And 40 for the S&P500... but it gets even more spectacular! The broad index (+0.64% to 5,667) set its 40th annual record (i.e. 1 record almost every 3 sessions since January 1) and the Dow Jones literally shattered its previous high of 40,250 (which was set the previous day): it soared by +1.85% to 40,954 after peaking shortly before closing at 40,988.

But the "fact of the day" was the explosive rise in the Russell-2000, which posted its biggest gain of the year with +3.5% to 2,264 (4th consecutive annual record) and gained +11.5% in 1 week to reach its highest level since early January 2022, and less than 7% from its all-time closing record of 2,442 on November 8, 2021.

A sector rotation is well underway, notably to the detriment of GAFAM this Tuesday. No record for the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%), which capped at 18,509, after 'technos' and 'A.I.' had long outperformed 'industrials' for 6 months.

'Mature' stocks and 'small caps' are finally getting their revenge, notably banking, healthcare and airlines. The Dow Jones was boosted by UnitedHealth +6.5%, Caterpillar +4.3%, Boeing +3.9% and American Express +2.3%.

The banking sector supported the S&P500 with State Street +7.5%, Bank of America +5.4%, PNC Financial +4.7%, Wells Fargo +4.4%, Keycorp +3.2%, etc. Strong gains by airlines and booking sites with +3% on average.

The Nasdaq was slowed by the decline of GAFAMs and numerous heavyweights such as Micron -2.6%, Nvidia -1.6%, Alphabet -1.4%, Meta and AMD -1.3%, Broadcom -1.2%, Microsoft -1%. However, a number of handsome gains enabled it to close in the green: Illumina +7.4%, Idexx +3.5%, ON Semiconductors +3.2%, NXP +2.8%, Tesla +1.6%.

In the afternoon, US investors discovered the latest US retail sales figures, which were slightly better than expected, as they remained stable on a sequential basis in June, whereas they had been expected to fall by -0.2%.

Import prices, meanwhile, stagnated last month, as the fall in oil prices (fuels were down 1%) was offset by food prices, which rebounded by 0.7%.

This new data confirms the risk of a slowdown in growth in the second half of the year, validating the scenario of two monetary easings by the Fed between now and the end of the year.

T-Bonds are easing by exactly -7 basis points on '2034', to 4.159% (equalling near 4-month lows), the '30-yr' is erasing 8 basis points to 4.375% (but the 3-month remains unchanged at 4.85%). This easing propelled gold to $2,465, with the ounce (+2%) recording its best ever close.

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