Investing.com - Aftershocks from this week's wild roller-coaster ride on Wall Street continued to reverberate around markets on Thursday, a sign that market participants remain jittery amid increased volatility levels.
The wild ride in U.S. equities started on Monday, when both the Dow and S&P 500 indices plunged more than 4%, with the former notching its biggest intraday decline in history with a nearly 1,600-point drop, as investors rushed for the exits in the wake of higher rates.
On Tuesday, the 30-stock index swung 1,167.5 points before closing 567 points higher.
The turbulence continued Wednesday, with U.S. stocks finishing lower despite climbing earlier in the session, as the S&P 500 recorded its largest one-day reversal since February 2016.
The Dow has lost 4.3% since last Friday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq, meanwhile, are down 4.5% and 4.1%, respectively, since then.
There was no obvious single reason behind the shakiness, but the wild swings were blamed on concerns about rising interest rates, program trading and volatility funds that use leverage.
The CBOE Volatility index, also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, has also been all over the map this week. On Monday, it more than doubled from 17.34 to 37.32. It also hit 50 on Tuesday before closing at 29.98. On Wednesday, it traded at 26.41.
A decline in stocks usually leads to a rise in volatility, but never like this. The latest spike in volatility could point to a big problem on Wall Street, some traders believe.
Trading algorithms and levered fund products may have separated this market from past historical patterns, causing moves to be exaggerated.
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