The major equity indexes tumbled yesterday, giving up their gains of the previous two sessions and briefly driving the CBOE Volatility Index above the 16 level.
The S&P 500 fell 39.10 points, or 2.09 percent, to 1833.08. The close, which was just above the session low, was the SPX's worst since Feb. 19 and broke key support at the 1840 level. It has resistance at 1880, and support is now at 1800.
The Nasdaq 100 tumbled 112.67 points, or 3.13 percent, to 3487.76. That was its lowest close since Feb. 5. Resistance is at 3600 and support at 3400.
The Russell 2000 droped 32.30 points, or 2.78 percent, to 1127.66. It too was just off its session lows. The small-cap index has resistance at 1160 and support at 1090.
The VIX climbed 2.07 points, or 14.98 percent, to 15.89. The volatility index peaked at 16.38 with an hour left to trade. The nine-day CBOE Short-Term Volatility Index (:VXST) jumped 3.81 points--a gain of 30 percent--to close at 16.50 after reaching an intraday high of 17.36. The VXST options were also launched today. (See our Volatility Sonar report)
The VIX futures followed the spot index higher. The April futures, which have only three trading days left, and were up 1.25 points to 15.75. The May futures climbed 0.75 points to 16.20. That pushed the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Note (:VXX) up 6 percent to $43.44.
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