(New York)

One of the big beneficiaries of all the geopolitical events of this year, as well as of rates hikes, has been small caps. Smaller companies tend to perform better in economic expansion, and they look more likely to hold up to foreign trade tensions as they have a more domestic focus. After hitting records in August, small caps are now in correction territory, having lost 10% from their high. They are now underperforming large caps for the first time this year as many see trade tensions easing.

FINSUM: Small caps sometimes suffer at the end of economic expansions, so this move makes sense. Still an almost 9% loss in the Russell 2000 this month is rough.

(Chicago)

Small cap stocks have been taking it on the chin. They have been getting hammered this week, and their performance (Russell 2000) has lagged the S&P 500 by almost 3% the last few days. That is a rare occurrence, which means there may be a buying opportunity. After such a bout of bad performance, the Russell 2000 has historically outperformed the S&P 500 by a percentage point over the next 20 days.

FINSUM: This could be a good short-term buying opportunity, but as ever, we struggle with these kinds of trade ideas because they seem to be based purely on historical precedent and lack any catalyst.