VIX drops below 20 for first time since April as S&P 500 retakes 4,200

With U.S. stocks back in rally mode following Wednesday’s consumer-price index release for July, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, better known as the VIX, or the market’s “fear gauge”, has dropped below 20 for the first time since April, according to FactSet data. The index reached a session low of 19.79 as the S&P 500 SPX, +1.89% retook 4,200 for the first time since May 5 late Wednesday morning in New York. As of 11:20 a.m., the S&P 500 was up 79 points, or 1.9%, at 4,201, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +2.46% was up 311 points, or 2.5%, at 12,805. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.48% was up 545 points, or 1.7%, at 33,317. Headline inflation in July came in at 8.5% annualized, lower than the 8.7% anticipated by economists polled by FactSet, and also below the 9.1% reading in June, which marked the highest inflation in roughly 40 years.