VIX May be Signaling Profit-Taking Ahead

Vix (Photo credit: anandhame)

We just saw one of the most violent reversals up in the fear index in memory

Technology stocks led the market lower on Monday despite a new all-time high for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) of $683.29, which then reversed and ended the day down 2.6%. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) approached its all-time high of $714.87, but it too reversed and closed down 0.8%. 

One reason for the afternoon sell-off was a change in direction for consumer credit. The Fed announced that the much-followed indicator fell by $3.3 billion in July, well below economists’ forecasts of an increase of $10 billion. 

At Monday’s close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 52 points at 13,254, the S&P 500 fell 9 points to 1,429, and the Nasdaq was off 32 points at 3,104. The NYSE traded 615 million shares and the Nasdaq crossed 361 million. Decliners topped advancers by 1.5-to-1 on both the NYSE and Nasdaq.

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The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) ha ... Continue to read.