The spike in the stock market’s barometer of fear that contributed to equity carnage on Monday is reversing fast.
Earlier in the day, the Cboe Volatility Index, a gauge of implied volatility for the S&P 500 Index over the next month, breached 50 to touch its highest level since the aftermath of China’s devaluation of the yuan in 2015. It fell to 22.78 as of 9:50 a.m. in New York.
The spread between one-month realized and implied volatility for the S&P 500 Index had blown out this morning, suggesting that the move in the VIX index had gone further than the even the sharp retreats in stocks over the past two sessions warranted.
