Strange doings in the volatility market

Strange doings in the volatility market

There’s certainly no visible sign of a big surge in stock market volatility. Yesterday, when the news was full of threats and counter-threats of war with North Korea and when the tech sector dropped, the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) climbed all of 12.2%. Today the VIX has retreated, falling 0.98% as of 3 p.m. New York time to 10.11. But this doesn’t mean nothing is going on in the volatility market or that big money traders aren’t placing bets on a spike in volatility.

More saber rattling in Korean standoff leads to modest increase in market nervousness

More saber rattling in Korean standoff leads to modest increase in market nervousness

It’s not surprising that the major U.S. stock indexes are down. So far today the North Korean foreign minister has said that President Donald Trump’s threats against his country amount to a declaration of war, and that North Korea has the right to shoot down U.S. warplanes even if they aren’t actually flying in North Korean airspace. Amazing that the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was off only 0.38% as of 3 p.m. New York time.

Notes You Need for September 12: China’s yuan, VIX, natural gas, BABA, Brexit, Apple

Notes You Need for September 12: China’s yuan, VIX, natural gas, BABA, Brexit, Apple

In my daily trawling through the market I come upon lots of tidbits of knowledge that I think are important to investors but that don’t justify a full post. I’ve decided to start compiling these notes here each day in a kind of running mini blog that I’m calling Notes You Need. I launched this new feature on JubakAM.com on December 1. It runs only on JAM and won’t appear anywhere else. For example, 10:20 a.m.: It looks like China’s monetary authorities are starting to relax about the yuan.

It’s come to this: Stories and rumors about staff departures at the Trump White House move the stock market

It’s come to this: Stories and rumors about staff departures at the Trump White House move the stock market

Yesterday, a rumor that Gary Cohn, the administration’s chief economist, would be leaving the White House contributed to the nerves that pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 lower by 1.54%. (The rumor has been denied by Cohn’s office.) Today a story in the New York Times that President Donald Trump has decided to remove Stephen Bannon, chief White House strategist and the administration’s most important link to the alt-right, has contributed to a modest bounce in U.S. stocks. As of 1 p.m. New York time the S&P 500 ws ahead 0.27%.

No volatility anywhere

No volatility anywhere

By this time you’re certainly aware that volatility in the U.S. stock market is near record lows. (It’a actually below record lows when you recalibrate the VIX for revisions to that index.) But the lack of volatility in the bond market may have escaped your attention. It’s even more pronounced than the lows in the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX.)