Market update: Wall Street’s ‘fear gauge’ falls to a six-year low

On Monday the Dow Jones rose 0.4% and the S&P 500 gained 0.3% as the Vix index, Wall Street’s ‘fear gauge’, reached a six-year low. Shares in Dicks Sporting Goods, the leisure retailer, fell 10.9% after the company reported poor quarterly results. Elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase gained 0.6% on news that the US bank had requested approval for a share buyback of about $7.5bn.

In early morning trading the FTSE 100 has opened flat while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 is up 0.2%. Shares in Antofagasta gained 5.1% after the Chilean copper miner’s annual numbers beat forecasts and the company issued a special dividend. Wider resource stocks produced a drag on the market as investors remained cautious with many indices around multi-month cyclical highs.