The Wall Street Journal Dow Dips Below 10,000 — Again

By Neil Shah

Third time’s a charm?

The Dow has slipped below the key 10,000 level for the third day this week, falling to 9991, with index heavyweights IBM, Chevron and 3M leading the way down.

The market, which picked up steam earlier Thursday after better-than-expected news on the U.S. labor market, dropped back following fresh hints of a slowdown in manufacturing.

But beware: As followers of Marketbeat know, the Dow has had a hard time lately following through on anything, whether it’s a leap higher, or a plunge downward.

And given that we’re deep in the dog days of August, few stocks are actually changing hands. Most folks are skiing or hiking. To give you a sense, we have only an hour and half of trading left, and just 2.4 billion shares have traded in New York Stock Exchange composite volume. The average volume so far this year is over 5 billion shares.

So don’t trust what the market is telling you.