Equity market indices around the world ended a volatile week of trading to the downside. Volatility which has trended lower throughout most of this year, since peaking in early February, reappeared in the week’s trading volume. The VIX, an index of implied market volatility and traded on the CBOE, spiked up over 20% last week. The decline in equity averages for the week would have been much steeper if it were not for the strong upside volatility Friday. The S&P 500 Index was down over 1.25% and the smaller capitalization weighted indices such the S&P 400 (mid-cap) and the S&P 600 (small cap) Indices were down closer to 2% for the week. The ten year U.S. Treasury bond ended the week to yield 2.53%. Without being driven by one singular news event, global markets appeared to be absorbed with trying to digest and react to an overwhelming amount of news from around the world.
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