Despite the guarded stance after the markets dropped on poor payroll data, investors are surprisingly holding it together. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or “fear index,” along with related exchange traded funds (ETFs), has actually traded lower from the morning spike.
ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures (NYSEArca: VIXY) was up 0.06% and ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures (NYSEArca: VIXM) was up 0.40%.
During early trading, the VIX Index jumped 3.3% higher as anxious investors digested the jobs report, writes Brendan Conway for The Wall Street Journal. VIX traders drove up the prices of protective stock option puts after the sudden morning drop in broad market indexes.
However, as the trading day extended, the market sentiment settled at where it was for most of the week.
The current VIX level is “certainly not consistent with fear and panic on Wall Street,” remarks analyst Frederic Ruffy for WhatsTrading.com. “One might argue that the market is showing a lot of resilience.”
The VIX is currently trading around the 18 level, which is below the long-term average of 20, or “moderate” anxiety. [VIX ETFs Move Higher As Stock Market Plunges.]
For more information on the volatility Index, visit our VIX category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.