[Small-cap stocks enjoying their best first half in 35 years](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/30/small-cap-stocks-enjoy-best-first-half-since-1991-as-ai-trade-expands.html) is real, but the composition matters. Retail and discretionary-heavy names in that XRT rotation are benefiting from the *narrative* of a durable consumer, not the *reality* of one.

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