Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID), despite bursts of outperformance, have underperformed large-caps year to date - as they have over the past five years. But they may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from unrest in the Middle East, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, issues in China, or other geopolitical developments. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. SMID stocks can be risky, but despite those risks, diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record. We estimate that 20% of the U.S. stock market's capitalization is comprised of SMID stocks.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Nordstrom Inc. operates a chain of over 90 upscale specialty department stores and about 270 Nordstrom Rack stores. The company also operates Nordstrom.com, an e-commerce website. Its target customer is 25-54 years old and has a household income of more than $100,000. The company's total square footage is over 26 million, with about 24% of this space in California. Its top 20 markets account for about 75% of revenue. The company has approximately 54,000 full-time employees.

The major indices are mixed with the Nasdaq down nearly 1%. Most of the Magnificent 7 are lower. Trading this week will be laser-focused on Wednesday afternoon. That's when we get our answer from the Federal Reserve on whether they will cut interest rates by 25 or 50 bps. Odds are 50-50 for each size cut. We forecast 25. We believe the Fed will not do a larger cut as that might imply unclear signals on the state of the economy.