Meet the Unstoppable Vanguard ETF Beating the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones in 2026

The Motley Fool · Anthony Di Pizio · 2026-11-06 09:12 UTC

Small-cap stocks have benefited from a range of tailwinds this year.

The diversified S&P 500 (^GSPC -4.36%) and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -3.44%) are two widely followed stock market indexes filled with America's highest quality companies. They have returned 10.2% and 8.2% respectively so far in 2026, as of the market close on Nov. 2.

But then there is the Russell 2000 index, which has delivered an even bigger year-to-date gain of 13.3%. It tracks the performance of approximately 2,000 of America's smallest listed companies, many of which generate the bulk of their revenue domestically. They are benefiting from a range of favorable government policies, and they are less sensitive to the ongoing geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East and Europe compared to multinational companies.

The Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF (VTWO -4.50%) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that mimics the Russell 2000. Can it continue outperforming indexes like the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones?

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