iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index Message Board

small-cap stocks are covered by iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR), which tracks the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. While S&P's strict index inclusion criteria don't have much impact in a broad stock market index, their impact is more pronounced in the small-cap space, where quality can be more of a concern. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index has trounced the Russell 2000 Index by 82 basis points per year over the past decade. That outperformance is attributable at least in part to holding higher-quality stocks during a difficult economic environment.