The stock market had one of its worst days in years, with a volatility spike this extreme happening only once every few years, but a growing list of signals suggests this could be a buying opportunity rather than the start of something worse.

• The Nasdaq 100 fell over 6% in a day, and the market's fear gauge jumped 69%, the third-biggest one-day spike in nearly 40 years, usually a sign of forced selling as funds blow up, not a sign the economy is collapsing.
• Several investment funds reportedly got wiped out or took heavy losses today, adding to the panic, but history shows this kind of flush-out is often followed by a bounce rather than a crash.
• Traders are now betting the Fed is much more likely to hold interest rates steady in December instead of hiking again, which is good news for stocks and bonds.
• Fears that Texas's new governor could kill the data center and AI building boom look overblown, since most of the big projects are already approved and under construction, with any real political risk years away.
• Big tech stock valuations have come down more than they did even during COVID, and strong earnings from companies like Cloudflare and Airbnb suggest the business fundamentals are still solid.

Outlook: Markets are highly sensitive to Friday's jobs report and next week's inflation data, but given the extreme fear and cheap valuations, a rebound in the coming weeks is more likely than a continued crash.