Day 166 of the Lower Puna Eruption, and nothing further to report.
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Are you wondering what is happening to the American stock market? Start with something called the fear index, more commonly known as the Volatility Index (VIX). VIX is the ticker symbol, which can be traded on the exchange. When the VIX jumps, all hell breaks loose. How do you predict when? Good luck.
That "Today" jump close to 40 occurred last week when the Dow Jones Industrials (DJI) dropped 836 on October 10, then an additional 546 the next day. Worse, the volume of trading doubled those two days compared to the past few months. Remember, though, that on October 3 the DJI reached an all time high of 26,828. Today the VIX is back down to 18, which is still double the low of 9 during the past year, with the DJI up 548 to 25,798.
Okay, but what is really happening. From MarketWatch:
Stocks are expected to increasingly take their cue from the corporate sector with third-quarter earnings season under way in earnest this week.
In recent sessions, investors have been concerned over the pace of rising bond yields, global trade tensions and questions about economic growth, factors that have had an outsize impact on large-capitalization tech-related names with overseas operations.
Investors are awaiting the Treasury Department’s semiannual currency report. The report, and any accompanying statements by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, will be parsed for any signs that the U.S. deems China a currency manipulator.
In other words, business as usual.
Not related to market volatility is the killing of Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian, whose grandfather was of Turkish origin, who married the personal physician to King Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia. They come from a famously notorious family, for Jamal's uncle is the Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who was involved in the Iran-Contra affair, while Jamal's cousin was Dodi Fayed, who was dating UK's Princess Diana when the two were killed in that Paris car crash.
Jamal Khashoggi, earned a business administration degree from Indiana State university, and used his Al-Arab News Channel and Al Watan newspaper as a platform for Saudi Arabian progressives. A year ago he fled the country, for he was critical of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. He mostly worked for the Washington Post out of Virginia during this recent interval. However, he was in Turkey, for he had divorced his wife and was trying to get clearance to marry a Turkish girlfriend.
On October 2 he walked into the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul and, reportedly, left in a dismembered (that is, in body-part pieces) state after supposedly being interrogated by agents of the Saudi Arabian royal family. President Donald Trump is in a bind, for he has loyalty to the Saudi royal family. My gut feeling is that when all is said and done, the family will admit that a simple discussion session in Istanbul went wrong, leading the death of Khashoggi. But, then, how will they explain why those interrogators arrived with a bone saw?
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