After a protracted period of markets going sideways they pulled back globally at the end of August.  This has been attributed to the weakness in China and fear it would carry over to other economies.

The result in world markets was a spike in volatility.  But this spike was not like the other spikes that have happened over the last 4 years.  Those were a few days to a week in duration and then volatility returned to longer run levels quickly.  This time the spike was much higher and the return to normal levels quite protracted.  In fact volatility has only just today reached normal levels.

This has resulted in some sectors of the market calming along with the broad volatility measures, but others, like healthcare remain elevated.

Perception in the markets, or sentiment, has been very bearish over the last 6 weeks.  But it is starting to turn.  There are still skeptics, but several sectors are looking strong after a very long downtrend and bottoming process.  Sectors like Energy related stocks, such as Chevron or ExxonMobil and industrial names like General Electric are starting to move back higher.  They may be real opportunities.  Technology companies, especially internet based and social companies like Facebook are back in favor.  Healthcare looks to remain a dicey sector for now.