Friday was a lackluster session on Wall Street, with major U.S. averages lingering in negative territory at midday trading in New York. This session coincided with the simultaneous expiration of a large volume of options and futures contracts, commonly referred to as “triple witching.”
However, rather than a sharp spike in volatility, stocks edged only slightly lower, failing to trigger a rise in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX).
Investor sentiment remained defensive, with 10 out of 11 sectors of the S&P 500 falling, while utilities were the only sector to post a positive performance.
Dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated that he expects “very low” ...
