Stock Calm With ‘Volmageddon’ Echo Puts Wall Street on Notice

From wrong-way calls on bonds to Big Tech and the economy, it’s been an awful year for conventional wisdom. So when almost four in five Wall Street pros tell you the stock market is too calm, the savviest thing to do is to bet it stays that way.

That in a nutshell is the story of volatility trading at midyear, when everyone says they expect the VIX to rise, but everyone acts like it won’t. Warnings blare that the Federal Reserve and wobbly economy are sure to shatter the peace. And yet wagers that peace will prevail in the S&P ...