While the financial sector remains one of the worst performing areas of the market, exchange traded funds that track small banks have quietly outperformed their large-cap peers.
Year-to-date, the First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund (NasdaqGM: QABA) rose 1.3%, PowerShares S&P SmallCap Financials Portfolio (NYSEArca: PSCF) gained 9.7% and PowerShares KBW Regional Bank Portfolio (NYSEArca: KBWR) increased 1.9%. QABA market-cap weights include small-cap 45.6% and micro-cap 35.4%. PSCF holds small-cap 65.2% and micro-cap 33.4%. KBWR includes small-cap 73.7% and micro-cap 6.1%.
Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSEArca: KBE) fell 5.3%, SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSEArca: KRE) dropped 3.8%. KBE and KRE equally weight their component holdings and have a larger weights toward mid-caps, along with large-caps. Specifically, KBE includes a 10.1% tilt toward mega-caps, 14.7% to large-caps, 43.2% to mid-caps and 32.0% to small-caps. KRE includes 14.5% large-caps, 44.7% mid-caps, 36.8% small-caps and 3.9% micro-caps.
[related_stories]The Russell 2000 Financial Services Index, a small-cap index of financial sector stocks, rose 7.8% this year on higher earnings and dividends as investors focused on domestically oriented banks that were less affected by global problems, reports Bailey Lipschultz for Bloomberg.
The divergence between the small- and large-cap segments is now at its widest in four years, with smaller financial services companies rising while large-cap banks were down 0.8%.
Related: Struggle and Trouble Ahead for Bank ETFs?
Small-cap financials are also now trading just 1.8% shy of their all-time high from 2007 while large-caps are 37% below their record peak.
“With the markets hitting new highs, risky assets like small caps have been able to bounce back much better and quicker,” Michael Arone, the chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors’ U.S. intermediary business, told Bloomberg.