Stock market investor fears expected to rise
Volatility index seen rebounding to long-term levels
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Volatility in the stock market, as measured by the so-called fear index, will likely rise the farther we get into 2014, but strategists aren’t seeing that as a necessarily bad thing.

While the CBOE Volatility Index (MDE:VIX) , or VIX, closed down 3.9% at 13.67 on Tuesday and is currently a few points under 14, the index has been spiking higher recently, well off their low levels from December, due in part to the recent emerging markets scare and perceived disagreement at the Federal Reserve.

Still, even with those spikes, a smoothed out look at the VIX’s 50-day moving average shows sustained volatility hasn’t been above the long-term average of 20 since the summer of 2012, and then only briefly. In fact, the VIX hasn’t been above its long-term average for a significant amount of time since early 2012 following the debt-ceiling debacle and S&P downgrade of U.S. debt in the summer of 2011. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-market...2014-02-26