So far in 2026, the performance of the major world stock markets is as follows:

NASDAQ -3.5%

S&P 500 -1.2%

Russell 2000 +5.3%

EAFE (=Europe, Australia and the Far East) +7.9%

Things to note:

–the tech-heavy NASDAQ is weakening, both in absolute terms as well as versus other US-listed stock indices, as well as the EAFE index of foreign stocks

–continuing dollar weakness is one cause of US relative poor performance, but it’s only one. Tariffs are another, as several studies indicate they’re uoltimately being paid in very large measure by US consumers. ICE terror is another. There’s also continuing, deliberately induced by Washington, dollar weakness, as well as the fear that Trumpification of the Federal Reserve will push the dollar lower (launching a replay of the 1970s devastatingly bad money policy).

None of this is radically new.

What is, though, is the rotation within the US market away from tech. My read is that this is based mostly in software and on relative valuation. Hard to know how long it will last, since the move is just beginning. But, given Washington policy, the long-term best positioning, I think, continues to be having costs in the US, revenues abroad, and the possbility of shifting operations to, say, Canada, if the ICEification of government policy intensifies.