Wall Street's fear gauge tumbles as traders bid up SpaceX shares

SpaceX advertisements are seen on a digital billboard on a building in Times Square to celebrate the launch of SpaceX's initial public offering (IPO) in New York on June 12, 2026. Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images There's nothing quite like traders gobbling up $2 trillion of new equity to squash the fear out of the market. Just 10 days ago, tech was nosediving, the stock market had its worst day since October 2025, and the Cboe Volatility Index was ramping up in a hurry — in part on investor concerns about how the market could digest the deluge in new SpaceX stock. Now, with the biggest initial public offering in history digested without a hiccup, investors are piling back into the very same stocks they previously sold, and Wall Street's so-called "fear gauge" is back below its long-term average. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon The CBOE Volatility Index in the past month The Nasdaq 100 jumped 3% Monday. The S&P 500 was last up about 1.7%, nearing the record reached earlier this month, as semiconductors surge to the front again, adding more than 4% to a new all-time high. Bears who argued that speculators were running out of appetite are now faced with a SpaceX market cap of almost $2.5 trillion that says otherwise. SpaceX shares were last up 13% on Monday. …