A quiet open: small caps lead and gold clears $400
The S&P holds near 7,800 early Friday while the Russell 2000 outperforms. Tesla pushes 3% higher, gold's GLD trades through $400, and bitcoin cools off.
An hour into Friday's session the tape is quiet. As of about 10:20 a.m. ET the S&P 500 sits at 7,800, unchanged on the day, the Nasdaq Composite is off 0.1% at 26,769, and the Dow is flat at 53,835. After Thursday's session closed green across the board, the market is catching its breath.
The one index with a pulse this morning is the Russell 2000, up 0.3% at 3,063 — small caps are doing the leading while the large-cap benchmarks idle. The VIX at 14.6 says nobody is bracing for trouble into the weekend.
Mega caps are mixed-to-higher. Tesla is the standout, up 3% at $350. Meta is adding 0.7%, while Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple are each up around a quarter of a percent. Nothing in the leadership group is red.
Elsewhere on the desk: gold is the quiet headline — GLD is up 0.8% at $402, trading through the $400 mark after closing Thursday just below it. Oil is steady, with USO a tenth higher. Long Treasuries are a touch softer, TLT off 0.4%. Bitcoin is the laggard of the morning, down 1.4% near $62,500.
On the movers board, the usual small-cap fireworks: MDxHealth, MindForge, and Onfolio are each up 65–70%, while MicroVision and Innventure have been cut roughly in half. Names moving that fast trade thin — ranges are wide and fills are unforgiving.
Into the weekend we're watching two things: whether small-cap leadership holds once the morning settles, and whether GLD can close above $400. Follow it live in the Terminal.