Stocks give back early gains, end lower
The equity indexes gave up intraday gains in the final hour of yesterday's session, leaving the CBOE Volatility Index essentially unchanged.
The S&P 500 was down 5.50 points to 1374.53. It started the day by dipping below 1372 but quickly recovered and rose above 1388. The SPX traded sideways until the last hour, when it steadily declined. Support remains at 1365 and resistance at 1433.
The Nasdaq 100 lost 20.91 points to finish at 2561.86. It followed a similar pattern, dropping to 2554 and then stalling up at 2585 before the morning slide. The 2550 support held, and resistance remains at 2651.
The Russell 2000 was down 4.75 points to 789.01. Its late-day drop took it back to its morning low. Support and resistance at 775 and 825 respectively.
The VIX closed out the session at 16.65, down just 0.03 points. It opened the day above 17 but fell down near 16 in short order and spent most of the rest of the day negative. The afternoon equity drop pushed the volatility index back up near 17, but it settled a bit lower after the bell.
The VIX futures were all lower. The November and December contracts were both down 0.15 points to 16.95 and 18.20 respectively.
More than 744,000 VIX options traded on the day, led by 594,000 calls, and a spread in the December and January 32.50 calls topped the action. The SPX options were just behind with 716,000 contracts, 396,000 of which were puts. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the VIX options, was down 3 percent to 87.84.
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