Beneath Market’s Uneasy Calm, Dread Runs Deep Across Wall Street
Traders work in the S&P 500 Index options pit at the Cboe Global Markets exchange in Chicago.
Photographer: Jim Vondruska/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
It was an unexpected, if improbable relief. The panic unleashed by Donald Trump’s trade war, which convulsed financial markets around the globe and sowed doubts about America’s standing in the world, died down nearly as quickly as it began.
The S&P 500 Index — after swinging more than 10% in a single day as volatility hit levels not seen since the pandemic’s onset or the 2008 credit crisis — this week settled into something of an uneasy calm. The VIX Index, or fear gauge, pulled back sharply from pandemic highs. And US government bonds once again reclaimed their longstanding role as the world’s “risk-free” asset.