Small and mid-cap stocks stole the show last week | Wilnesh News

Trump nominates Treasury Secretary
U.S. President-elect Trump intends to nominate Scott Bessent, founder of hedge fund Key Square Group, as Treasury Secretary. Like Trump, Bessant favors the gradual imposition of tariffs and deregulation to support domestic businesses and address trade imbalances. Bessant defeated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and private equity executive Mark Rowan.

Amazon doubles investment in Anthropic
Amazon Announced an additional investment of $4 billion in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI employees. That brings Amazon’s total funding in Anthropic to $8 billion, but it will remain a minority shareholder, Anthropic said. The artificial intelligence company’s flagship product is Claude, a chatbot similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

COP29 climate agreement
At the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan, developed countries pledged to provide $300 billion per year to poorer countries to combat climate change. The deal replaces a previous commitment of $100 billion per year. Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, said that if “everyone works together” “we can overcome climate change”.

(PRO) Interest rates return to focus
This week, the personal consumption expenditures price index for October released on Wednesday will be in focus. “This may be one of the last important data releases before the Fed’s December meeting,” a fund manager said. The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s November meeting, released the day before, will give investors more insight into the pace of future rate cuts.

Prominent technology and chip stocks fell last week.

Google-Parents letterMeanwhile, the company ended the week down nearly 5% after the U.S. Department of Justice recommended that the company spin off its Chrome browser as a remedy in its antitrust case. and AmazonIts large technology peers fell 3.4% for the week.

Still, the major averages managed to reverse last week’s losses. this Dow Jones Industrial Average Up 2% this week, S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Index Both were up about 1.7%.

While the other seven largest stocks do contribute to this, the indexes are mostly made up of less followed companies, such as Advanced Micro Devices.

Likewise, small-cap stocks, which have lagged large-cap stocks for years, appear to be making a comeback as interest rates fall and Trump prepares to re-enter the White House. this Russell 2000 It closed up 4.5% this week, outperforming the three major indexes mentioned above.

“Investors are moving away from the previous highs in large-cap communications services and technology and into other cyclical sectors like consumer discretionary, industrials and financials, as well as small and mid-cap stocks,” said Chief Investment Officer Sam Stovall. CFRA Research Strategist.

and BitcoinOnce dismissed by most mainstream investors and institutions as an esoteric plaything that seemed to have no intrinsic value, it is now close to breaking the $100,000 cap.

That said, this reversal is unlikely to last. “We maintain a positive view on the AI ​​computing industry, and NVIDIA in particular, on the back of strong revenue growth expected in 2025,” UBS analyst Sundeep Gantori wrote in a report Thursday.

Despite the temporary dip, artificial intelligence is likely to remain a theme in markets next year.

—CNBC’s Pia Singh, Alex Harring and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.