The Globe and Mail Published January 14, 2021
U.S. small-cap stocks showing upside momentum.
The Russell 2000 is a stock market index comprising 2,000 small-capitalization U.S. companies that tend to be domestically focused. Investors can track and invest in the index using the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). The index started to outperform the larger cap S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index in early December.
Looking at indexes year-to-date, the Russell 2000 index is up a bit more than 9 per cent, maintaining its outperformance over other North American benchmarks. The S&P/TSX Composite index is in second place with a year-to-date gain of 3.8 per cent, followed by last year’s best performing index, the Nasdaq, which is up 2.5 per cent so far this year after returning an impressive 43.6 per cent in 2020. The S&P 500 is up 1.6 per cent in 2021.