Russell 2000 Index of smaller companies is going down. Is it a warning sign for the stock market? “The Russell 2000 getting weaker is a point of concern. What the market is dealing with is whether this is a reallocating of assets as we head into the end of the quarter or a fundamental breakdown,” said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. For now this retreat seems to be more fear based rather than deteriorating fundamentals.
A death cross occurs when a stock or index’s 50-day moving average trend line dips below its 200-day moving average. The bearish indicator appeared Monday in the Russell 2000, but most investors would do well to ignore the data point, Brown said.