Zusammenfassung:
This study examines the reaction of the Standard and Poor's Regional Bank Index (SPRB) to the U.S. equity market fear index (i.e., the Chicago Board of Trade Volatility Index [VIX]). The VIX is designed to perform as a leading indicator of the volatility in equity markets. However, practitioners observe many periods of divergence between the VIX and S&P 500. Our paper examines the daily data for the period of 2009 through 2019. We show that once the effects of consumer confidence and capacity utilization are accounted for, there is a negative association between the VIX and regional bank performance.