April was a very good month for small stocks -- and most all stocks.

The Russell 20000 index, which measures the performance of smaller public companies, closed up 15.3 percent for the month.
That beat the Dow by a long shot. The Dow gained only 8.78 percent for the month.

And it was the second-best performance for the Russell 2000 in 30 years. The best: A 16.5 percent one-month gain back in 1979.

Wall Street's rally last month touched just about everything. The Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market index reported a 10.5 percent rise, its best month since 1991.

Didn't realize it, did you? The bad economic news persisted, but the market was so over it.