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We finished the normal trading session on the first day of a new trading week the same way we began it — reluctant to drag a stock market higher amid all-time high ranges on the Dow and S&P 500, overbought conditions and high valuations. The Dow, off its lows of -434 points intraday, closed -274 points, -0.71%. The S&P 500 was less severe — down -0.32% — and the Nasdaq down even less — -0.20% — but the small-cap Russell 2000 took it on the chin once again: -1.08% on the day.

Materials were the laggard among market sectors, while Tech — led once again by a new record-high from NVIDIA (NVDA) — kept relatively steady overall. The Russell has parted from the rest of the major indices over the past week, down -3% in that timeframe, versus the other three main indices which all currently hover around flat year-to-date. Actually, the small-cap index’s separation from the rest of the pack pretty much began at the start of the year, after a strong rally to finish 2023.

Reports after today’s close include software security firm Palantir Technologies (PLTR), which matched earnings expectations at $0.08 per share on revenues of $608 million in the quarter, which outperformed the Zacks estimate of $603.5 million. Next-quarter revenues have guided somewhat lower than existing estimates, but after-hours trading is surging the stock +8% on strong demand for A.I. in its space, and U.S. commercial growth +70% in Q4, with a total contract value up +107% year over year.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) is also up in late trading, by +4.5%, on beats for both earnings and revenues results in Q4: earnings of $3.71 per share outpaced the Zacks consensus by 7 cents, on quarterly sales of $3.42 billion which performed better than the $3.40 billion anticipated. Forecasts for the current quarter were higher on the bottom line but slightly lower on the top. Its automotive business was in-line with estimates, while the company beat on mobile and industrial segments.

Tomorrow brings us another big day of quarterly earnings reports, with top performer Eli Lilly (LLY) joining big auto staples Ford (F) and Toyota (TM) before the regular trading day. After the market closes, we’ll see results from Chipotle (CMG), Snap (SNAP) and e.l.f. Beauty (ELF), among others. Of these, Ford, Chipotle and e.l.f. carry Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) ratings into their earnings releases, while the others listed are Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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