𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚝'𝚜 "𝙵𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚡" 𝙸𝚜 𝚄𝚙, 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝙱𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙱𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎
US stock markets had one of their worst ever January, with the S&P 500 index down roughly 10% since the start of the year.
But after a remarkably solid 2021, and 2020, just how nervous are investors actually feeling today? One measure worth checking is the Volatility Index (VIX), also known as the "fear index".
VIX is a good indicator of how nervous markets are because it tracks how much investors expect stock prices to fluctuate. When the VIX is higher it means investors expect prices to move around a lot (i.e. they're more uncertain), and when it's lower it means they don't expect prices to move around much.
Now VIX is about 30, which is well above the average of 18-19 from the last 15 years, but still some way from the 80+ during the "call your family and go full panic mode" of the global financial crisis of '08-09 or March 2020.
𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚛 | 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐
