint maker also raised its 2024 profit outlook.

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.70 jumped 12.5% year-over-year and beat the $3.46 consensus estimate of analysts polled by Visible Alpha. However, revenue of $6.27 billion was up less than 1% and trailed expectations of $6.33 billion.

The company raised its full-year outlook for both EPS and adjusted EPS. EPS for 2024 is now seen between $10.30 and $10.60, up from April's guidance of $10.05 to $10.55, while adjusted EPS projections were revised up to a range of $11.10 to $11.40 from $10.85 to $11.35.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Heidi Petz said residential sales were driving demand for the company's paint products, although "General Industrial demand was soft in all regions."

"We are clearly seeing a return on last year’s growth investments in residential repaint, where volume increased by a mid-single digit percentage in a down market," Petz said. "We’re also encouraged by growth in new residential, where we expect continued momentum over the back half of the year."

Sherwin-Williams shares were 3.3% higher at $333.02 as of 10:18 a.m. ET Tuesday. They have gained about 7% this year.

Read more on Investopedia

Shares in NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI) fell sharply ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell after the Dutch-based chipmaker issued a weaker-than-expected current quarter outlook amid a slowdown in spending by automotive customers and rising geopolitical risks.

The company guided third-quarter net sales between $3.15 billion and $3.35 billion, with the high end of that forecast falling short of the $3.36 billion expected by analysts. It sees adjusted earnings in the period of $3.42 per share at the midpoint, missing the Street estimate of $3.61 a share.

For the three-month period ending June 30, sales in the chipmaker’s automotive segment contracted 7% from a year earlier to $1.73 billion, recording its largest quarterly revenue decline in more than three years, as customers in auto end markets reined in spending due to macroeconomic uncertainty.

Like other chipmakers, NXP also faces increasing geopolitical risks from Beijing’s volatile trade relations with Washington and Brussels, with tightening export curbs potentially slowing the company’s sales to China, a country that represented around 33% of NXP’s total revenue last year.

The chipmaker’s share price has oscillated within a rising wedge over the past twelve months helping to establish easily identifiable support and resistance areas. This well-known pattern, consisting of two upward-sloping converging trendlines, typically occurs after an uptrend and signals a potential reversal in a security's price.

Interestingly, share turnover has increased in recent trading sessions, possibly indicating market participants expect post-earnings volatility. Indeed, the stock sits poised to open sharply lower Tuesday, bringing the lower portion of the rising wedge pattern into play.

NXP shares were down 7.9% at $261.38 in recent premarket trading.

Looking ahead, investors should monitor the $248 level, an area on the chart where the price will likely find support from the wedge’s lower trendline. It’s also worth pointing out that there will be a greater chance of the stock resuming its longer-term uptrend from this level if the relative strength index (RSI) flashes an oversold reading below 30 at the same time.

Read more on Investopedia

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee has raised the interest rate by 50 basis points, from 26.25% to 26.75% amid surging inflation.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, announced this at the end of the apex bank’s 296th MPC meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday, July 23.

The MPC adjusted the asymmetric corridor around the MPR from +100 to -300 to +500 to -100 basis points.

The MPC also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of deposit money banks at 45% and merchant banks at 14% and retained the Liquidity Ratio at 30%.

According to him, the decision to further increase the interest rate is to tackle the country’s rising core inflation and food inflation which stood at 34.19 per cent and 40.87 per cent, respectively in June.

He said members of the MPC are not oblivious of the need to address the rising prices of food in Nigeria, necessitating the interest rate hike.

He said despite the June 2024 uptick in inflation, prices are expected to moderate in the near term as monetary policy gaining further traction in addition to further measurers by the fiscal authority to address food inflation.

Continue reading on Instablog

Shares in CrowdStrike (CRWD), the cybersecurity firm at the epicenter of Friday’s global tech outage, plunged more than 13% on Monday, as investors continue to assess the fallout from the software update that caused widespread disruption at banks, airlines, broadcasters, and many other businesses.

Amid the selling—the stock has lost 23% of its value over the last two sessions and has finished lower in five straight sessions—we take a closer look at the CrowdStrike chart and use technical analysis to point out important price levels where the stock may encounter support.

Since bottoming out in January 2023, CrowdStrike shares have trended steadily higher, with momentum accelerating after the 50-day moving average (MA) crossed above the 200-day MA in June last year to generate a golden cross, a chart pattern that often marks the start of a new uptrend.

However, more recently, the cybersecurity giant’s stock price first started showing signs of weakness last Thursday when it closed decisively beneath the 50-day MA, with the shares then gapping sharply lower on Friday, as chaos erupted after the firm's software update mishap. 

The selling has continued into this week, leading to a decisive close below the closely watched 200-day MA on Monday. Moreover, the outage-driven sell-off has occurred on significant trading volume, indicating conviction behind the move lower.

In the weeks ahead, it’s worth keeping an eye on these four important chart levels where the stock may attract buying interest if the shares continue to decline.

The first level sits at $261, just 1% below Monday’s close, where the stock may encounter a confluence of support from the December swing high and an uptrend line stretching back to the January 2023 low. This could also become an area for a short-term bounce, given the relative strength index (RSI) currently indicates deeply oversold conditions, with a reading below 20.

A breakdown below this area could spark a fall to around $212, a level on the chart where buyers could seek entry points near a period of consolidation preceding the late-November stock gap.

Ongoing weakness may see the shares revisit the $190 region, where they could attract support near a swing high that formed in October last year as part of the stock’s longer-term uptrend.

Finally, a deeper retracement could test lower support around $172 near a horizontal line linking a peak and trough on the chart between September and October last year.

Read more on Investopedia