Kicking a Beehive

One thing I just think ought to be pointed out for those who don’t follow the market that closely – the Vix, the most widely followed measure of volatility, hasn’t seen a print above 20 in almost six months.

This is remarkable given all the “headline risk” we’ve been warned about now that China and Europe are undergoing a double decker, mutually-reinforced economic collapse and the fiscal cliff threatens to blow up all of our houses and jobs.

When they write the chapter on 2012, they’ll be remiss in not mentioning the things Mario Draghi had done this spring and summer and unfatten the tail risk.For more on this, read:

TIME’s Person of the Year Should Be Mario Draghi (Business Insider)

and…

FT Person of the Year: Mario Draghi (FT)

Markets are much calmer in the face of possible recession than they are in the face of possible Lehman II.  And it shows in the buying (or lack there of) of put protection:

(BTW, now that I’ve posted this, expect a Vix spike to 30…)