Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The test of 5,500 by the S&P 500 has attracted some late-day buying interest that has helped the indices move off their lows.

Overall, it has been a good week for the small-cap stocks. The Russell 2000 is up 1.9%, including today's losses. It has been an even better week, however, for the CBOE Volatility Index, otherwise referred to in abbreviated form as the VIX Index and euphemistically as the "fear gauge."

The VIX Index, which measures the implied volatility of the S&P 500 for the next 30 days, has surged 32% this week to 16.42. That spike has coincided with the pullback in the mega-cap stocks, which have been pacesetters for the S&P 500 this year.