The mega-caps did little on Monday and the bond market was closed for Veteran's Day. Once again, the action was in the smaller-cap stocks, with the S&P 400 MidCap (MDY) rising 0.9% and the S&P 600 SmallCap (SML) and Russell 2000 (IWM) popping 1.5%. The SML and MDY continued their march into all-time-high territory (ATH) while the IWM is less than a point from breaking its 2021 ATH. So is the small-cap resurgence real this time? For sure, we have seen plenty of previous false moves. Both the advance-decline line and advancing-volume/declining-volume for the SML are at, or very close to, all-time highs. Also, on November 6, the number of SML stocks making new 52-week highs totaled a massive 200 issues, while new lows were less than 10. That was the largest number of new highs since December 2016. The small-caps were roaring higher from early 2016 until the late 2018. Going back to 2002, the recent number of new highs was exceeded only in 2016. So what is driving strength in the small-caps? Looking at the equal-weight S&P 500 (as we do not have a breakdown of the sectors in the SML), the Financial and Industrial sectors have the highest technical stock-chart rankings. In addition, the two sectors have seen the best relative strength versus the S&P 500 since July 2024. Another area on fire is Bitcoin, which we wrote about not long ago. Bitcoin broke out to all-time highs on November 6, completing a bullish base back to March 2024 between $54,000 and $74,000. Based on the depth of the base, the crypto currency could see a measured move to the $90,000-$100,000 region. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

General Dynamics is a defense contractor with leading market positions in business aviation and aircraft services, land and amphibious combat systems, mission-critical information systems and technologies, and shipbuilding and marine systems. Headquartered in Reston, VA, the company has about 100,000 employees. Its shares are a component of the S&P 500.

The major indices are mostly higher with the Nasdaq up more than 1%, the Dow is flat. The 10-year Treasury note is down 8 bps at 4.35%. Oil is up 1% at $72 per barrel. Bitcoin is up 2% near $76,000 with much intraday volatility. The Fed is meeting and announces its next decision on interest rates at 2pm. Wall Street is expecting a cut of 25 bps. Argus is in that camp. As usual, Fed Chairman Powell will speak just after the rate announcement.