S&P 500 closes at a record 7,818.93 as the Russell falls

The S&P 500 closed at a record 7,818.93 on Tuesday, up 44.98 points, or 0.6 percent, and above the high it set in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 253.38 points, or 0.5 percent, to 51,521.28. The Nasdaq composite rose 122.48 points, or 0.4 percent, to 27,599.79, a day after it had set its own record. The Russell 2000 fell 16.84 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,830.30.

The split is the useful part of the tape. Large stocks made the high. Smaller stocks did not. For the week the S&P is up 96.21 points, or 1.2 percent, the Dow is up 344.32 points, or 0.7 percent, and the Nasdaq is up 408.93 points, or 1.5 percent. The Russell is down 2.60 points, or 0.1 percent, on the week. For the year the S&P is up 973.43 points, or 14.2 percent, the Dow is up 3,457.99 points, or 7.2 percent, the Nasdaq is up 4,357.80 points, or 18.7 percent, and the Russell is up 348.39 points, or 14 percent.

Two names did a visible share of Tuesday's work. Constellation Energy rose after it announced a long-term supply deal with Google: 890 megawatts over 20 years from uprated nuclear plants, and 2,700 megawatts more over 15 years on the PJM grid, 3,590 megawatts in all. Constellation said it will spend more than 4.3 billion dollars, with the first uprated plant due to deliver in 2028. Lamb Weston jumped after it beat a quarterly earnings estimate and raised its year. Adjusted earnings were 75 cents a share against a 58-cent estimate, on sales of 1.67 billion dollars.

Yields eased, which is the other half of a record close in a week when oil has been the macro story. Brent had closed Monday at 100.32 dollars and was under 100 on Tuesday morning. A stock market that can print a high while a war premium is still in the crude price is not the same market as one that is rallying because crude has collapsed. Tuesday's move was a partial ease in crude and in yields, not a return to the pre-war barrel.

The August comparison matters because the S&P had to climb back to a number it had already touched. A record that is a few points through an August close, with the Russell down on the day, is a narrow high. The Dow is still the laggard on the year, at 7.2 percent against 18.7 percent for the Nasdaq. That gap is the year's story in one pair of figures: the index of industrial names has not kept up with the index that holds the large technology weights.

China's markets were shut for Golden Week, which runs from 1 to 7 October, so Tuesday's US close did not have a Shanghai print next to it. European indexes were higher in the morning preview, with the DAX and the FTSE both up, but the US close is the figure that resets the record.

What the close does not say is whether Wednesday repeats it. The Russell's drop is a warning that the high is not broad. A market that needs Constellation and a frozen-potato company to lead, while small stocks fall, can still be a record. It is a record with a list of names attached, not a tide.