Dow’s Up but Trades are Scarce, Worrying Bulls

While investors might be excited that the Dow is close to rising above 11,000 for the first time since 2006, technical analysts warn that there could be trouble on the horizon. Worrying the analysts is the low volume of trading activity. Usually, during a bull market, you see rising volume along with rising prices. AP with the story:

“It worries a lot of us,” says Wellington Shields’ Frank Gretz, a technical analyst who specializes in pinpointing market levels at which stocks might suddenly rise or fall. He wonders whether the volume signals that the rally could soon peter out, like the big surges that preceded steep declines in the 1930s in the U.S. and in Japan more recently.

Louise Yamada, a 29-year veteran of technical analysis who heads an eponymous firm in New York, says she’s not just concerned but confused.

“Why is the market going up?” she asks. “You usually don’t see advances without volume.”