Set against another Malaysian Airlines crash and rising Middle East tensions, the VIX had its greatest jump in more than a year on Thursday.?
Closing at 14,54, up 32.18%, this represented the VIX’s greatest rise since?April 2013, reported Bloomberg. This is also its highest level since this April and it was just last week that the fear index increased?17 percent, its largest rally seen in three months.?
On U.S. exchanges, more than 6.6 billion shares traded, representing a 15 percent increase above its three-month average.
For the S&P 500, it dropped 1.2 percent to close at 1,958.12. This percentage snapped the index’s 62-day streak of neither rising nor falling 1 percent for a close–its longest stretch since 1995.
The Dow dropped?161.39 points (0.9 percent), to 16,976.81,?
?So why the selling?
Todd Lowenstein, a fund manager at Highmark Capital Management Inc. said to Bloomberg,??People are selling out of fear. The market is really acute to geopolitical risk. Given where valuations are and the move lately amid all the M&A activity, when you have some geopolitical shocks, people will look for a reason to sell.?
Meanwhile,?gold and crude oil prices jumped while Treasury yields sank.
On tap for Friday, Israel’s national military has started?in Gaza. a?ground offensive as well as?”the airliner news only adds to the drama around an unsettled market environment for those watching geopolitical events, not only Ukraine, but Israel and Iraq,” said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist for US Bank Wealth Management, to CNBC.?
Also on Friday, the following companies will report earnings:?General Electric,?Honeywell,?Kansas City Southern,?Bank of NY Mellon,?Ericsson,?VF Corp, and?Interpublic.?Consumer sentiment and and Leading indicators will also be reported.?