Despite a bear market, small-cap stocks have essentially been market performers this year. The S&P 500 is off by 17.8%, while the S&P 600 Small Cap Index is about the same (-18%). The Russell 2000’s YTD loss of 19.8% is nearly equivalent, even though it contains a more significant portion of low-quality companies. Overall, small caps have been resilient as the Bear growls, and, hopefully, that’s a good sign they could again be the leaders once the Bull takes charge.