Small Caps Rally, Intel Rockets On Best Day Ever: What's Moving Markets Thursday?

Author: Piero Cingari | September 18, 2025 01:18pm

The Russell 2000, which tracks small caps, rallied on Thursday, outpacing large-cap benchmarks as investors piled into interest-rate-sensitive stocks a day after the Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points and signaled more easing ahead.

All three major large-cap indexes hit fresh records: the S&P 500 rose to 6,650, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to 46,200, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.3% to 24,550.

Tech stocks led the charge. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) skyrocketed 29%—its best single-day gain on record—after Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) pledged a $5 billion investment to co-develop PC and data center chips.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) rallied 10.6% after unveiling long-term AI initiatives and revenue targets, forecasting annual recurring revenue growth above 20% by fiscal 2027.

Sector-wise, technology and industrials outperformed, while consumer staples lagged. Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) gained 7% as cryptocurrencies rallied on rate-cut optimism.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) rose more than 1% to $118,000, its highest level in a month, while Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) jumped 4.5%, returning to levels last seen in late January 2025.

Small Caps Beat Large Caps

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Russell 2000	2,458.77	2.2%
Nasdaq 100	24,544.27	1.3%
S&P 500	6,647.85	0.7%
Dow Jones	46,217.94	0.4%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.7% to $610.52.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) inched 0.5% higher to $463.70.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rallied 1.3% to $597.50.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) soared 2.3% to $244.27.
• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed, up 1.9%; the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) lagged, down 0.7%.

S&P 500’s Top 5 Gainers On Thursday

Stock Name	% Change
Intel Corp.	+28.12%
CrowdStrike Holdings	+10.97%
Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS)	+10.56%
KLA Corp. (NASDAQ:KLAC)	+8.55%
Coinbase Global	+8.18%

S&P 500’s Top 5 Losers On Thursday

Stock Name	% Change
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)	-8.90%
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS)	-6.48%
Nucor Corp. (NYSE:NUE)	-5.10%
S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI)	-4.44%
MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)	-2.91%

Now Read:

• The Fed’s Just Warming Up — Goldman Sachs Sees More Rate Cuts Coming

Image: Shutterstock

Posted In: $BTC $SOL BTC COIN CRWD DIA DRI FDS INTC IWM KLAC MSCI NUE NVDA QQQ SNPS SPGI VOO XLB XLK