Stocks sank for the sixth consecutive day on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 500 points. Even though the drop was not as dramatic as Wednesday's 800-point drop, Wall Street is more worried than ever.
The CBOE Volatility Index, sometimes referred to as the "market fear index," is at its highest point since February, CNBC reports. After a slight uptick, fears went skyrocketing on Thursday afternoon as sell-offs continued at frightening rates.
The VIX indicates when investors are getting concerned that markets aren't experiencing a simple "correction," as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin characterized it. The spike to 28.84 shows that the Dow's 1,400-point loss over two days, as well as inflation and continually rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China, could seriously disrupt the relatively steady gains in recent months.
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The decline over the past week has rippled through Asian markets, with indexes in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan falling between 3 and 6 percent on Thursday. President Trump has blamed the Federal Reserve's newly-raised rates for the tumble. Read more at CNBC.
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