The three major US stock indices eked out modest gains yesterday to mark fresh record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended above 38,000 for the first time ever. But the best performance came from the Russell 2000 which closed up 2.0%. This is the US’s ‘mid cap’ index. It is a broad-based look at smaller US companies covering a wide range of businesses which are more domestically-focused than the three majors. It isn’t overly-weighted towards tech or financials. In fact, its largest sector which accounts for over 17% of the index, is industrials. Consequently, the Russell 2000 is thought to be a better barometer of the state of US business world than the other majors. It has lagged both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 for a while now. Last year it rose 16%, compared to a gain of 24% for the S&P and 43% for the NASDAQ, although it did beat the Dow which ‘only’ managed to rise 13.5%. More significantly, it is currently around 18% below its November 2021 record high, so it certainly has some catching up to do. Or the three majors have some catching down.