In Washington debt-ceiling brinkmanship is threatening to push the US into default. And on Wall Street, traders are gaming out what could be a rare Black Swan event with the well known fear gauge.
Demand for hedges against a sudden increase in volatility has reached its highest level in five years in the options market. Investors are paying more to protect themselves against a potential market drop of 10% (one-s...

Thursday we had another break from the free fall of the major indices. It appeared like somewhat of a short squeeze. Possibly earnings from the night before gave a little confidence to the bulls in the market. Crude started off the day without much movement until later in the trading session it jumped above $105 per barrel. Gold silver and treasury bonds' charts had strong correlations today as they climbed together as well. Bitcoin touched above 40000 briefly. Most of ...