RISK: The CBOE's volatility index or VIX was last....>

RISK: The CBOE's volatility index or VIX was last 14.71, on the low side of a

14.52 to 17.28 range. Earlier, the VIX vaulted twin peaks of 16.30, from May 18,

and 16.28, from April 17, (latter driven by North Korea concerns). The earlier

high was the highest since Nov. 9, the day after the US election, when the VIX

peaked at 21.48. The 2017 high was 23.01, seen Nov. 4 ahead of the election. A

close back below the 200-day moving average, currently 11.99, would be needed to

suggest risk appetite was improving. The index bottomed at 11.56 Thursday. The

July 26 low of 8.84 was a new life-time intraday VIX low (prior life-time

intraday low was 8.89, seen Dec. 27, 1993). As a reminder, sub-20 VIX levels are

deemed risk friendly, 20 to sub 40 risk neutral, and 40 and over risk averse.