Shares of Ford were marginally higher in morning trading, putting the stock on pace for its worst weekly performance in more than four years.

The stock has fallen around 20% for the week. If it closes around this level on Friday, it would mark its worst since the week ended March 20, when the stock plunged more than 22%.

The rotation out of the mega-cap tech titans and into their smaller-sized counterparts continued this week.

This week, the Russell 2000 small-cap index is on pace for a 3.3% gain. On the other hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is slated to advance just 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite could respectively end the week 1.2% and 2.6% lower.

If the Russell 2000 does indeed end higher, it would mark the index’s first three win streak since a four-week streak that ended in May.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Consumers optimism dimmed slightly in July, but the outlook for inflation dipped to a tie for its lowest in more than 3½ years, according to the final University of Michigan Survey of Consumers released Friday.

The overall sentiment index edged lower to 66.4, better than the Dow Jones estimate for 66 but below the June reading of 68.2

On inflation, the revised one-year outlook showed the expectation for 2.9%, tying several months for the lowest since December 2020. The five-year outlook was at 3%, where it has held for the past four months.

—Jeff Cox

The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 500 points, or 1.2%, led to the upside by 3M.

The industrial giant popped 14% on stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings. UnitedHealth, Visa, Merck and Home Depot added about 2% each.

Five stocks were negative in early-morning trading. Dow was the biggest laggard, inching down 0.6%.

— Samantha Subin

Stocks opened higher Friday to cap off a volatile week of trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 280 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.8%.

— Samantha Subin

Thursday’s losses in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite continued to show a waning in the momentum factor, or the idea that stocks that have outperformed will continue to do so in the near future, according to Wolfe Research.

“While small caps continued to shine, the big loser on the day was the momentum factor,” Wolfe Research’s Rob Ginsberg wrote Thursday. “Following a brief and lackluster oversold bounce, momentum reversed hard today to close below support as the top we’ve been discussing continues to resolve lower.”

— Sarah Min

The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1% month over month and 2.5% from a year ago in June, matching estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, gained 0.2% for the month and 2.6% on the year, also in line with expectations.

— Fred Imbert

These are the stocks moving the most in premarket trading:

• Coursera — The online course provider stock surged 26% after Coursera posted second-quarter revenue of $170 million, which exceeded the $164 million analysts had expected, according to LSEG.
• WW International — The Weight Watchers parent lost 5.3% on the back of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight.
• Dexcom — The medical device stock plummeted more than 36% after the company posted a second-quarter revenue miss.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The current strength of the small-cap sector is a “significant rotation not seen in decades,” according to George Maris, chief investment officer and global head of equities at Principal Asset Management.

Small caps have only managed to outperform large caps twice over the past 30 years — during the Covid-19 pandemic and during the dot-com bubble in 1999 to 2000, per Maris.

“Those are historical levels, and we are currently at such a point, so this rotation has staying power because everyone’s offside,” Maris said.

Broadening earnings will lead to more optimism around the small-cap sector, the investor added. Looking ahead, earnings growth stemming from interest rate cuts will help small businesses, noted Maris.

“The market, outside of the Mag 7, looks relatively normal long-term and in fact in small cap looks pretty interesting. … There’s a very optimistic case for going long on small caps,” Maris said.

The Russell 2000 is up 1.8% week to date and roughly 8.6% in July.

— Hakyung Kim

The communication services sector is on track for its worst week since October 2023 as investors flee tech giants.

The sector’s weekly losses have totaled 4.63% as of Thursday’s close. Alphabet shares are among the notable losers, off 5.8% week to date, while Meta Platforms has dropped 4.9%.

The information technology sector is also limping into Friday, toting a 3.5% decline for the week. A 16.7% slide in CrowdStrike this week and a 4.8% tumble in Nvidia contributed to the sector’s losses.

Health care and utilities, traditionally deemed defensive plays, are the only two sectors in the S&P 500 that are positive for the week, up 0.77% and 0.48%, respectively.

— Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes

Steve Eisman of “The Big Short” fame believes the recent tech-led market pullback is driven by emotions instead of a fundamental deterioration.

“Rotations are always violent. They always catch everybody unaware. And it’s not a fundamental correction. It’s like a psychological rotation,” Eisman said on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”

The senior portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman said there has not been anything alarming about the economy overall.

“I don’t think fundamentals have really changed all that much,” he said. “The only negative data point I would point to is that consumer spending seems to have slowed a little bit on the margin, and delinquencies are up a touch.”

— Yun Li

Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading:

• Dexcom — Shares of the medical device company plunged more than 35%. Dexcom’s fiscal full-year revenue guidance of $4 billion to $4.05 billion marked a reduction from the outlook it shared earlier in the year. Revenue in the second quarter missed analysts’ expectations, coming in at $1 billion versus consensus estimates of $1.04 billion, per LSEG. Insulet shares slipped 9.1% in sympathy.
• Boston Beer Company — The maker of Twisted Tea and Samuel Adams slid 5% after second-quarter results missed the Street’s estimates. Boston Beer posted earnings of $4.39 per share on revenue of $579 million, while analysts sought $5.02 per share in earnings and $597 million in revenue, per LSEG.
• Coursera — Shares of the online course provider surged 16%. Second-quarter revenue came in at $170 million, surpassing analysts’ estimates for $164 million, per LSEG. Coursera posted a loss of 15 cents per share, while the Street called for earnings of 1 cent per share.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Stock futures were higher shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 64 points, or 0.16%. S&P futures and Nasdaq 100 futures each gained 0.1%.

— Pia Singh