The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index closed down 1.54% today and the NASDAQ Composite fell 1.94%. Gold picked up 0.87%. The CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) broke above 15 again soaring 31.94% on the day. There was just too much for the markets to cope with today. On the fundamental front U.S. initial claims for unemployment dropped again in the last week
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.)
I’d call the market mood “odd” right now. It’s maybe “hopeful fear.” Or maybe “fearful hope.” Nobody wants to move to the sidelines in case the rally is going to continue. Nobody wants to be too long just in case we’re looking at a pullback or correction. The focus of this uncertainty is the big technology stocks of the NASDAQ
It’s not much to hang a rally on, but the Treasury and stock markets moved up after Fed chair Janet Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee today that “the federal funds rate may not have to rise all that much further to get to a neutral policy stance.”
Yesterday’s rally in technology stocks and the NASDAQ Composite has disappeared this morning. At 12:30 New York time the NASDAQ was off 1.6%; the Technology Sector Select SPDR (XLK) was down 1.72%; and individual technology stocks were also in the red. Amazon (AMZN), for example, was lower by 1.58%; Nvidia (NVDA) was down 3.57%; Apple (AAPL) had retreated 1.58%; and Facebook had lost 1.16%.
The market is more anxious today but it doesn’t seem anywhere near panic country. The CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX), was up another 10% today (10.75% as of 1:30 to be exact) on top of a greater than 10% gain on Friday, but that’s a relatively restrained move considering that what is known as the “fear” index has been trading near record lows and that this index can tack on moves of 30% to 40% in a day when investors get really fearful.
