Chart of the Day - Thursday, April 4, 2024

🏆 Today’s Chart of the Day was shared by Jason Goepfert (@jasongoepfert).

• After a nasty intraday reversal, the S&P 500 closed lower by -1.23% today.

• Meanwhile, the Volatility Index ($VIX) had its best day since October, surging +14.1% to a five-month high of $16.34.

• Going back to 1990, Jason found nine other instances where the $VIX closed above 16 for the first time in over 100 trading days. Six months later, the S&P 500 was always higher, with a median return of +4.8%.

The takeaway: Volatility is flaring up for the first time since the October lows, but that hasn’t been a good reason to sell the S&P 500. This isn’t necessarily bullish, but good luck arguing it’s bearish.