Keep On Truckin'

Another song, another rabbit hole. Someone gets an idea for a song and records it. Maybe it gets heard, maybe not. Someone else comes along and thinks they’ve written a new song. Did they know about the first one? Do they credit the original songwriter? Maybe, maybe not.

Back around 1936, a bluesman known as Blind Boy Fuller put down a track called “Truckin’ My Blues Away.” This verse may ring some musical bells for you.

Keep on truckin’, mama, truckin’ my blues away

Keep on truckin’ mama, ‘til you truck my blues away

I got a gal, she’s little and neat

When she start to truckin’, man it’s so sweet

Keep on truckin’, mama, truckin’ my blues away

Hot Tuna revived the song on their 1972 album, Burgers, with credit to Blind Boy while modifying the title to Keep on Truckin’ and adding some great fiddle from Papa John Creach. A year later, Motown got into the act with Eddie Kendricks’ version that had a very different vibe and made no mention of Mr. Fuller. And at this point, any self-respecting music fan will have the Grateful Dead in your head with their spin on the theme. Clearly more a story of life on the rock and roll road, so no nod to Blind Boy. Other versions by the likes of country music trucker Dave Dudley and superstar Tim McGraw. No indication that they were aware of the Blind Boy original. Hey, it’s the music industry.

All that to say that we seem to be in one of those Keep On Truckin’ periods for the equity markets. Anyone retaining a shred of concern has been asked to report to the back of the woodshed for a beating. Look no further than a fifth consecutive bullish reading for the VIX Mix with seven points tacked on yesterday.

12 of 17 components are bullish and 8 of the 12 have crossed above the 80% threshold that separates the light green from the dark. Pretty damn bullish. And we finally see the 1-day moving average (purple line) above its most recent high point.

A clear picture of the recent attitude adjustment can be seen using the five most popular CBOE volatility indices - 9 days at the short end out to a one-year reading. As recently as July 29th, this version of the volatility term structure was elevated and atypically flat. Very different at yesterday’s close with VIX1Y more than double the value of VIX9D and the benchmark VIX hitting the second lowest close of 2026.

Those who might have been spooked out of “risk-on” positions at the end of July might be feeling pretty bad about that. Here are a sample of returns from that 7/29 low through yesterday’s close. SPY up 5.90%, QQQ up 9.36%, IWM up 4.90%. Got short vol?? SVIX up 19.11%. I know, I know. “You can’t pick the bottoms and we’re not short-term traders.” Hopefully you rode right through that mess and caught the rebound.

Good time to revisit what we’re doing here. Providing insights derived from the volatility complex. Some of you will use the information with a tactical approach to markets. Others will use this as a weather report that may help with hedging activities or opportunities to press bullish tilts. Hopefully we help to minimize the element of surprise that can disrupt the investment process of even the most patient investors. Whatever path you’re on, we’re here to help you keep on truckin’!

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