The CBOE Volatility Index was up yesterday morning but finished the day lower.
The VIX ended the day at 18.94, down 0.22 points, or 1.15 percent. It climbed near the 20 level early but fell as low as 18.42 at one point in the session.
This corresponded to action in the S&P 500 as it fell to 1364, climbed just short of 1374, and slipped into the close to finish at 1369.58. The two indexes typically move inversely.
The VIX futures were down even more than the volatility index itself. This is not surprising at the end of the day because the spot VIX is usually relatively high on Mondays, after the weekend time decay. The May futures were down 3.25 percent to 19.3, while the June contracts fell 2.8 percent to 20.85.
The VIX options traded 314,000 contracts, with calls outpacing puts by 4 to 1. More than 123,000 options traded in the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) as calls and puts were split evenly.
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