US ‘fear index’ shows stock markets eerily calm in stormy times
by Rupert Steiner from Economics | The Guardian on (#2PBCB)
The Vix measures how fearful share traders are. The scary thing is that they're not - and the index is down at levels seen in, er, 2007
A tool that measures fear may sound like something out of a horror movie, but the Vix index has nothing to do with the entertainment industry. Also known as the fear index, the Vix is a key indicator of stock market health.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, to give it its proper name, tracks the extent to which traders are optimistic or fearful about the future performance of US stocks - and last week it fell to 9.77, its lowest level since 1993.
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