NYSE Volume Returns—Finally

The metric that dare not speak its name: Volume. We're getting it today.

Not records, but some of the best we have seen in the past two months. We will likely do north of 5 billion shares today on the consolidated NYSE tape (trading in all NYSE-listed stocks on all venues). We have not see a single day north of 5 billion shares since July 22.

Meantime, we are seeing higher than normal volume on a number of ETFs: Financial Select SPDR on the JPMorgan Chase earnings,

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ,

ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 , and

iShares Trust FTSE/Xinhua 25 , the largest Chinese ETF.

The major indices are up on good volume...but why aren't the big banks participating?

JPMorgan beat estimates, but it's been down most of the day...other big names are flat to down as well. What gives?

Simply put: capital markets, specifically investment banking, remains lackluster, and there are few other drivers for the big banks. Trading is down. Loan growth is slow. Companies have been taking advantage of the low rates to raising debt, but are still cautious.

Counterpoint:

• Banks Seeing 'Moderate Uptick'—Buy These: Pros
• Brad Hintz' Takeaway from JPMorgan

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