Wall Street's most watched gauge of investor anxiety logged its largest ever intraday jump on Monday, as U.S. stock futures tumbled on rising fears the United States could be tipping into recession.
The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) jumped to a high of 65.73, up about 42 points from its close on Friday, as Wall Street looked set to continue the global stock rout that saw Japanese shares at one point exceed their 1987 "Black Monday" loss.
The VIX was last up 34 points at 57.15, its highest since March 2020.
"It seems like a liquidity crisis ... this is very, very unusual," said Joe Tigay, portfolio manager for Rational Equity Armor Fund.
The return of volatility comes after an unusually long period of market calm, where the S&P 500 (.SPX) went 356 sessions without a 2% or larger move lower, the longest such streak since 2007.
"It was just too long of a period where stocks were going up and there was just the assumption that all they have to do is just wait, and then they'll go higher at some point," Tigay said. "At some point that snaps out of reality."
At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 1,257 points, or 3.15%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 247.5 points, or 4.6%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 1,155.25 points, or 6.23%.
