S&P 500 flirts with record high; chipmakers and small caps jump

Market Intelligence Analysis

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The S&P 500 is nearing a record high, driven by gains in chipmakers and small caps, indicating a broadening market trend. This trend is expected to continue due to a resilient economy and market. Palantir Technologies and SanDisk led the gains among Big Tech companies.

Market Impact

Market impact analysis based on bullish sentiment with 90% confidence.

Sentiment
Bullish
AI Confidence
90%
Time Horizon
Short Term

Article Context

Note: This is a brief excerpt for context. Click below to read the full article on the original source.

STORY: U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday, with the Dow gaining one percent and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each adding more than half a percent.While the indexes were lifted by gains in chipmakers, small caps also performed well, with the Russell 2000 jumping about 1%.The small-cap index has significantly outperformed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq so far in 2026.The broadening of the market is a trend that's likely to continue, said Jason Browne, president of Alexis Investment Partners."Everybody knows a lot of the AI trades have done well. Everybody knows gold did really well last year and into this year. And so just a natural thing that happens when people decide they want to broaden out and try other things, sometimes those become sources of liquidity - things that people sell - most especially when you have the down days like Friday, but also sometimes even into the follow-through up day, simply because everybody's owned those. And so they start trying to buy other things instead. And I think we're seeing a healthy amount of that taking place in the spirit of a pretty resilient economy, in the spirit of a pretty resilient market overall."Among those Big Tech gainers, Palantir Technologies jumped more than 7% in extended trading after the data analytics company said it anticipates a big jump in sales this year, in part due to government contracts.Chipmakers benefiting from AI-related demand for their components also rallied.SanDisk surged nearly 15.5%, extending gains from last week, when the data storage firm predicted profits and sales above Wall Street estimates.Meanwhile, shares of Advanced Micro Devices rose 4% and Micron Technology added 5.5%.And shares of Walt Disney tumbled almost 7.5%, despite posting quarterly earnings above Wall Street expectations, as it warned of a decline in international visitors to its U.S. theme parks and a slump in earnings at its TV and film division.

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Original article published by Yahoo Finance on February 3, 2026.
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