Just as I was becoming comfortable with this bullish market, the Standard and Poors 500 index (SPX) gapped open downward today and closed at 6238, down 101 points or -1.6%. SPX opened the week at 6398, for a weekly decline of 2.5%. Trading volume spiked higher on Thursday and Friday. 

VIX, the volatility index for the S&P 500 options, opened the week at 15.2%, increased on Thursday and spiked up as high as 22% today, closing at 20.4%. 

I track the movement of the top 100 S&P 500 stocks ranked by beta, SPHB, to monitor the movement of high beta stocks. SPHB closed at 100.9 today, down 1.9% today and down 3.2% for the week. That illustrates classic "risk on" behavior. 

The NASDAQ Composite index closed today at 20,650, down 472 points or 
2.2%. NASDAQ opened the week at 21,176, setting up a weekly loss of 2.5%. NASDAQ’s trading volume was roughly flat for the week.

Uncertainties have ebbed back and forth this year over tariff negotiations, inflation, Ukraine, and Iran/Israel. Until this week, those concerns had appeared to be easing. However, it seems like the Fed’s decision to not lower the discount rate started a temper tantrum of sorts on Wednesday and the tariff deadlines today added to those uncertainties.

As I examined the current economic data on Briefing.com, I was struck by its incongruity with the market’s behavior this week. Perhaps the market is discounting future uncertainties?