On Thursday, market participants put their money on a VIX rise as a record?7.82 million VIX calls had been outstanding, reported Bloomberg. Data showed 3/1 bullish VIX options as compared to the bears–a number last seen in 10 months.
Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer?s Investment Research, said to Bloomberg,??A lot of people are getting ready for higher volatility. The VIX has become the preferred instrument for hedging.?
For the VIX, it closed at 12.44, down 0.09 (.72%) on Friday. Year-to-date, it’s off 9.33%.
As the VIX has fallen, this comes as the?S&P 500 (SPX) hit record heights this week after a slow start to the new year. Investors are also preparing for the release of fourth-quarter earnings results over the next few weeks. According to Bloomberg, estimates for a stock-market fall are on the rise while the S&P 500 has gone more than two years (27 months) without a 10 percent fall or higher.?
On Friday, the S&P 500 closed at 1,838.70, down 7.19 (0.39%). For the week, it was off 0.2 percent and now year-to-date, it’s fallen 0.5 percent.?The?Dow Jones Industrial Average?(DJX) rose 41.55 points (0.3 percent) to 16,458.56, on Friday and closed the week up .01 percent; for 2014 to-date, it’s down 0.7 percent. ?
The big winner has been the Nasdaq. It fell 21.11 (0.5 percent) to 4,197.58 on Friday with a?0.6 percent rise this week and up 0.5 percent for the year.