With Debt Ceiling Looming, Are Investors Too Compliant?

Volatility levels continue to drop in 2013 after a rather non-eventful 2012. Despite the fiscal cliff, debt ceiling debates and the $1 trillion platinum coin, investors seem rather calm.

VIX levels, which measure the expected volatility in the market and sometimes referred to as the "fear gauge", have been rather low considering current economic events.

And the trend is not just in the US. Emerging markets, which tend to be more sensitive to global macro economic conditions, are also seeing lower levels of volatility:

Doubline's Jeffrey Gundlach refers to 2013 as the "Year of the Snake". That the markets are coiling, waiting to strike.

He may be on to something...