The Cboe Volatility index jumped on Monday, spiking amid a broad selloff in the U.S. equity market that was largely attributable to a sharp drop in shares of Facebook. The VIX VIX, +20.38% gained 38%, or 6 points, to 21.82, a level that is above its long-term average of 20.
The jump came as stocks declined broadly; the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.35% fell 1.8% while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.42% lost 1.9% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.84% shed 2.5%. The day’s weakness was largely due to Facebook FB, -6.77% which dropped 7% and was on track for its biggest one-day percentage decline since September 2012.
The stock came under heavy selling pressure over how it manages third-party access to its users’ information, after saying a firm with ties to the 2016 Trump campaign improperly kept member data for years despite saying it had destroyed those records.
While technology was the biggest decliner on the day, losing 2.8%, the day’s losses were broad. All 11 of the primary S&P 500 sectors were lower on the day, as were all 30 Dow components. The VIX is up nearly 100% thus far in 2018, although it has seen sharp fluctuations over that period.
Many of the moves have come on questions over whether inflation is returning to the market, and whether the Federal Reserve could become more aggressive in raising interest rates to combat such a scenario.
