Why Stocks Have More Room to Run

U.S. equity markets made substantial gains last year. The Standard & Poorâ??s 500-stock index, the traditional benchmark for equities, was up 29.6 percent. Add in dividends, and itâ??s well over 30â??percent. Technology and small-cap stocks did even better, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 38.3 percent, and the Russell 2000 small-cap index up 37 percent.