Despite the firm selloff in the major indexes from record highs Thursday, the Arms Index, used to measure buying or selling intensity, suggests investors are in a buying mood. On big down days, the Arms tends to rise above 1.000, as the ratio of down volume to up volume rises relative to the ratio of declining stocks to rising stocks. But the NYSE Arms has slipped to 0.645 and the Nasdaq Arms is at 0.859 a sign that buyers on the dip have been slightly more aggressive than sellers. The Nasdaq Composite Index earlier was threatening to fall the most since Aug. 17, but has since pared that earlier slide, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are on track to fall by the most since Sept. 5. Those moves came as the CBOE Volatility Index , a measure of implied volatility, jumped 7.3% in morning trade at 10.49, still far below its historically average at around 19.
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