Equities end day mixed but VIX rises
The major equity indexes ended yesterday's session mixed, giving up early gains and driving the CBOE Volatility Index higher.
The S&P 500 was down just 1.31 points to finish at 1514.68, but that was the low of the day. The SPX had been above 1525 just 90 minutes before the close. It still has support at 1485 and resistance at 1531.
The Nasdaq 100 was lower as well, giving up less than 3 points to close at 2738.58. It too fell sharply in the final 90 minutes, from 2760 to finish at its session low. Support and resistance remain at 2670 and 2783 respectively.
The Russell 2000 followed that general pattern but finished positive, gaining 1.19 points to 911.11. Support is at 894 and resistance at 932.
The volatility index rose 0.78 points, or 5.3 percent, to 15.51. The VIX had reached an intraday low of 14.16, but interestingly did so about an hour before the S&P 500's session high and then climbed with SPX during that time. The two indexes usually move inversely.
The VIX futures were higher as well. The March futures were up even more than the volatility index, gaining 0.80 points to close at 16.20, while the April futures rose 0.60 points to 16.70. That pushed the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Note (:VXX) up 0.91 points, or 3.9 percent, to 24.18.
VIX option volume was down but still saw more than 418,000 contracts change hands, led by 295,000 calls. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of those options, was up 5.2 percent to 86.57.
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