“A reliance on domestic demand may have contributed to the demise of smaller companies. As the U.S. economy remains stagnant and President Donald Trump’s pro-growth agenda remains elusive, investors are shifting focus to multinational firms that are poised to benefit from economic acceleration from overseas,” according to Bloomberg.
Related: ETF Investors Can Look Outside of U.S. for Value
Year-to-date, IWM has bled nearly $3.5 billion in assets, a total surpassed by just one other ETF. The struggles of U.S. small-caps come as their international counterparts are surging. For example, the iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF (NASDAQ: SCZ) is up more than 20% year-to-date.
“The sentiment split came as small-cap shares careen toward the worst year since 1998 relative to the market. Since the end of December, the Russell 2000 is basically flat, compared with an 8 percent advance in the S&P 500 Index,” according to Bloomberg.
For more articles on small cap ETFs, visit our Small Caps category.