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.
