The US stock market’s ongoing run of low volatility has inspired a torrent of commentary as the crowd struggles to make sense of the trend. Analysts at JP Morgan, for example, recently wrote that “a very low supply of economic surprises currently is by itself enough to explain the low level of market volatility.” Meanwhile, a strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute advised that the slide in volatility isn’t particularly useful for developing insight into future market activity. Whatever an unusually calm stock market implies, or doesn’t imply, here’s one more fact to consider: low vol is widespread across the major asset classes.
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