Small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 becomes first major U.S. stock measure to enter bear market

[muriel_volestrangler]

Small-cap stocks, which were once thought to be primary beneficiaries of President Donald Trump’s policies, entered bear market territory on Thursday after a massive stock market rout that followed the administration’s sweeping and aggressive tariff rollout.

The Russell 2000 Index was down more than 5% on Thursday, bringing its losses from its November 25 record close to about 21%. On Wall Street, a 10% pullback is considered a correction, but a 20% decline is a bear market. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are both in correction territory, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is just below that mark.
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And the group is particularly sensitive to economic shifts given their small size, and therefore less financial flexibility as large-cap stocks. JPMorgan predicted that if Trump’s sweeping new reciprocal tariffs remain, the U.S. economy will likely fall into a recession.
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“Small caps, in the first half of an economic recession, are usually down 13%, so it’s already worse than where we were for the average recession,” said Steven DeSanctis, an equity strategist covering small- and mid-cap companies at Jefferies, in an interview with CNBC. “For the average bear market, small caps are down 26%, so we’re nearing that number.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/03/small-cap-benchmark-russell-2000-becomes-first-major-us-stock-measure-to-enter-bear-market.html

Well, no surprise that it's the smaller guys Trump screws first.