This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. Surprise, surprise. Wall Street’s favorite fear index is spiking. The Cboe Volatility Index was hovering around 48 Monday afternoon after spiking to 60 overnight. The index measures projected S&P 500 volatility over the next 30 days. The VIX’s 30-day moving average has been on the rise in recent weeks, coming in at 21.4 at the beginning of the month vs. its long-running average of 19.5. We’re now almost four standard deviations above the long-term average, marking a level of volatility most recently seen in 2020 and 2008. You’re going to see a lot of comparisons to 2020 and 2008 in the coming weeks. While the sizes of the selloffs may be similar, I’d argue the sentiment could not be more different.