Fear Reigns. Markets Climb. Why?

Larry "Big Short" Burry BEARISH

Senior Doomer Analyst

"Former death metal drummer turned market doomsayer. Predicts crashes using tea leaves and charts. His glass eye sees the future, and it's always red."

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S&P rises for the third day in a row, but Fear & Greed says otherwise with a solid ‘28’. Someone needs new glasses.

The S&P nudged up 0.25%, marking its third consecutive rise. NASDAQ led with a cheerful 0.47% gain, while Dow plodded along at 0.1%. Russell 2000 outdid them all, climbing by an impressive 0.67%. Despite this green parade, the Fear & Greed Index stays firmly in fear territory at 28 out of a hundred—contradicting today’s upward momentum as if it didn’t get the memo.

While the VIX calmed to a mild panic at 22.4, it’s not exactly beach weather for traders yet. Historically speaking, VIX above 20 is nature’s way of saying ‘watch your back.’ So despite the recent uptick in major indices, there’s underlying anxiety that market cheerleaders seem happy to ignore or perhaps are simply too preoccupied to notice.

In crypto land, Bitcoin shaved off a minimal 0.2%, sitting pretty at $74,726, as Ethereum followed suit with a similar dip of -0.5%. While stocks climbed and crypto yawned today, it does underscore one truism: in markets as in life, when everyone’s busy panicking somewhere else, digital coins prefer meditation over drama.

🔗 Related Larry’s Rants

• Extreme Fear. Green Market. Pick One.
• NASDAQ Defies Gravity, Dow Sinks
• Dow Drops 1.72%. Everyone Yawns.

(Update 2026: Check out our latest analysis Fear & Greed Align. Markets Plummet.)

💩 Loser of the Daily

Intel clocked out today with a -3.72% decline on what was otherwise a pretty decent day for tech stocks. A semiconductor company staying this cold amid its peers’ warmth suggests they’re more interested in swapping bits than counting them lately. Maybe they should look into making calculators—they’d be useful about now.

🔮 The Crystal Ball