Small Caps Are Holding Up. Here’s How to Find the Leaders.
With the stock market closed for Good Friday, it’s a great chance to take a step back and see where things stand after a volatile week. In a way, the shortened trading week may have been a gift. Had the market been open on Friday, we might have seen even more surprises following the stronger-than-expected jobs report.
A quick look at the StockCharts Dashboard shows that the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index ($SML) has held up better than the S&P 500 ($SPX), Nasdaq ($COMPQ), and Dow Jones Industrials ($INDU). The strength in the small-caps is especially interesting because they’re often seen as a window into the domestic economy. At the moment, the S&P 600 Small Cap Index is trading above its 200-day simple moving average (SMA) and 21-day exponential moving average (EMA). In addition, more than half of S&P 600 stocks are trading above their 200-day SMAs, and advancing stocks are outpacing decliners (see chart below). So, from a trend and breadth perspective, small caps are looking resilient relative to the large-cap stocks.
If small caps are starting to lead, which stocks are doing the heavy lifting? One way to find out is to use the MarketCarpet tool. This technical heatmap gives you a quick visual read on which stocks are driving performance within an index.
For example, if you select the S&P 600 group and view the MarketCarpet by 5-day performance, you can quickly spot the top performers, either by finding them within the carpet itself or using the table on the right. When working with 600 stocks, the table is often the simpler way to go.
From there, you can plug the symbols into the Symbol Summary page to get a snapshot of each stock’s technical and fundamental picture. If you see something you like, add it to a ChartList using the button right below the symbol.
Adding stocks to a ChartList helps you stay organized and makes it easy to keep an eye on stocks that are starting to stand out. If these stocks start to lead the market higher and the technicals fire buy signals, they could be worth following more closely.
They may not be the large-cap growth names that led the market in the past, but markets change. When that happens, it’s worth taking the time to get to know the new leader. Successful traders and investors notice the structural shifts and recognize when new opportunities may be emerging.
Happy Easter, and enjoy the weekend.
