The market is consolidating before its next big move. For most of this month, the index’s intraday trading range has not exceeded 0.75%. Since the beginning of the month, this indicator has surpassed 1.00% in only 2 sessions, on August 3rd and August 4th. This makes August the least volatile month so far in 2026, based on this metric. Meanwhile, the volatility index, VIX, is trading below 17 points for the 3rd consecutive week, the longest such streak since the final 2 weeks of 2025 and the first week of this year. Market volatility has been historically low this month.