Markets: News  

The major indices have held their positions the last half hour. The Nasdaq Composite (+2.7%) is outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.1%) and the S&P 500 (+1.8%), making for a quiet afternoon.The mid caps are slightly underperforming today as evidenced by the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index (+1.7%). Meanwhile the small caps are outperforming the broader market as evidenced by the S&P 600 Small Cap Index (+2.0%) and the Russell 2000 (2.3%). With today's outperformance the Russell 2000 sports a comparable gain to the S&P 500.Separately, the CBOE VIX Index is down 1.64 points at 25.86, as the activity seen today fuels hope for an extension of the rebound.