Dow Hits Record Highs, Small Caps Soar On Powell's Shift: What's Moving Markets Friday?

Author: Piero Cingari | August 22, 2025 01:15pm

A strong rally erupted on Friday on Wall Street shortly after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a notably dovish message during his highly anticipated speech at Jackson Hole.

• IWM ETF is moving fast. Check live prices here.

Powell said the Fed is prepared to adjust its policy stance—a clear nod to potential interest rate cuts—in response to the sharp cooling in the labor market.

He also adopted a more tolerant tone on inflation risks stemming from trade tariffs, saying the Fed's base case assumes these would result in one-off price increases, not a sustained inflation surge.

It was party time for markets. Every sector in the S&P 500 closed in the green, with consumer discretionary, real estate, industrials and materials each rising more than 2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 2%, breaking to new all-time highs above 45,680. The S&P 500 gained 1.4%, closing at 6,460 and flirting with record territory near 4,680, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4%, snapping a three-day losing streak.

But the true stars of the day were small caps. The Russell 2000 Index soared nearly 4%, logging its best session since April 9 and climbing back to levels last seen in December 2024.

Regional banks, tracked by the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE)—the largest sector within the index—jumped nearly 5%. In currencies, the U.S. dollar fell 0.9%, while short-dated Treasury yields collapsed, with the 2-year note dropping 10 basis points to 3.70%.

Commodities rallied as well: gold climbed 1%, and silver surged 2.2%. But the most explosive gains came from crypto markets.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) soared 3.5% to $116,000, while Solana (CRYTPO: SOL), Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) rallied 9%, 10%, and 12%, respectively—turning a bullish day into a crypto-fueled frenzy.

Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %
Russell 2000	2,361.16	3.8%
Dow Jones	45,699.02	2.0%
S&P 500	6,464.81	1.55%
Nasdaq 100	23,461.08	1.4%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 1.5% at $553.99.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rallied 2.1% to $457.36.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 1.5% to $571.47.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rocketed 4% to $234.85.
• The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) outperformed, up 0.3%; the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) lagged, up 0.1%.

Stocks On The Move Friday

Friday’s best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 index:

• Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH) 9.18%
• Builders FirstSource Inc. (NYSE:BLDR) 7.97%
• Mohawk Industries Inc. (NYSE:MHK) 7.39%
• Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) 6.52%
• Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) 6.31%
• Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) 6.21%
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) 6.19%
• ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ:ON) 6.14%
• Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) 6.07%
• LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) 6.06%

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.

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