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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
-
Quiz of The Week: 9 – 15 AugustQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
Britain's giant rat problemRising infestation reports and increased sightings of oversized rats have caused concerns about waste management in some areas
-
The Week Unwrapped: Has Donald Trump secured his Nobel Peace Prize?Podcast Plus, what does the use of North Korean and Indian labour tell us about the Russian war economy? And why have we all gone crazy for pickles?
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
