Israel’s attack on Iran sent the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, spiking, but the market’s fear gauge is still relatively calm.
The VIX rose to 19.15 on Friday from 18.02 on Thursday. It spiked as high as 22. Any reading around 20 is considered relatively normal volatility, so below that level signals Wall Street is far from panic mode.
Even the major stock indexes were paring their declines on Friday: The S&P 500 was down 0.5%, while the Dow was down 420 points, or 1%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6%.