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Should we worry as the market’s ‘fear gauge’ nears its highest level since the Great Recession?

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March 2, 2020 at 4:43 p.m. EST
The scene inside a Bay Area Rapid Transit train car during the morning commute in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday. (Sam Hall/Bloomberg News)

An index pundits love to call Wall Street’s “fear gauge” is flashing red. Should we panic?

The long answer is full of nuance and numbers. The short answer? Fasten your seat belts. No matter how this ends, we may be in for some turbulence.

At one point in Friday’s hectic trading, the Cboe Volatility Index, better known as the VIX, was higher than it had been at the close of any trading day since the Great Recession. It recovered slightly but remained elevated on Monday.