Thursday marks the one-month anniversary of the Aug. 5 “yen shock” — a mini-market panic that quickly spread throughout global markets after beginning in Japan the Monday following the July jobs report.
The Nikkei stock index (^N225) hemorrhaged 12% that Monday — its biggest one-day drop since 1987 — while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) plummeted 3%. The VIX Volatility Index (^VIX) spiked to 65, the third-highest level on record.
But almost as soon as the selling was over that morning, the eye-popping recovery began, which could be why there’s not even a compelling agreed-upon name for the event. By midday in the US on that fateful Monday, the VIX had already fallen to 30 — its biggest intraday crash on record.
Jared Blikre | Yahoo Finance