Review Of U.S. Small Caps – March 2017

Key Takeaways

Within U.S. small caps, the market appeared to be awfully quiet in March, with many investors sitting on the sidelines awaiting the much anticipated health care and tax reforms. Small caps returned a measly 0.1% for the month, in line with U.S. large caps. Large caps, boosted by performance in January and February, outpaced small caps by 3.6% in the first quarter. This was the sixth largest win ever recorded by large cap over small cap in the first quarter. After the stellar performance in large caps, small caps only trade at an 8% premium to large caps, down from the 15% premium at the end of January. The Russell 2000 Index (R2K) trades at a forward P/E of 19.0x, while the Russell 2000 Value Index (R2KV) and the Russell 2000 Growth Index (R2KG) trade at 17.7x and 20.8x, respectively.