VIX drop suggests calm equity market sentiment

The Cboe Volatility index stood at 14.84 as of Aug. 11, down from 22.9 at the start of the year. The VIX briefly spiked to over 26 in mid-March after regional banks such as Silicon Valley Bank ran into trouble.

This year, the daily VIX averaged 17.79, below the 19.63 average from 1990 to 2023. It spiked to 25.64 in 2022 when markets underwent a challenging period that saw the S&P 500 level falter by 19.4%.