The market has been roughly flat for the past month despite another large bank, First Republic, having to be seized by the FDIC and subsequently purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. This continues some of what we saw last month where, despite some of the turbulence, on the surface, things look calm. The VIX, which is a popular measure of volatility, is usually a good contra-indicator. It signals the level of fear or stress in the market and is sometimes known as the ”Fear Index.” It is currently trading at pre-pandemic levels despite a Russian invasion of Ukraine, unprecedented Fed tightening, bank runs, debt ceiling concerns and of course a possible recession. So where does that put us now?