Investor confidence that government stimulus and the coronavirus vaccine roll out will boost the economy has left shares of small companies “outpacing their larger counterparts by the widest margin in more than two decades.” This according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

Smaller companies, the article notes, are “more tied to the domestic economy than their large-cap counterparts, which make more money overseas, ” adding that cyclical businesses such as energy, materials, and banking—which were pummeled by the pandemic—are “now powering markets to records.” Further, the leadership of small-caps is demonstrating how traders are “pouring money into investments that they think have more room to climb,” the article notes.

But despite bullish economic signals, the article reports that some associate small-cap gains with rising investor speculation. Among them is PNC chief investment strategist Amanda Agati, who expressed skepticism that the trend can continue, arguing that consumer spending and other economic indicators would have to quickly return to pre-pandemic levels to justify the gains: “It really has been a sentiment shift. It’s basically the market’s expectation that significant fiscal stimulus is coming to the rescue.”