four mega-caps reported wednesday night. two got punished hard (MSFT -5% on $190B capex guide, META -9% on spending hike). two crushed it (GOOG cloud growth, AMZN massive EPS beat). then thursday CAT +10%, LLY +7%, QCOM +16% picked up the slack. SPX closed 7,209.
the part that actually matters: russell 2000 led the day at +2.21%. small caps outperforming mega-caps at an ATH is exactly the breadth signal you want to see. VIX collapsed 10%.
after hours AAPL beat across the board. rev +17%, gross margin 49.3% vs 48.4% expected, $100B new buyback. +3% AH.
the rally found legs outside of big tech. industrials, pharma, chips, small caps all contributing. that’s healthier than anything we’ve seen in months.
Anyone disagreees and thinks we have a mean inversion after this insane run up instead?