two-year high in February as volatility returned
By Ryan Vlastelica
Published: Mar 2, 2018 11:41 a.m. ET
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Trading volume in the U.S. stock market spiked over the month of February, with average daily activity hitting a two-year high as volatility returned to Wall Street in a big way. According to the WSJ Market Data Group, an average of 8.19 billion shares were traded in each session of February, the highest daily average for a month since February 2016. The spike came as the Cboe Volatility Index VIX, -12.82% jumped 46.6% over the month, its biggest one-month percentage jump since August 2015. The return of volatility meant big moves in both directions for the major indexes; over the course of February, the S&P 500 saw both its best weekly performance since 2013, and its worst week in two years. The swings follow an atypically quiet market throughout 2017, which was bereft of volatility as the VIX hit two all-time closing lows. As a result, daily trading volumes over 2017 came in at a three-year low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.29% fell 1.3% on Friday, on track for its fourth straight day with a 1% decline. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.51% was down 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite IndexCOMP, +1.08% was off 0.3%.