By James Mackintosh

The tiniest U.S. companies have just had their best start to a year this century. But the long winning streak is unlikely to survive the hit to markets from President Trump's Greenland tariff threats.

-- Through Friday, the Russell Microcap index had risen in all of the 11 trading days so far this year.

-- That is the longest series of gains in any January since at least 2001.

-- The index consists of the smallest 1,000 stocks in the Russell 2000 small-company index, plus another 300 or so stocks below that.

-- The smallest shares have ignored swings in the largest U.S. stocks:

There's often a big jump in tiny stocks at the start of the year as retail buyers use the holiday and the new tax year to refresh their speculative bets on near-unknown names. The rise up to Friday of just over 8% took the index to new highs and, as usual at the start of the year, was driven by the riskiest stocks.

With stocks expected to fall sharply when trading reopens after Monday's day off-and Russell 2000 futures down steeply-the rally has probably run its course for now.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2026 06:25 ET (11:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.