Wall Street's fear gauge jumps to 19.99, its highest close since July; Nasdaq falls 2.2%

The Cboe Volatility Index, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, jumped to 19.99 on October 16, its highest close since July 29, as US stocks fell, according to data published by the St. Louis Fed.

What happened

The VIX closed at 19.99 on Friday, October 16, up from 16.46 on Thursday, an increase of 3.53 points (computed). The index, which measures the stock market's expectation of volatility in the S&P 500 over the next 30 days, had not closed that high since July 29, when it was 20.66.

On the same day the S&P 500 fell 1.09% to 7,659.44, from 7,744.06. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.15% to 26,140.03, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34% to 52,002.41 from 52,177.69 (computed).

The retreat

The VIX eased to 18.44 on October 19, 17.31 on October 20 and 16.68 on October 21. Over those three sessions the S&P 500 rose 0.41%, 0.28% and 0.58%, to 7,757.17, a rise of 1.28% from the October 16 close (computed). The S&P 500's record close in the data is 7,818.93 on October 6, so the index on October 21 was 0.79% below it (computed).

The year so far

The VIX's highest close in 2026 was 31.05 on March 27, and its lowest in the data since September 2025 was 13.47 on December 24, 2025. The index was 14.53 on September 4 and 15.27 on October 13.

About the data

The VIX and S&P 500 series run through October 21; the Nasdaq Composite and Dow series run through October 22, when the Nasdaq fell 2.6%.