At-a-Glance

Key Takeaways with Craig

And just like that, volatility returned to the US Equity markets today.  The E-mini Nasdaq-100 was down by about 4% and 30-Day implied volatility (“vol”) in the options markets jumped from about 22.8% yesterday to 29.8% today; in relative terms, at jump of 31%.  The other major US indexes traded lower as well but not to the magnitude that the Nasdaq did after disappointing technology stock earnings.   We’ve included a QuikStrike graph of E-mini Nasdaq-100 price and volatility over the last six months below. 

We did not observe a “flight to quality” during today’s stock market sell-off as US Treasury yields were higher throughout the yield curve as we head into tomorrow’s release of the January employment report. 

WTI Crude Oil futures continued to rise as the March expiration was up another 2% and topped $90 per barrel.  Even with the steady rise in prices, we have not seen significant moves in options volatility nor skew.  Natural Gas futures prices remained active, but today to the downside, as they slid by about 10%.  Even with today’s action, price and vol remain elevated relative to the last few months in the Nat Gas markets.  

Today's Future Price Action

Traders Resources

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