Haven Asset: Stock Market and October Declines

haven asset: Already considered an unusually volatile period for the stock market, which has logged historically ugly October declines in 1929, 1987 and 2008, worries about geopolitics and growing signs of domestic and international economic weakness have fueled bearish bets and sent stock-market optimists, at least momentarily, scurrying for cover in assets perceived as safe, according to Market Watch. Read Stocks just delivered a reminder about October's reputation for volatility See Here's how the stock market tends to trade in the rest of the year after an ugly The 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.39% was down 5 basis points to 1.59% Wednesday evening, while gold futures GCZ19, -0.23% jumped 1.3%, retaking a bullish perch for the haven asset at 1,500 an ounce. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 1.42%, was down more than 500 points, or 1.9%, at 26,078, with a two-session skid of more than 3%, representing the worst start to a quarter since the last three months of 2008, when the Dow slumped 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Meanwhile, the broader market notched its worst start to a quarter in about a decade, with trading in the first two sessions in October putting the S&P 500 index SPX, 1.42% driving the broad-market benchmark to a loss of about 3% to start the quarter, which would represent its worst such start since a 5.49% skid in fourth quarter of 2009. Reflecting the slump in the equity indexes, one reading of implied stock-market volatility, the Cboe Volatility Index VIX, -10.88%, a gauge of bullish and bearish S&P 500 options bets that tends to rise as stocks fall, was on pace for its biggest rise to a quarter on record. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 1.40%, down 2.7% so far in October, and the Russell 2000 index RUT, 0.97%, off 3.1%, also marked their worst starts to the quarter since 2009. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.