The Vix Hit Its Highest Level Since the Financial Crisis

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That’s a Lot of Fear. The Vix Hit Its Highest Level Since the Financial Crisis. That’s a Lot of Fear. Vix Hits Highest Level Since the Financial Crisis as Volatility Soars

Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, spikes to its highest level as stocks tumble and oil prices plunge.

The Vix Hit Its Highest Level Since the Financial Crisis

The VIX, Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” spikes to 62 amid a market rout.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/vix-the-fear-gauge-coronavirus-slams-stocks-51582913166 https://www.barrons.com/articles/fear-has-overtaken-this-market-how-to-use-it-to-turn-a-profit-51582806601 https://asset.barrons.com/dynamic-insets/charts/cdc_6c83234c3e48b9ba0e6db3a6.json https://asset.barrons.com/dynamic-insets/charts/cdc_86797716c7864c80709fce38.json mailto:nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com The Vix Hit Its Highest Level Since the Financial Crisis. That’s a Lot of Fear. By Nicholas Jasinski Photograph by Eitan Abramovich/AFP via Getty Images

The market’s volatile stretch is continuing on Monday, as stocks tumble across the board on renewed coronavirus fears, and the Vix, the market’s fear gauge, soars.

The negative economic impact of the growing outbreak is undeniable, but still highly uncertain—a recipe for panic in the market. Add a price war in global oil markets, and the rout is on. Stocks tumbled across the board after the open on Monday, into a circuit breaker that kicked in to briefly halt trading down 7%.

The intense trading action means a soaring Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX—a measure of market volatility calculated from pricing of S&P 500 options for the next month. The VIX spiked to an intraday high of 62.12 on Monday morning, from a close of 41.94 on Friday.

https://asset.barrons.com/dynamic-insets/charts/cdc_6c83234c3e48b9ba0e6db3a6.json

By early afternoon, it had pared back slightly, to 51, up 22%, and was on pace for its highest close since March 2009. Less than three weeks ago, when the S&P 500 hit its most recent record high on Feb. 19, the VIX was in the low teens.

A 62 reading is the highest the VIX has been since December 2008—another highly volatile stretch for the market around the financial crisis.

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The S&P 500 was down 6.4% in early-afternoon trading, to 2780.

Write to Nicholas Jasinski at nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.