Is VIX still the investor fear gauge? Evidence for the US and BRIC markets

Abstract

We investigate the relationships of the VIX with US and BRIC markets. In detail, we pick up the analysis from the point left off by (Sarwar, 2012), and we focus on the period: Jan 2007 - Feb 2018, thus capturing the relations before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis. Results pinpoint frequent structural breaks in the VIX and suggest an enhancement around 2008 of the fear transmission in response to negative market moves; largely depending on overlaps in trading hours, this has become even stronger post-crisis for the US, while for BRIC countries has gone back towards pre-crisis levels.