Stocks pull back after intraday records
Equity indexes were mixed but little-changed at the end of yesterday's session, but the CBOE Volatility Index and its futures were higher.
The S&P 500 was down just 1.18 points to close at 1666.29. It did trade as high at 1672.84 at noon, reaching another record intraday high. Support is at 1634.
The Nasdaq 100 lost 7.99 points to finish up the day at 3020.97. Earlier in the session it reached 3,032.86, its highest intraday price since November 2000. Support is at 2942.
The Russell 2000 was up 1.70 points to 997.98, a new closing high. The small-cap index also posted a new
intraday high of 1001.50, breaking the 1000 level for the first time. Support is at 980.
The VIX was up 0.57 points, or 4.58 percent, to 13.02. Part of the gain was caused by the effect of the SPX options being repriced after the weekend time decay. The VIX remains at a significant premium to the historical volatility for the SPX, which is below 9 percent.
The May VIX futures, which have only one day left to trade, were up 0.10 points to 13.30. The June contracts were flat at 15.10, while the rest of the VIX futures were higher. The action pushed the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Note (:VXX) up 1.33 percent to close at 18.27.
The VIX options volume picked up as 611,000 contracts traded, with calls outpacing puts by 2 to 1, making it second on the overall volume list. The VVIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of those options, was up 1.2 percent to 85.01.
More From optionMONSTER
