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Russell 2000's best first half since 1991 draws a quality test for small caps

7/19/2026

The Russell 2000 small-cap index is up almost 20% in the first half of this year, its strongest start since 1991, and investing experts say the rally can keep running.

The complication is what has already been said against it: that a gain this large, this fast, is a junk rally, a rising-tide move that flatters the headline without reflecting the quality of what is actually driving the index.

A three-decade measure Almost 20% in six months places the Russell 2000 in territory it has not seen since 1991. For small-cap equity investors, a data point with a three-decade gap behind it is not a routine milestone.

Gains of this scale in an index this broad tend to attract two interpretations. One holds that the move reflects something real in the underlying companies.

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