Wall Street fear gauge VIX jumps 70% as S&P 500 loses $3 trillion
The gist
The VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, jumped 70% on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 4.4%.
A move that size has happened only eight times since 1991, per Cboe data.
How it unfolded
- Nov 2, 2026CNN Money's Fear and Greed Index moved into the "Extreme Fear" zone as U.S. stocks settled mixed and the Nasdaq dipped over 1%.
- Nov 3, 2026The market fear gauge neared a five-month high as Wall Street braced for big midterm moves.
- Nov 4, 2026With the VanEck Semiconductor ETF down 3%, the VIX concurrently fell more than 4 points — the first such day in market history, according to data from the X account "OddStats."
Key terms
- VIX
- A volatility index based on S&P 500 options, often called the fear gauge.
- S&P 500
- A stock market index tracking the performance of 500 large US companies listed on American exchanges.
- bear market
- A downward market trend in which prices fall over a period of time.
Source: Wikipedia