Russell 2000 Index bloomed in August

Small-cap companies in the Russell 2000 Index climbed 3.6% during August, turning out a positive return for every sector, according to Russell Investments of Tacoma, Wash. That includes financial services, which gained 4.8% and was among the top earning sectors for the month, coming in behind integrated oils (up 5.3%) and consumer discretionary and services (5.2%). Value stocks also beat out their growth counterparts at every market capitalization tier. Small-cap companies in the Russell 2000 Value Index outperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index by 2.3%. Big gainers in the Russell 2000 Value Index include Ambac Financial Group Inc. of New York, whose shares climbed today after the firm’s plans to reactivate a subsidiary, New York-based Connie Lee Insurance Co., was given the green light by Wisconsin insurance commissioner Sean Dilweg. Ambac was up 184.7% in August. Radian Group Inc. in Philadelphia and FirstFed Financial Corp. of Santa Monica, Calif., followed with gains of 120.3% and 96.3%, respectively. On a sector level, small-cap companies also beat those in the large-cap Russell 1000 index, which had three sectors — financial services, materials and processing, and other energy — bringing in negative returns for August. Top performing stocks for the Russell 1000 include MBIA Inc. in Armonk, N.Y., which was up 173.5% for the month, but index laggards include Patriot Coal Corp. of St. Louis, which fell by 56.48%, and Fannie Mae in Washington, which decreased by 37.14%.