Something lurking out there maybe the North Korea summit will upset the stock market says Blackstones Wien

collected by :Haron Adler

As it stated in "My feeling is that there's something lurking out there, Carl, that is going to upset the market and it's probably a geopolitical event. Maybe the upcoming North Korea summit," Wien said during a CNBC interview with anchor Carl Quintanilla Thursday morning. The so-called VIX, which reflects bullish and bearish options bullish and bearish options bets on the S&P 500 SPX+0.85% was mostly dormant in 2017. Then it jumped by 116% — the most in its history — back in early February, as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA+0.41% began a retreat into correction territory. Meanwhile, there will be plenty to knock the stock market around, including — as Wien mentioned — President Donald Trump's planned gathering with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in coming days.

The stock market is days away from setting a bearish record

That is not how stock-market moves workAs of Friday, both the Dow and the S&P have been in correction territory for 99 trading days. This stands as the longest such stretch since the financial crisis in 2008, when 108 days passed before the two exited corrections. In that stretch, it took the S&P 122 days to emerge from correction territory, and the Dow 123 days, according to the WSJ Market Data Group. According to the data, of the past 20 corrections (including the ongoing one), only two lasted longer than 100 trading sessions. Based on their Friday closing levels, the Dow would need to rise about 8.8% to hit a new record and exit correction territory, while the S&P 500 would need to gain 5.4%.

Tech sector contributed all of the stock market gains so far in 2018

referring to While the broader markets still have not regained their January highs, finishing the first half of the year with low single-digit returns, glamourous technology stocks soared. The S&P 500 information technology sector, in fact, accounted for 102% of the year-to-date gains as of Friday. The S&P 500 Growth index is up nearly 8% year to date, while the Value index is down 1.5%, according to FactSet. So far this year, the average CBOE Volatility Index VIX-10.69% a measure of implied volatility on the S&P 500, was 16. "By any measure, volatility has been much higher in 2018 so far than it was in 2017.

Companies buying back their own shares is the only thing keeping the stock market afloat right now

"Corporate cash is going to find a home, and it's either going to be in buybacks, dividends or M&A activity. What it's not going to be is in capex," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR. The numbers showing where each side put their cash in the second quarter are striking. Dow components Nike and Walgreens Boots Alliance led the most recent surge in buybacks, with $15 billion and $10 billion, respectively, last week. At the same time, investors dumped $23.7 billion in stock market-focused funds in June, also a new record.