Small-caps have caught a bid over the last few days with the Russell 2,000 ETF (IWM) rallying more than 3% since last Thursday’s close. Over the same time frame, the large-cap S&P 500 is up just 0.3%.

While large-cap indices have recently traded to 52-week highs, small-caps are still well below 2023 highs made back in Q1. As shown below, though, IWM is currently attempting to break above the top end of the sideways range it has been in over the last month. If it can do that, the highs from earlier in the year will come into sight.

The Russell 2,000 (IWM) chart looks pretty interesting over a multi-year time frame. As shown below, the pre-COVID high made in early 2020 has acted as strong support over the past year. While IWM fell sharply during the mini-banking crisis this March, it stopped going down once it reached this key support level, and then it traded sideways and consolidated throughout much of April and May. Going forward, it appears that the Russell has built a strong base over the past year to springboard off of if the bull market for US equities can continue.

A chart that always captures our attention is the one below that shows Apple’s (AAPL) market cap versus the combined market cap of all of the stocks in the small-cap Russell 2,000. Prior to COVID, Apple’s market cap wasn’t even close to the $2+ trillion market cap of the Russell 2,000. Since late 2021, though, the two have been battling it out. After its huge gain in Q2, Apple is currently in the lead at $2.96 trillion, but the Russell isn’t too far behind at $2.81 trillion.

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