[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 trades about 20 points higher and the Nasdaq Composite is up nearly 90 points.
Small cap stocks continue to outperform, leading the Russell 2000 to trade 1.6% higher.
Strength in the regional bank space has boosted the small cap index. Separately, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) shows a 2.5% gain.