Stock sellers showing no signs of panic, NYSE's Arms Index suggests

Despite the stock market's broad selloff, there is no sign of panic selling, according to a volume-weighted breadth measure known as the Arms Index. The measure, which helps gauge selling intensity, was showing a 0.982 reading on the NYSE, where a reading of 1.000 suggests the intensity of buyers and sellers are in perfect balance. The number of declining stocks on the NYSE represents about 67% of the total, while volume in declining stocks is also about 66% of total volume. As panic hits, the volume in declining stocks tends to rise relative to the number of declining stocks, which will lift the Arms Index. Many technicians see a rise above 2.000 to suggest panic selling, that may be worthy of capitulation. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 121 points, putting it on track to suffer the longest losing streak--8 sessions--since the eight-day stretch ending Aug. 2, 2011. The S&P 500 was down 0.5%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.