A popular measure of volatility spiked the most in two months on Thursday as U.S. equity benchmarks retreated following news that a Senate tax bill proposes a delay in corporate tax cuts until 2019. The CBOE Volatility Index was up more than 16%, marking its sharpest climb since Sept. 5, the last time the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index experienced a pronounced slide. The so-called VIX, which tends to climb when stocks fall, measures options bets on the S&P 500 index 30-days in the future and is viewed as a gauge of expectations for a market fall because prices tend to fall faster than they rise. The measure of implied volatility has been mostly muted, with trades far below its historic average around 19. Still, Thursday’s spike brings it to a reading of 11.36, considered relatively subdued. Most recently, the Dow was down more than 200 points at 23,354, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% at 2,571, while the Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 1.2% at 6,710.
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