Small Caps, Financials Rally As Bitcoin Blasts Past $85,000: What's Driving Markets Monday?

The “Trump-related everything rally” reignited across markets on Monday, with heightened focus on last week's top performers like small caps, financials, Tesla Inc. TSLA, and cryptocurrencies, all surging as the new trading week began.

The Russell 2000 Index outperformed major large-cap indices, nearing a retest of its all-time high from November 2021.

Financials shone brightest again, with both large and regional banks posting strong gains. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF KRE surged 3.9%, reaching levels last seen in August 2022.

Bitcoin BTC/USD also dominated headlines, surpassing the $85,000 milestone and fueling widespread gains across other crypto assets.

Major crypto-related stocks, including Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, rallied nearly 22%, hitting highs last seen in late November 2021. MARA Holdings MARA soared 25%, with Riot Platforms Inc. RIOT and CleanSpark Inc. CSLK both up by 21%.

Within tech, Tesla continued its rally, while the rest of the sector lagged, weighed down by sharp declines in semiconductors following new AI-related export restrictions to China, impacting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSM.

Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar extended its gains, while Treasury yields held steady, with the 10-year yield hovering around 4.3%.

Prices tumbled in commodities, with the exception of natural gas, which rose roughly 10%. Gold dropped over 2%, and oil fell by 3%.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETF

Index	Price	% chg (1 day)
Russell 2000	2,437.75	1.6%
Dow Jones	44,328.14	0.8%
S&P 500	6,001.80	0.1%
Nasdaq 100	21,060.25	-0.3%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY held steady at $598.43.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.7% to $443.23.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ inched 0.3% lower to $512.45.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 1.6% to $242.00.
• The Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF outperformed, rising 1.8%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK lagged, down 0.8%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to earnings reports were Monday.com ltd AMDY down 15% and Aramark ARMK, up 1%.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Dall-E.