The fear gauge rose to its highest level since COVID and the GFC, seeing its biggest rise in history. But history tells us fortune favours the brave

What's happening and why?: Markets were still in panic and fear mode, with the Nasdaq 100 down 7.8% in three days (losing 3% overnight). The Nasdaq 100 closed up off its low overnight, which was also a somewhat positive sign. And the S&P500 and Nasdaq 100 Futures are pointing to a bounce on Tuesday with Japanese stocks rebounding 10% today in early trade.

What to watch today and overnight : The market's fear gauge is still screaming ‘what on earth is going on.’The volatility index, or fear and greed index (VIX), saw its biggest jump in history yesterday, and it hit levels not seen since the Covid crash and the GFC (a level of 65.3).

But that doesn't mean we won't see opportunities. Post-market in the US session, we saw some investors buying the dip and others are closing shorts. And on today's session in Australia, we have similar scenarios playing out.

Big tech moves: NVDA +3.10%, $TSLA +3.18%, $GOOGL +1.04%, $AMZN +1.15%, $AMD +2.48%, $INTC +1.22%, $AAPL +1.23%

Big Aussie moves: $ZIP +2.53% $DYL AU4.76% $LTR +3.45% $STX +2.63%

Well we know fortune favours the brave. Boldness and going against the grain can fast track your wealth creation if you take a long term view and are prepared to ride out a storm, and cop beating along the way. Let's remember what Buffett's sidekick and one of the greatest investors, Shelby Davis said;

The chart also shows volatility (the fear index) when it's peaked, and the correlation with the Nasdaq 100, which is being hurt the most by the unwinding of the Japanese carry trade. It reminds us that even when markets ‘blew up’ in 2008, the market still later went on and hit record highs after it recovered. The same happened in COVID. The market crashed and later hit new record all time highs. So it would be remiss if we didn't point this out.

Does anyone care about the RBA? The RBA meets at 2:30 pm AEST, but it seems no one cares. The reason I say that is because out of the six media interviews I did yesterday and today, not one journalist asked about what the RBA will or could do today. It seems we have bigger issues at hand. What can the RBA solve? Not much... That's beside the point, but the RBA is not expected to budge on rates. They can't solve the utility bill inflation issue, but the government could if we did what the US does and pivot to uranium energy. But maybe the RBA could and will keep rates higher for longer to slow down property price inflation and rental inflation.

But if you look at the RBA futures (below), it tells us bets are on for the RBA to maybe cut rates in November with a 60% chance of a cut, and then again in February next year ( 69% chance of a cut), followed by cuts in April, and May with the chances of a cut being over 60% then. But market price could change. A lot. Let's just focus on the next few months for now. As that's what markets focus on too.