Small-Cap Stealth Rebound Shows Risk Appetite Still Alive
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The most defensive stocks in the U.S. this week have been some of the riskiest. To Prudential Financial Inc., that bodes well for the rest of the market.
Small-caps, whose 13 percent plunge starting in March presaged losses that have erased $2 trillion from equity prices, are up 3.5 percent in three days, beating everything from high-dividend payers to makers of consumer staples. Strength in the Russell 2000 Index comes even as a measure of larger companies known as the Russell 1000 Defensive Index drops.