Colin Cieszynski and Malaysian Airlines

Malaysian Airlines: They ll also see if Ukraine fears or other geopolitical worries outweigh what could be another round of upbeat earnings reports and encouraging economic news. Thats after U.S. stocks largely ended higher last week even after a missile downed a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in battle-torn eastern Ukraine. , according to Market Watch. Small caps are threatening to become an anchor to further gains by the overall market, said S P Capital IQ strategist Sam Stovall in a note last week. Meanwhile, Colin Cieszynski of CMC Markets described the Russell 2000s underperformance as the troops arent following the generals, meaning the market is showing a lack of breadth that might end with a broader slump. NEW MarketWatch In the week ahead, investors will watch to see if theres more pain for small-cap stocks, often viewed as a gauge of the stock markets appetite for risk. Reuters Enlarge Image An armed pro-Russian separatist stands at the site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 plane crash. The Russell 2000 /quotes/zigman/2759624/delayed RUT 1.59% , a key benchmark for smaller-capitalization stocks, lost 0.7% for the week, while the big-cap S P 500 /quotes/zigman/3870025/realtime SPX 1.03% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449/realtime .73% gained 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively. The Russell is down for two weeks in a row and off 1% for the year, but the S P is up 7% in 2014, the Dow has risen 3.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite /quotes/zigman/12633936/realtime .57% has tacked on 6.1% after last weeks 1.6% gain. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.