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Michael Johnston: As an up-and-down (and up again) first half of the year draws to a close, many portfolios have managed to squeeze out moderate gains so far in 2012. Looking around at the various exchange-traded products reveals some interesting Read more…
John Nyaradi: The VIX, as defined by Investopedia.com, is “the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index, which shows the market’s expectation of 30-day volatility.” The VIX is a continuous minute-by-minute snapshot of the expected market volatility in the S&P 500 during the next 30 Read more…
Keith Fitz-Gerald: Many investors are convinced the market is stacked against them. It is…. but not for the reasons you might think. Dismal returns actually have very little to do with super computers, research, insider information or access to the trading floor. Read more…
Jared Cummans: Though the second quarter has gotten off to a rocky, investors are turning their eyes to earnings season to continue the bull run that has defined 2012. The past few days have seen markets all over the board, as Alcoa kicked off earnings season with a bang, leading many investors to muster up Read more…
Bill Luby: Based upon some of the emails I have received this week, it appears that a number of readers have been focused on buying some of the inverse VIX ETPs, notably XIV and SVXY, when they saw the VIX spike. Some have preferred shorting VXX, TVIX and UVXY, based partly on availability, while others Read more…
Jared Cummans: After the best opening quarter in 14 years, skepticism is beginning to grow on Wall Street. Many investors fear that we will be unable to maintain the growth that equity markets have enjoyed, as a number of factors combine to give a cautious outlook. For starters, the Fed’s commentary that the Read more…
Bill Luby: Back in my consulting days, I convinced myself that there were rare instances when an ugly chart crammed full of data should take precedence over a clean and simple graphic that focused on the key takeaways. For my purposes at least, the graphic below, while unlikely to garner accolades from the likes of Read more…
NYSE:TVIX, NYSE:TVIZ, NYSE:UVXY, NYSE:VQT, NYSE:VXX, NYSE:XIV, NYSE:XVIX, NYSE:XVZ, NYSE:ZIV
Bill Luby: Looking the history of the volume spikes in the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEARCA:VXX) is a lot like looking at the history of market sentiment, contrarian thinking and psychology. Read more…
Jared Cummans: As the ETF industry has rapidly expanded, so too have the options investors have for slicing and dicing markets. One of the most popular innovations in recent years has been the ability to access volatility through the exchange-traded structure; there are now multiple ETPs for gaining exposure Read more…
Bill Luby: The VIX closed at 15.59 today, just 0.03 points lower than the close of 15.62 on April 26, 2011, some eleven months ago. From a long-term perspective, not much has happened with the VIX, but for those who have ridden the volatility roller coaster up and down, the present time seems like an Read more…
Bill Luby: Whether or not I find it useful to flog the wounded horse otherwise known as the VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short-Term ETN (NYSEARCA:TVIX), it seems as if investors and the media insist that the wild and crazy story of this +2x VIX futures ETN remain on the front page for Read more…
NYSE:SVXY, NYSE:TVIX, NYSE:UVXY, NYSE:UVXY, NYSE:VXX, NYSE:XIV
Jared Woodard: BofA interest rate strategists Ralph Axel and Ruslan Bikbov suggest that now would be a good time to buy tail risk hedges. (hat tip Joe Weisenthal) 6-month options on 10-year swap futures are as inexpensive now, they claim, as they’ve been in decades, excluding one period in 2006. Read more…
Chris Ciovacco: Everyone, including us, has referenced the VIX or Fear Index’s current low level as a possible point of concern for an imminent reversal in stocks. We remain concerned about the VIX. However, a bullish case can also be made based on history. Read more…
Bill Luby: For a variety of reasons, investors seem unwilling to embrace the current rally and with each day the market rises, I see a scramble in the indicator forest to find some sort of proof that stocks are finally, inevitably going to correct…and soon. I need to give this phenomenon a name, Read more…
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