S&P

The global risk-off mood accelerated overnight on Trump "stability concerns", coupled with fallout from the Spain terrorist attack and lingering North Korea tensions, even if the VIX is off its latest highs, trading just above 15. Investors fled into German and U.S. Treasury bonds and bought gold for the third day in a row, as the appeal of such top-notch assets grew further due to a deadly attack that killed at least 13 people in Barcelona.

Last Thursday morning, just as the VIX was soaring on North Korea nuclear war fears in a historic move from single digits to ultimately peak just above 17 before retracing virtually all of the move in the coming days, we reminded readers that "As VIX Explodes, A Painful Warning: The Vega Of VIX ETFs Has Never Been Higher", referring to a recent observation by JPMorgan that the outstanding vega of VIX related ETF was a record high.

The world did not come to an end this weekend and that's all the excuse markets needed to squeeze higher again...

World did not end - yay! Buy Stocks, Dump Gold...

In light of today's euphoric market reaction, which has seen the VIX plunge by over 3 vols, or 20% lower, to just over 12 and sent both the Nasdaq and S&P higher by 1% on relief that there were no mushroom clouds of the weekend, the jury is out whether last week's sharp risk off, short-vol mauling will persist or be just another BTFD opportunity. But while last week's tension may already be forgotten, some disturbing trends persist.

For all the recent concerns about an "imminent" nuclear war with North Korea (not happening, according to the head of the CIA), which prompted a stunned reaction from Morgan Stanley which earlier today observed the "70% rise in the VIX index over three days, 2% drop in global equities, and more than a few holidays disrupted", leading it to conclude "Well, That Escalated Quickly", the market continues to ignore the real risk: the upcoming central bank balance sheet taper which will have a dire and drastic impact on markets according to Citi's global head of credit product strategy, Matt King