Scary numbers at CBOE

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

The VIX “fear gauge” has scared up plenty of growth for the company that invented it in 1993—Chicago Board Options Exchange parent CBOE Holdings—but lately it's been spooking investors.

Trading volume at the options exchange, the biggest in the U.S., dropped 15 percent in the first quarter, including a dramatic 50 percent plunge in VIX options trading in February and March, from a year earlier.

At a time when headlines are screaming about volatility in the markets, from stocks to commodities to currency, it would seem prime time for the VIX, which looks at various options prices today to gauge investor sentiment about the future.

Has the Federal Reserve hurt another industry?