Volatility is up

The New Yorker's James Surowiecki writes about stock market volatility. One tidbit:

Since the beginning of July, there have been six days on which the S. & P. 500 has gone up or down by at least two per cent....Not that long ago, stock-market volatility appeared to be a thing of the past; between the end of 2003 and the end of 2006 there were only two days with moves of two per cent.