Wall Street's 'fear Gauge' Is On Track To Log Its 3rd Lowest Close In Its History

One measure of fear, or stock-market volatility, on Wall Street is set to finish at its third lowest level all time, according to FactSet data. The CBOE Volatility Index is on pace to close down 3.6%, at 9.54, which would mark the lowest level for the so-called fear gauge since 1993. The gauge has only closed lower on two other occasions both in December 1993 at 9.48 and 9.31. The so-called VIX, which is based on options contracts on the S&P 500 index 30 days in the future. The metric's historical average is 20 and it has continued to mostly slump as stocks have reached repeated records since President Donald Trump's Election Day victory in November, which suggests to market participants that investors are becoming too complacent. Friday's slide for the VIX came as many major equity benchmarks were set to finish at records, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average , the S&P 500, Dow Jones Transportation Average , the small-cap focused Russell 1000 Index and the Russell 2000 Index . The Nasdaq Composite Index was on deck to finish at its second highest level ever, just a 0.1% away from its record.