Wall Street’s Calm Shattered by Greenland and Japan Shocks

As stock markets opened on Tuesday, the “Sell America” trade came back in full force, with the S&P 500 sliding 1.5% to erase the gains so far this year. The VIX Index, a measure of expected stock-market swings, topped the highest since November. The scale of the moves shows that investors’ willingness to shrug off earlier shocks — including the White House’s capture of Venezuela’s leader and its renewed attacks on the Federal Reserve — is beginning to erode.