Wall Street's fear gauge spiked early Monday to the highest level in more than four years amid a global market meltdown.
The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, helps measure the level of fear among investors. It jumped as much as 172% to 62.27 before trading opened Monday. That marks the highest level for the index since March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the gauge rose as high as 85.47.
The VIX index is based on the price of S&P 500 stock options and is used to measure expected volatility.
Since the start of the pandemic, the VIX index has been relatively stable, never closing above 40. But it started to surge last week after the weaker-than-expected July jobs report reignited fears of a recession.
