Summer's Volume Augurs Down Fall
August stock-trading volume, usually thin as institutional traders and individual investors alike take summer vacation, has been inordinately heavy during the market gyrations this month -- forebodingly so on certain days.</br></br>Market volume has been heaviest on down days and has been thinner when stocks have risen, underscoring a trend that isn't giving investors much hope during this turbulent trading environment.</br></br>Stock-chart watchers say volume can be interpreted as a leading indicator for the market's moves. If volume leads on the downside, it could portend more selling heading into the autumn. By contrast, heavier trading when stocks are rising can signal more bullish times are on the horizon.</br></br>On days that stocks have dropped this month, investors have traded about 6.26 billion shares in New York Stock Exchange composite volume, according to WSJ Market Data Group. By contrast, average NYSE composite volume on days when the market has risen is 5.81 billion.</br></br>"Fear is generating more volume on down days than skeptical optimism is generating on the up days," said John Schlitz, chief market technician at Instinet.